Codex App Manager is a cross-platform desktop client designed to simplify the installation, incremental updating, and clean uninstallation of the official OpenAI Codex desktop app. It streamlines the management process by detecting locally installed versions, planning updates or installations, and providing one-click access to launch Codex.
Key Features:
One-Stop Management: Detects local Codex installations, plans updates or installations, and offers a seamless one-click launch experience.
Incremental Updates (macOS): Utilizes the codex-app-mirror's Sparkle update feed to download only the necessary delta files between versions, ensuring efficient updates with EdDSA signature verification.
Windows MSIX/Portable Support: Manages MSIX and portable installations, performs health checks post-installation, and issues warnings for system modifications.
Self-Updating Capabilities: Updates via R2 (global) and IHEP S3 (China), with GitHub as a fallback. Signatures ensure byte-level validation, maintaining integrity across mirrors.
User-Friendly Interface: Features a polished design with dark/light themes, smooth animations, and support for 11 languages, including Arabic RTL.
Transparent Signing Status: macOS builds are Developer ID signed and notarized. Windows installers lack Authenticode signatures but use Tauri updater signatures for in-app updates.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for developers and organizations relying on Codex, this tool ensures reliable, efficient management of the Codex desktop app without system-level concerns or manual update processes. It provides a seamless experience across platforms, with domestic accessibility for users in China.
README
Codex App Manager
跨平台桌面客户端 —— 一键安装、增量更新、干净卸载官方 Codex 桌面应用,自带国内可达的自更新。
A cross-platform desktop client to install, incrementally update, and cleanly uninstall the official Codex desktop app — with built-in, China-reachable self-update.
Codex App Manager is an install / update / uninstall manager for the official OpenAI Codex desktop app: it detects the locally installed Codex, plans and performs install, incremental update, and clean uninstall, and offers one-click launch. It consumes the upstream codex-app-mirror (mirror + Sparkle update feed) to manage the Codex payload, and also self-updates through its own China-reachable mirror. The Manager does not build or modify Codex — it owns only the client-side "install & update" experience.
At a glance
Capability
Detail
🧭 One-stop management
Detects the local Codex install, plans install / update / uninstall, launches Codex in one click
🔄 Incremental update (macOS)
Consumes codex-app-mirror's Sparkle appcast, downloads only the delta between versions, verifies EdDSA signatures byte-for-byte, rolls back on failure
🪟 Windows
MSIX / portable install and staged updates; MSIX health check after install, with a warning on stripped systems
🆕 Self-update
The Manager updates itself via R2 (global) + IHEP S3 (China), with GitHub fallback; signatures sign the bytes, so a byte-identical mirror stays valid
🌏 Reachable in China
Self-update and payload downloads share one mirror link, auto-routed by region (IHEP in China, R2 elsewhere) — transparent to users
🎨 Warm material UI
OKLCH palette, material depth, polished dark + light themes, GSAP-orchestrated entrances and transitions
🌐 11 languages
Auto-selected from the system locale, including Arabic RTL
🍎 Transparent signing status
macOS Developer ID signing + Apple notarization; the Windows installer is not Authenticode-signed yet, while self-update artifacts carry the Tauri updater signature
Download & install
macOS — Homebrew (recommended)
brew install --cask wangnov/tap/codex-app-manager
Direct download
Grab your platform's file from the latest GitHub Release (global), or use the agentsmirror mirror (no VPN needed in China; a Cloudflare Worker routes by region — IHEP for mainland China, R2 elsewhere):
The macOS builds are Developer ID signed + Apple notarized, so Gatekeeper won't block first launch. The Windows installers (CodexAppManager_x64-setup.exe / CodexAppManager_arm64-setup.exe) are not Authenticode-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn on first run; the Tauri updater signature used for in-app updates verifies bytes only and is not Windows publisher trust. See Windows signing and verification.
After downloading, compare the file with SHA256SUMS from the same GitHub Release. Use PowerShell on Windows or shasum on macOS:
The mirror links always resolve to the latest release — /manager/latest/ is auto-resolved to the current version by the Cloudflare Worker, with no per-release edits; after install, the Manager also keeps itself up to date via in-app self-update (below).
> Once the Manager is installed, it installs and updates the actual Codex desktop app for you — you don't need to download Codex separately.
Self-update (the Manager itself)
The Manager ships the Tauri updater and checks for new versions of itself in this order:
https://codexapp.agentsmirror.com/manager/latest.json — its own mirror: R2 globally, auto-failover to IHEP S3 for mainland China
The signatures in latest.json sign the installer bytes, not the URL, so the mirror only re-hosts the bytes verbatim and rewrites the download URL — the signature stays valid. On every stable release, CI syncs the artifacts and a rewritten latest.json to both mirrors (installers under a versioned path …/manager//… so long caching is safe; latest.json at the fixed root with a short cache), so self-update never depends on GitHub — which matters most inside China.
Managing & updating Codex itself
The Manager manages the Codex desktop payload through the upstream mirror:
macOS: reads the mirror's Sparkle appcast (arm64 / x64), plans against the installed build, prefers the delta enclosure, verifies the Sparkle signature, then swaps in place with rollback on failure; falls back to the full archive when no delta matches.
Windows: fetches the MSIX / portable build from the mirror and stages the update, with a configurable install directory and a post-install health check.
How it works
Detect → plan → execute
The app first probes the local Codex install state and platform capabilities, produces an install / update / uninstall plan, and only then performs destructive operations (with a version + signature check before the swap to guard against TOCTOU).
Two-tier mirror + geo routing
Self-update and payload downloads share the codexapp.agentsmirror.com link, fronted by a Cloudflare Worker: global traffic is served straight from R2, mainland-China traffic is routed by CF-IPCountry to a presigned IHEP S3 URL — one link, auto-routed to the fastest node.
Release pipeline
Pushing a v* tag triggers release.yml: four-platform build (with automatic retry on transient download hiccups) → macOS inside-out Developer ID signing + notarization + updater repackage → Windows updater artifact signing → publish the GitHub Release → auto-sync to the R2 + IHEP mirror.
Ecosystem: codex-app-mirror
The Manager is the downstream client of codex-app-mirror. The mirror distributes the official Codex installers verbatim, verifiably, and reachably inside China, and serves the Sparkle incremental-update feed; the Manager turns those into a local install-and-update experience. Both stay narrow and stable, with clear responsibilities.
Tech stack & local development
Frontend: React 19 · TypeScript · Vite · GSAP
Shell: Tauri v2 (frameless popover window)
Backend: Rust command layer with app services / ports / platform adapters; two standalone crates codex-mac-engine (Sparkle) and codex-win-engine (MSIX/portable)
npm install
npm run tauri:dev # local development
npm run check # type-check
npm run tauri:build # local (unsigned) build
Non-goals
Does not modify or repackage Codex installers
Does not bypass OpenAI / Microsoft authorization or local install policies
Does not forge or recompute Sparkle signatures (official signatures are copied verbatim)
Is not a replacement for official OpenAI / Microsoft Store distribution
Acknowledgements
LINUX DO community — the home for feedback on install experience, update links, and bug reports.
Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHEP) — provides the S3 mirror storage that keeps self-update and downloads fast and reachable inside mainland China.
