How to prevent all applications in a specific folder from launching on macOS?
Use the following configuration profile. It will block all apps within the users home folder from launching without an admin password.  This can be changed to a different path if needed.


Save the following to a file with the extension .mobileconfig
Double Click on the file and install it in System Preferences
Celebrate




&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
&lt;!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt;
&lt;plist version="1.0"&gt;
&lt;dict&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadIdentifier&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;com.company.macos.blockapps&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadRemovalDisallowed&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;true/&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadScope&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;System&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadType&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;Configuration&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadUUID&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;9c24d6b3-6233-4a08-a48d-9068f4f76cf0&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadOrganization&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;Company Name&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadVersion&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadDisplayName&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;Block Apps In User Folder&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;key&gt;PayloadContent&lt;/key&gt;
    &lt;array&gt;
        &lt;dict&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;PayloadType&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;string&gt;com.apple.applicationaccess.new&lt;/string&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;PayloadVersion&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;integer&gt;1&lt;/integer&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;PayloadIdentifier&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;string&gt;MCXToProfile.9c24d6b3-6233-4a08-a48d-9068f4f76cf0.alacarte.customsettings.2476221c-1870-4f3e-8c52-52386029c4cf&lt;/string&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;PayloadEnabled&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;true/&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;PayloadUUID&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;string&gt;2476221c-1870-4f3e-8c52-52386029c4cf&lt;/string&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;PayloadDisplayName&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;string&gt;Blocks all apps in the ~/ directory./string&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;familyControlsEnabled&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;true/&gt;
            &lt;key&gt;pathBlackList&lt;/key&gt;
            &lt;array&gt;
                &lt;string&gt;~/&lt;/string&gt;
            &lt;/array&gt;
        &lt;/dict&gt;
    &lt;/array&gt;
&lt;/dict&gt;
&lt;/plist&gt;




Source: https://gist.github.com/rtrouton/1475fc5785b1af9cfbf4080a2eb6696f#file-application_block-mobileconfig