Codex Remote Update

Overview

Use the bundled script to update Codex on the active macOS GUI host without leaving a persistent reopen loop. This skill is macOS-only because it depends on Codex.app, Sparkle, osascript, open, and the logged-in GUI session. The script checks versions, clears a skipped Sparkle version if present, opens Codex's normal Check for Updates... flow, starts a finite backup reopen watchdog, installs the update if one is ready, and verifies that both the GUI and codex app-server are running again.

Quick Start

Install as a Codex skill from GitHub:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.codex/skills"
git clone https://github.com/neenvm/codex-remote-update.git "$HOME/.codex/skills/codex-remote-update"

From the skill directory:

scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --status
scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --quiet-check
scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --check-only
scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --install

To make it callable from any directory on the same Mac:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
ln -sf "$PWD/scripts/codex-remote-update.sh" "$HOME/.local/bin/codex-remote-update"
codex-remote-update --status

To trigger it over SSH from another machine:

ssh <mac-host> 'zsh -lc "codex-remote-update --install"'

Workflow

1. Verify the target machine is the Mac that owns the Codex GUI/session. For remote-control issues, update the host shown in Connections, not the laptop viewing it.
2. Run scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --status to capture the current GUI version, bundled CLI version, and app-server process.
3. Run scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --quiet-check to make sure no shell-visible active Codex worker processes are running. This is conservative but cannot read private Codex internal thread state.
4. Run scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --check-only when you want to confirm whether Sparkle has an update ready without restarting Codex.
5. Run scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --install when a restart is acceptable. By default install refuses if the quiet check sees active Codex worker activity. Expect a brief disconnect if the current conversation is inside Codex.
6. After reconnecting, run scripts/codex-remote-update.sh --status or inspect ~/Library/Logs/codex-remote-update/latest.log.

Guardrails

• Use the normal logged-in macOS app and Sparkle updater UI only.
• Do not use this skill for Linux, Windows, web-only Codex, or non-GUI hosts.
• Default install must pass the quiet check first. Use --force-active only when the user explicitly accepts interrupting active Codex work.
• Do not use private updater endpoints or manual app-bundle surgery.
• Do not create persistent launchctl or KeepAlive reopen jobs. The bundled script uses a finite detached watchdog that repeatedly reopens Codex until GUI plus app-server are back, then exits.
• If a previous failed update left jobs such as codex-force-restart-* or codex-reopen-after-*, unload them after verifying Codex is running.
• Preserve user work: warn that the update will quit/relaunch Codex when running from an active Codex chat.

Script

The deterministic implementation is scripts/codex-remote-update.sh. Read or patch the script only when behavior needs to change; otherwise execute it directly.