What is WiFiAgent on a Mac?
What the WiFiAgent process does in macOS, why it appears in Activity Monitor and asks for keychain access, and what to do if it uses CPU.
What is WiFiAgent?
It is the part of macOS that shows Wi-Fi menus, join prompts and captive portal sign ins for your user. The Wi-Fi radio itself is managed by airportd.
Why does WiFiAgent want keychain access?
It reads saved Wi-Fi passwords to join networks. Allowing it is normal; if prompts repeat, the keychain item for that network may be damaged and rejoining fixes it.
Is WiFiAgent using too much CPU?
It should be near zero. A brief rise while scanning or joining is normal; airportd does the heavy Wi-Fi work.
Common questions
Is WiFiAgent safe on Mac?
Yes. It is a built in macOS process for the Wi-Fi menu and prompts.
Why does WiFiAgent keep asking for my password?
The saved network password in the keychain may be outdated; forget and rejoin the network.