Codex Desktop Rebuild

Canonical upstream: Haleclipse/CodexDesktop-Rebuild (Cometix Space) is the cross-platform rebuild project most users should start from.

This repository (henry701/CodexDesktop-Rebuild) is a personal fork. It is not focused on upstreaming changes. Haleclipse/upstream are welcome to borrow ideas and reimplement them independently.

Cross-platform Electron build for OpenAI Codex / ChatGPT Desktop.

This fork (henry701)

The fork tracks OpenAI's published desktop apps with as little extra surface area as possible. Linux no longer rebuilds the macOS ASAR through electron-forge: it patches the official Linux ChatGPT .deb and reuses that Electron/Owl runtime.

Principle	What it means here
Stay close to upstream	`npm run sync:linux` extracts OpenAI's Linux ChatGPT `.deb`. `npm run sync` still pulls macOS/Windows bundles.
Minimize supply-chain risk	Third-party CLI redistribution (`@cometix/codex` via npm) is opt-in only (`USE_COMETIX_CODEX=1`). The Debian postinst is never run (it would add OpenAI's apt repo).
System `codex` + `rg`	Linux defaults to `USE_SYSTEM_CLI=1`: the zip copies `codex` and `rg` from your `PATH`. `USE_SYSTEM_CLI=0` keeps the official Linux ELFs already in the `.deb`.
Linux `codex-code-mode-host`	Prefer PATH (`/usr/bin/codex-code-mode-host` from `openai-codex`), then vendor cache, then the ELF shipped in the official Linux bundle, then GitHub musl fallback. Override with `CODEX_CODE_MODE_HOST_PATH`.
Optional BYOK picker	`USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER=1` patches the ASAR so henry701/codex-shim catalog models appear in the picker (off by default).
Arch packaging	`packaging/arch/chatgpt-desktop-bin/` wraps the patched zip as `chatgpt-desktop` (`/usr/lib/chatgpt`). Coexists with `codex-desktop` until you uninstall the old package.

Typical fork workflow (Linux x64)

nvm use && npm ci
npm run sync:linux                  # official chatgpt_amd64.deb → src/linux-x64/{bundle,_asar}
# Ensure codex + rg on PATH (e.g. pacman/AUR openai-codex package)
USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER=1 npm run patch:linux-x64
npm run build                       # official Linux ChatGPT zip (no forge)
cd packaging/arch/chatgpt-desktop-bin && updpkgsums && makepkg -si
# Optional: npm run prune:artifacts   (KEEP_VERSIONS=3 default)

Pair with codex-shim sync-desktop if you route Desktop through BYOK models.

OpenAI's Linux preview does not include Computer Use yet; this fork still applies patch-plugin-auth.js so those gates stay on if a later drop enables them.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Architecture	Status
macOS	x64, arm64	✅
Windows	x64	✅
Linux	x64, arm64	✅

Prerequisites

Node.js 24 — matches upstream CI. extract-zip can leave a partial Electron dist/ on Node 24+; scripts/ensure-electron-dist.js re-extracts with system unzip and patches @electron/packager before forge runs. Use nvm:
```
nvm install    # reads .nvmrc
nvm use
```
Linux builds — dpkg-deb to extract the official .deb. Default USE_SYSTEM_CLI still wants codex and rg on PATH. The forge/dpkg/fakeroot path is npm run build:linux-x64:forge only (legacy mac-ASAR rebuild).
Upstream app bundle — npm run sync:linux before the first Linux build; npm run sync for macOS/Windows extracts.

Build

npm ci

# Official Linux ChatGPT (this fork's default; not the legacy Codex forge rebuild)
npm run build

# Other platforms (macOS/Windows still use the Codex/mac ASAR extract)
npm run build:mac-x64
npm run build:mac-arm64
npm run build:win-x64
npm run build:linux-arm64

# Build all platforms
npm run build:all

Linux workflow

Linux packages start from OpenAI's official ChatGPT .deb (same version as macOS). Patches land on src/linux-x64/_asar/; prepare-linux-official.js packs that ASAR back into the official ChatGPT Electron tree. No forge, no macOS Mach-O swap.

nvm use
npm ci
npm run sync:linux                  # chatgpt_amd64.deb → src/linux-x64/
USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER=1 npm run patch:linux-x64
npm run build                       # out/ChatGPT-linux-x64-<ver>.zip

For arm64: npm run sync:linux-arm64, patch:linux-arm64, build:linux-arm64.

