Unlocking Safari’s True Potential
Out of the box, Apple’s Safari web browser is designed for standard consumer web browsing. It is clean, simple, and hides complex technical features. However, if you are a web developer, a system administrator troubleshooting a tricky intranet site, or just a power user who wants to clear their cache instantly, you need access to the Safari Develop menu.
The Develop menu unlocks the ability to inspect HTML elements, emulate different devices (like viewing how a site looks on an iPhone), disable JavaScript on the fly, and empty the browser cache with a single click. While you can enable this menu by clicking through multiple layers of Safari’s graphical preferences, you can instantly toggle it on for any user account using a single Terminal command.
Enabling the Develop Menu via Terminal
The visibility of the Develop menu is controlled by a hidden boolean (true/false) setting within Safari’s configuration file. We can manipulate this using the defaults write command.
- Ensure that Safari is completely closed. If it is open, press
Command + Qto quit it. - Open the Terminal application (located in Applications > Utilities).
- Copy and paste the following command exactly as written:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDevelopMenu -bool true- Press Enter.
Verifying the Change
Open Safari. Look at the menu bar at the very top of your screen (next to the Apple logo). Between “Bookmarks” and “Window,” you will now see a brand new menu titled Develop.
Click on it to reveal a massive list of powerful features, including the highly useful Empty Caches button (shortcut: Option + Command + E).
Disabling the Develop Menu
If you are configuring a Mac for a non-technical user (or a public kiosk) and want to ensure they cannot accidentally open the web inspector and break pages, you can instantly hide the menu using the exact same command, simply changing true to false.
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDevelopMenu -bool falsePress Enter, restart Safari, and the menu will completely vanish from the UI.