build-macos-apps Codex Plugin
Plugin Codex Developer Tools Web & App DevelopmentThe explanation below is AI-generated. Please verify it against the sources.
build-macos-apps is a Codex plugin by OpenAI (version 0.1.4, MIT license) that packages macOS-first development workflows for building, running, testing, debugging, instrumenting, and implementing local macOS apps. It uses Xcode, SwiftUI, AppKit interop, unified logging (os.Logger), and shell-first desktop tooling such as xcodebuild, swift, lldb, codesign, spctl, plutil, and log stream. The plugin ships eleven skills covering build/run/debug, test triage, signing and entitlements, Swift Package Manager, packaging/notarization, SwiftUI patterns, Liquid Glass design, window management, AppKit interop, view refactoring, and telemetry. According to the README, it explicitly does not cover iOS/watchOS/tvOS simulator control, desktop UI automation, App Store Connect release management, or pixel-perfect visual design generation. It is skills-first (no plugin-local .mcp.json), mirroring the public build-ios-apps plugin's structure but with a shell-first, non-simulator posture.
Overview
This is not a standalone SaaS product but a plugin for OpenAI's Codex that adds macOS app development workflows (skills, commands, and agent metadata) to the Codex environment.
What you can do with build-macos-apps
- Discover local Xcode workspaces, projects, and Swift packages
- Build and run macOS apps via shell-first workflows, including a project-local script/build_and_run.sh and .codex/environments/environment.toml for the Codex app Run button
- Implement native SwiftUI scenes, menus, settings, toolbars, and multiwindow flows
- Adopt Liquid Glass design-system guidance for toolbars, search, controls, and glass surfaces
- Tailor SwiftUI windows (title/toolbar styling, container backgrounds, restoration, placement, borderless style, launch behavior)
- Bridge into AppKit for representables, responder-chain behavior, and panels
- Refactor large macOS view files toward stable scene, selection, and command structure
- Add lightweight Logger/os.Logger instrumentation and verify runtime events with Console or log stream
- Triage failing unit, integration, and UI-hosted macOS tests
- Debug launch failures, crashes, linker problems, and runtime regressions
- Inspect signing identities, entitlements, hardened runtime, and Gatekeeper issues
- Prepare packaging and notarization workflows for distribution
Sources
Original description (English)
Build, run, test, debug, instrument, and implement local macOS apps using Xcode, SwiftUI, AppKit interop, unified logging, and shell-first desktop workflows.
History of build-macos-apps
- Codex Plugin Added build-macos-apps