CodexMobile

CodexMobile

CodexMobile is a native Objective-C/UIKit iOS 12 app for an owned jailbroken/rooted iPhone 6-class device. It runs a local Codex-driven app-builder workflow on the phone so prompts can create Objective-C/UIKit apps, build them with the on-device AppBuilder toolchain, and install them locally.

This app is developer tooling, not one of the public shelf-display apps. The source is safe to publish, but the local binaries and device artifacts used to run it should stay private.

Local-Only Requirements

CodexMobile expects local files that are intentionally not committed:

• CodexMobile/Resources/codex: a user-supplied, cross-compiled Codex executable for the target device.
• CodexMobile/Resources/codex_probe: an optional helper binary built from Helpers/codex_probe.c.
• entitlements.plist: local jailbreak/rooted-device entitlements for private builds, if your install path needs them.
• device SDKs, ldid, install helpers, SSH keys, Codex auth/session state, API keys, and any other credentials.

The XcodeGen project marks the Codex and probe binaries as optional resources so the project can be generated from a clean source checkout. A fully working device build still needs the local binaries supplied before installing to the phone.

Build The Local Codex Binary

From the workspace root, build the iOS 12 arm64 Codex CLI binary from a local checkout of the official Codex repo:

scripts/build_codex_ios12.sh --codex-repo /Users/angad/workspace/codex

The script builds codex-rs with the Rust aarch64-apple-ios target, forces an iOS 12.0 deployment target, verifies the Mach-O LC_BUILD_VERSION, and copies the result to:

apps/CodexMobile/CodexMobile/Resources/codex

That output path is ignored by Git. A clean source checkout can generate the Xcode project without it, but a working on-device CodexMobile install needs this local binary before packaging.

The known-good Codex checkout is the official https://github.com/openai/codex repository plus small local iOS portability edits: code-mode runtime stubs in place of the v8-backed runtime, arboard clipboard disabled for iOS, and iOS included in the process-hardening cfg gates that are safe on the target. The exact edits are documented in ../../docs/codex-ios-portability.md. The script warns if those stubs are missing because a pristine upstream checkout may not yet cross-compile without equivalent patches.

Current Surfaces

• Chat: streams Codex output as assistant text, thinking/activity, command cards, and changed-file cards.
• App Library: remembers apps created under the on-device AppBuilder projects directory.
• AppBuilder Skill: writes Objective-C/UIKit source, asks for ImageGen/imagegen mockups and icon concepts, builds with the local AppBuilder script, and installs the generated app.
• Device Status: shows CPU, memory, and disk indicators tuned for the small iPhone 6 screen.

Open-Source Hygiene

Keep these files out of commits:

• build/, Payload/, *.ipa, *.app, *.xcodeproj/, .dSYM/, module caches, and other generated build output.
• CodexMobile/Resources/codex and CodexMobile/Resources/codex_probe.
• diagnostics/, diagnostics-spawn.log, crash reports, syslogs, and raw device screenshots unless they are intentionally curated and scrubbed.
• .env, API keys, bearer tokens, Codex auth caches, device identifiers, SSH keys, jailbreak passwords, and local install credentials.

It is fine to say this workflow uses a rooted or jailbroken iPhone 6 that you own. Do not present the project as a way to bypass iCloud, Activation Lock, DRM, App Store policy on third-party devices, or access controls on devices you do not own/control.

Before staging a public commit from the workspace root, run:

scripts/check_open_source_hygiene.sh

Remaining Work

• Add approval UI for command and patch permission requests.
• Add file read/write editors, not only directory listing.
• Add a more formal local-binary provisioning script for Resources/codex and Resources/codex_probe.