Docs: ChatGPT desktop app for Linux. OpenAI supports Ubuntu 24.04/26.04, Debian 13, and Fedora 43/44; Arch is best-effort via this PKGBUILD. Native Wayland is experimental; the launcher defaults to XWayland.

Build flags

Flags are read from environment variables or CLI args on prepare-src, patch-all, and start-dev. See scripts/build-flags.js for details.

`USE_COMETIX_CODEX` (default: off)

Replace bundled codex / rg with prebuilt binaries from the third-party npm package @cometix/codex (Haleclipse/codex).

This fork keeps this off by default. Opt-in only: binaries are fetched via npm pack at build time and are not built or audited in this repo. Prefer USE_SYSTEM_CLI when you already install Codex from your distro or OpenAI's release channel.

USE_COMETIX_CODEX=1 npm run build:linux-x64
# or
npm run build:linux-x64:cometix
npm run patch:linux-x64:cometix

Optional version pin: USE_COMETIX_CODEX_VERSION=0.135.0-cometix

When Cometix is enabled, the archive-delete patch in patch-archive-delete.js also runs (required for that CLI).

`USE_SYSTEM_CLI` (Linux default: on — fork preference)

Bundle codex and rg from the host PATH instead of the official Linux .deb ELFs (or Cometix npm tarballs). Rebuild Desktop after upgrading your system codex package. Cometix takes precedence when both are enabled.

USE_SYSTEM_CLI=0 npm run build:linux-x64   # keep official Linux bundled ELFs
npm run build:linux-x64:upstream           # same, via npm script

Optional explicit paths:

CODEX_CLI_PATH=/usr/bin/codex RG_CLI_PATH=/usr/bin/rg npm run build:linux-x64

CLI equivalents: --use-system-cli, --no-system-cli, --use-cometix-codex

Linux CLI resolution order

Cometix (USE_COMETIX_CODEX=1)
System PATH (USE_SYSTEM_CLI=1, default on Linux)
Official Linux ChatGPT .deb ELFs (when USE_SYSTEM_CLI=0)

npm scripts (Linux variants)

Script	Description
`build`	Default: same as `build:linux-x64` (official ChatGPT, not Codex forge)
`sync:linux`	Download/extract official `chatgpt_amd64.deb`
`sync:linux-arm64`	Same for `chatgpt_arm64.deb`
`patch:linux-x64`	Patch `src/linux-x64/_asar`
`patch:linux-arm64`	Patch `src/linux-arm64/_asar`
`build:linux-x64`	Repack official ChatGPT tree + zip (system CLI by default)
`build:linux-x64:upstream`	Keep official Linux CLI ELFs
`build:linux-x64:cometix`	Cometix npm CLI binaries
`build:linux-x64:forge`	Legacy mac-ASAR + electron-forge rebuild
`patch:linux-x64:shim-picker`	Desktop model picker for codex-shim catalog (`USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER=1`)
`patch:linux-arm64:shim-picker`	Same for arm64

`USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER` (default: off)

ASAR patch for codex-shim integration (Statsig allowlist bypass + sidebar modelProviders filter). Unlimited model list (single limit:1e4 fetch) is always applied via patch-model-list-pagination.js in BASE_PATCHES (upstream defaults to 100).

Verify with:

USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER=1 npm run patch:linux-x64
npm run patch:linux-x64:shim-picker   # convenience alias
node scripts/patch-model-list-pagination.js linux-x64 --check
node scripts/verify-shim-picker-patch.js linux-x64

Menu bar suppression (Linux)

Always-on BASE_PATCH (patch-remove-menu.js) that prevents the GTK/KDE global menu bar from appearing on Linux while preserving in-app File/Edit/View dropdowns.

Upstream Codex Desktop only calls win.removeMenu() on Windows. On Linux (and most non-macOS platforms), Menu.setApplicationMenu() hands the menu to the OS via D-Bus — the resulting GTK/KDE menu bar is always visible and setMenu(null) per-window cannot override it.

