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Enhancement: discover app-bundled Codex on macOS or guide users to its Binary path #10514
Description
Request
When the default codex executable is unavailable on PATH on macOS, help users discover an existing app-bundled Codex executable, or give actionable guidance for configuring its full Binary path.
Observed behavior
- T3 Code desktop 0.0.39 on macOS.
- Codex provider enabled, with its default Binary path set to
codex. - Opening an imported Codex conversation shows:
Codex CLI (`codex`) was not found on PATH. - A working executable was already present at
/Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Resources/codex, reportingcodex-cli 0.153.4.
The saved conversations could be imported and displayed even though the provider executable was not discoverable, which made the setup state confusing.
Verified workaround
Set Settings → Providers → Codex → Binary path to:
/Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Resources/codex
Then refresh provider status. T3 now reports Codex 0.153.4 as authenticated and lists seven models, including GPT-6-Astra. No separate CLI installation was needed for the provider probe to succeed. This verifies executable discovery, authentication, and model enumeration; a generation turn was not run as part of this check.
Suggested improvement
If the bare executable cannot be found, offer a detected app-bundled executable as an explicit user-selectable fallback, validating it before use and preserving any custom Binary path. If app-bundle discovery is intentionally unsupported, improve the error with a direct link to provider settings and explain that installing the desktop app does not necessarily put codex on T3's PATH.
This is an enhancement to setup/discovery rather than a claim that T3 violates its documented PATH requirement. App bundle locations can vary; the path above is the verified location on this installation, not a proposed universal hard-coded path.
Related
- [Bug]: macOS desktop never refreshes the login-shell environment after launch — tools installed later (Homebrew, gh, opencode, nvm node) stay invisible to agents and VCS #9429 concerns a stale macOS login-shell PATH after launch; that cause has not been established here.
- [Bug]: After updating to 0.34 Codex not on path error (Mac) #8308 had a similar error but was closed after the reporter traced it to a Node installation change.
- ~~[Bug]~~ Workaround for T3Code failing with
brew codex& 5.6 models #3843 documents a separate app-bundled helper workaround, not this detection request.
Activity
juliusmarminge commentedon Sep 7, 2026
Thanks for the clear report and the verified workaround.
What we found
T3 currently treats Codex as “default name
codexon PATH, or an explicit Binary path.” That matches the provider docs: CLIs must be on the server PATH; if not, set Settings → Providers → Codex → Binary path. There is no ChatGPT.app / app-bundle discovery today, and noChatGPT.appreferences in the repo.The exact banner string is hardcoded in
checkCodexProviderStatus(apps/server/src/provider/Layers/CodexProvider.ts) asCodex CLI (\codex`) was not found on PATH.It does not mention the configured binary, Settings, or that a desktop ChatGPT/Codex install does not putcodexon T3’s PATH. The chat banner’s “Open provider setup” link only appears when a provider advertisescanInstall/canAuthenticate` (today that’s Antigravity), so Codex’s miss is text-only.Imported conversations showing up without a runnable CLI is expected, not a second bug: session import reads
CODEX_HOME/sessionsfrom disk (AgentSessionScanner) and does not spawn the provider. The CLI is only required for probe, auth, models, and a generation turn.Your workaround is the supported path and matches the code: an absolute Binary path is passed through as-is (
CodexDriveronly expands~). Refreshing after that should (and did) re-probe.Not a duplicate of
brew codex& 5.6 models #3843 — ChatGPT.appcodex-code-mode-hostas a Homebrew helper workaround, notcodexdiscovery.Related but not this request: draft #4346 adds a Windows-only, silent fallback to Codex Desktop under
%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin. Different OS and layout; it also auto-switches rather than offering a user-selectable path.Recommendation
Treat this as an enhancement (setup/discovery UX), not a bug against the documented PATH contract.
Smallest useful fix: improve the spawn-miss copy (and banner) so it includes the configured binary, points at Settings → Providers → Codex → Binary path, and states that installing ChatGPT/Codex desktop does not put
codexon T3’s PATH. Cursor already has richer missing-CLI copy (buildCursorCliCommandMissingMessage). A short docs example of the ChatGPT.app path would help; that path is installation-specific, not universal.App-bundle auto-discovery is a larger product decision. If we do it later, it should be user-selectable, validated before use, and must not overwrite a custom Binary path — not a silent hard-coded
/Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Resources/codex.Until then: set Binary path to the local ChatGPT.app
codex(or install the standalone CLI onto PATH) and refresh provider status.