You don't need permission from Apple to distribute macOS software. Your users will just see a warning dialog when they try and run it for the first time and have to go to System Settings to allow it to run[0]. If you want to avoid this, you have to pay the $99 USD per year to join the Apple Developer Program, codesign your software with the certificate they give you, and submit it for notarization (which for macOS is a fully-automated security and malware review, unlike iOS notarization which is basically App Store review). It's not ideal (many open-source projects don't want to spend $99 USD per year, and it does tie the software to your real name), but it's not like iOS.
[0]: https://support.apple.com/en-nz/guide/mac-help/mh40616/mac