The patch makes three changes to the main-process bundle:

removeMenu() → setMenu(null) — extends upstream's win32-only guard to all non-macOS platforms.
Store menu instead of setting it on Linux — replaces a.Menu.setApplicationMenu(st) with process.platform==='linux' ? (globalThis.__cm=st) : a.Menu.setApplicationMenu(st). On Linux the menu goes into a global variable; on macOS/Windows behavior is unchanged.
Fallback in IPC handler — wraps a.Menu.getApplicationMenu() with (globalThis.__cm || a.Menu.getApplicationMenu()) so the in-app menu popup finds the stored menu on Linux and falls through to the real application menu elsewhere.

Verify with:

node scripts/patch-remove-menu.js linux-x64 --check

Linux window chrome (`patch-linux-chrome.js`)

Always-on BASE_PATCH for native Wayland on KDE:

Integrated titlebar — primary window on Linux uses titleBarStyle: hidden + titleBarOverlay (same as Windows) instead of SSD default.
Opaque surfaces — Linux gets the same backgroundColor path as win32/darwin when opaque windows are enabled, including M2/N2 gating for applyWindowBackdrop (sidebar).

Pair with the Arch launcher: XWayland default on Wayland sessions (--ozone-platform=x11

--disable-gpu-compositing, commit fb601df) for stable sidebar repaint. Native Wayland: CODEX_OZONE_PLATFORM=wayland (better taskbar/drag; needs patch-linux-chrome.js for opaque sidebar). Opt out of compositing disable: CODEX_DISABLE_GPU=0.

Verify with:

node scripts/patch-linux-chrome.js linux-x64 --check

The official Linux ASAR already uses a Linux titlebar overlay in 26.814; opaque-surface helpers may still omit linux. The patch is idempotent (already vs applied).

Other build notes

better-sqlite3 — pinned to vendor/better-sqlite3-12.10.0-electron42.tgz until upstream ships Electron 42 V8 API support (WiseLibs/better-sqlite3#1475).
electron — pinned to 42.3.0 (exact), matching the official Linux ChatGPT bundle (/usr/lib/chatgpt/version) and the macOS extract.
ensure-electron-dist.js — Node 24+ workaround: full Electron runtime via system unzip (runs on postinstall and before forge package/make).
RPM packages — skipped when no RPM database is present (typical on Arch). Force with FORGE_LINUX_RPM=1 after initializing an RPM db (e.g. sudo rpm --initdb).

Install on Arch Linux

A local PKGBUILD wraps the patched official Linux zip (OpenAI's Electron/Owl runtime, no system Electron). Pacman name is chatgpt-desktop (/usr/lib/chatgpt). The legacy forge package remains at packaging/arch/codex-desktop-bin (codex-desktop, /usr/lib/codex-desktop); both stay buildable and can be installed side by side. Default Linux install is ChatGPT only.

# codex + rg must resolve on PATH before build (e.g. openai-codex from AUR/pacman)
USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER=1 npm run patch:linux-x64
npm run build
cd packaging/arch/chatgpt-desktop-bin
updpkgsums
makepkg -si

npm run prune:artifacts keeps the newest 3 app versions of ChatGPT-linux-x64-*.zip / chatgpt-desktop-*-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst.

To rebuild without reinstalling:

makepkg -f
sudo pacman -U --noconfirm chatgpt-desktop-*.pkg.tar.zst

Do not run yay -Bi . with cleanBuild enabled inside this repo.

Installs:

Path	Purpose
`/usr/lib/chatgpt/`	Official Electron/Owl bundle with patched `app.asar`
`/usr/bin/chatgpt`	Launcher (XWayland + compositing defaults)
`/usr/share/applications/chatgpt.desktop`	Application menu entry
`/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/chatgpt.png`	Icon

Recommended alongside: henry701/codex-shim.

Launch chatgpt. Default on Plasma Wayland is XWayland (--ozone-platform=x11 + --disable-gpu-compositing). Native Wayland: CHATGPT_OZONE_PLATFORM=wayland (or CODEX_OZONE_PLATFORM).

