The plist contains: <key>KeepAlive</key> <true/> Having this agent run as soon as possible after login is important because it is part of a remote access product and the launch agent is used to acknowledge to a remote client that the user has logged in. From the system log I can see on an older intel Mac that the agent is not run until 20 seconds after login in the case when the system rebooted with a lof of applications open. All the applications can be seen starting up before the launch agent runs. Would a login item potentially be launched sooner at login?

Do you have a reference so I could read up on the 'mini buddy' approach please? I have also tried having my Launch Daemon attempt to connect to the Launch Agent via XPC. I know this is not recommended but I was hoping even just attempting to connect to the launch agent might create this "artificial demand" and kick the Launch Agent into life. However, it does not seem to be working. What would be a better way to create this artificial demand?

I also noticed that any attempt to force my LaunchAgent to start from terminal (via SSH session) seems to be ignored. The LaunchAgent still does not start running until all the Applications have been restored. For example, the follow has no effect: launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.mycompany.myproduct.myagent.plist