Goal	Command
XWayland (default on Plasma)	`chatgpt`
Native Wayland	`CHATGPT_OZONE_PLATFORM=wayland chatgpt`
Enable GPU compositing	`CHATGPT_DISABLE_GPU=0 chatgpt`

Development

npm run dev

Project Structure

├── src/
│   ├── linux-x64/       # Official Linux ChatGPT extract (bundle/ + _asar/)
│   ├── linux-arm64/     # Official Linux arm64 extract
│   ├── mac-x64/         # Upstream macOS x64 extract
│   ├── mac-arm64/       # Upstream macOS arm64 extract
│   ├── win/             # Upstream Windows extract
│   ├── .vite/build/     # Main process (Electron)
│   └── webview/         # Renderer (Frontend)
├── resources/
│   ├── electron.icns    # App icon
│   └── notification.wav # Sound
├── scripts/
│   ├── build-flags.js   # USE_COMETIX_CODEX / USE_SYSTEM_CLI
│   ├── cometix-vendor.js
│   ├── system-cli.js
│   ├── ensure-electron-dist.js
│   ├── linux-official.js / sync-linux-official.js / prepare-linux-official.js
│   ├── patch-all.js      # Runs all BASE_PATCHES in sequence
│   ├── patch-remove-menu.js  # Suppress GTK/KDE menu bar on Linux
│   ├── ...
├── vendor/              # better-sqlite3 Electron 42 tarball
├── packaging/
│   └── arch/chatgpt-desktop-bin/  # Arch PKGBUILD (official Linux zip → pacman)
├── forge.config.js      # Electron Forge config
└── package.json

CI/CD

GitHub Actions automatically builds on:

Push to master
Tag v* → Creates draft release

CI uses Node 24 (see .nvmrc), with the same ensure-electron-dist workaround as local builds.

Git remotes

Remote	Repository	Role
`fork`	`henry701/CodexDesktop-Rebuild`	Primary push target for this fork
`origin`	`Haleclipse/CodexDesktop-Rebuild`	Canonical upstream (Cometix Space)

master tracks fork/master. Push with git push fork master; merge upstream with git fetch origin && git merge origin/master (or rebase) when pulling Cometix changes.

Contributing

Upstream: general cross-platform rebuild improvements belong in Haleclipse/CodexDesktop-Rebuild.

This fork: issues/PRs here are for personal workflow (official Linux ChatGPT pipeline, system CLI defaults, Arch packaging, shim-picker). No expectation of upstream cherry-picks.

Credits

OpenAI Codex - Original Codex CLI (Apache-2.0)
Cometix Space - Cross-platform rebuild & @cometix/codex binaries
Electron Forge - Build toolchain
henry701/codex-shim - Responses API shim for multi-model Codex Desktop routing (fork of 0xSero/codex-shim)

License

This project rebuilds the Codex Desktop app for cross-platform distribution. Original Codex CLI by OpenAI is licensed under Apache-2.0.

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Codex Desktop Rebuild

This fork (henry701)

Supported Platforms

Prerequisites

Build

Linux workflow

Build flags

`USE_COMETIX_CODEX` (default: off)

`USE_SYSTEM_CLI` (Linux default: on — fork preference)

Linux CLI resolution order

npm scripts (Linux variants)

`USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER` (default: off)

Menu bar suppression (Linux)

Linux window chrome (`patch-linux-chrome.js`)

Other build notes

Install on Arch Linux

Development

Project Structure

CI/CD

Git remotes

Contributing

Credits

License

About

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packaging/arch		packaging/arch
resources		resources
scripts		scripts
vendor		vendor
.gitignore		.gitignore
.npmignore		.npmignore
.nvmrc		.nvmrc
README.md		README.md
forge.config.js		forge.config.js
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json

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Codex Desktop Rebuild

This fork (henry701)

Supported Platforms

Prerequisites

Build

Linux workflow

Build flags

USE_COMETIX_CODEX (default: off)

USE_SYSTEM_CLI (Linux default: on — fork preference)

Linux CLI resolution order

npm scripts (Linux variants)

USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER (default: off)

Menu bar suppression (Linux)

Linux window chrome (patch-linux-chrome.js)

Other build notes

Install on Arch Linux

Development

Project Structure

CI/CD

Git remotes

Contributing

Credits

License

About

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`USE_COMETIX_CODEX` (default: off)

`USE_SYSTEM_CLI` (Linux default: on — fork preference)

`USE_SHIM_MODEL_PICKER` (default: off)

Linux window chrome (`patch-linux-chrome.js`)