Codex Shift

Codex Shift is a small CLI and macOS menu bar app that runs Codex with isolated CODEX_HOME directories, so you can switch between work and personal Codex account contexts.

Codex stores local state such as config, auth, logs, and sessions under CODEX_HOME. By giving each account its own home directory, we can switch contexts without copying or editing auth files directly.

npm install
npm link

cxs add company
cxs add personal
cxs delete personal
cxs add personal

cxs login company
cxs login personal

cxs run company
cxs run personal

Install the Electron development dependency first:

npm install

Then start the macOS menu bar app:

npm run tray

The tray app reads the same profiles as the CLI. From the menu bar you can:

• create a new profile by entering a profile name
• delete a profile after a confirmation prompt
• show experimental Codex usage status next to each profile
• show the most recently opened profile's primary remaining usage next to the tray icon
• open each profile's actions from its submenu
• activate the existing Codex macOS app from a profile submenu
• run Login in Browser for a selected profile, with Terminal login as a fallback
• open the profiles folder

The menu bar app needs the Codex CLI for Login in Browser and Login in Terminal. It detects common Homebrew, npm/nvm, Volta, and pnpm installation locations. If your installation is elsewhere, launch the app with CXS_CODEX_PATH set to the full path of the codex executable.

By default, the tray looks for an app named Codex. You can override that name when launching the tray:

CXS_CODEX_APP_NAME="Codex" \
npm run tray

Open App launches Codex with the selected profile's CODEX_HOME when Codex is not already running. If Codex is already running, the tray asks whether to keep the existing workspace active or quit and reopen Codex with the selected profile. Profile-specific terminal execution is also available through cxs run.

The tray app refreshes Codex usage state every 10 minutes and immediately after launching Codex from the tray. Each profile displays one of these states:

Needs login
Unknown
Last known

This is intentionally separate from the OpenAI API usage/costs API. The app uses the selected profile's ChatGPT auth token to call Codex usage endpoints observed in the local Codex client. If the request or parser fails, the app keeps the last known parsed value when one exists and otherwise shows Unknown.

For a distributable macOS build:

npm run pack:mac

This project is currently distributed without an Apple Developer ID certificate or Apple notarization. macOS therefore marks the app as quarantined after it is downloaded from GitHub; this is expected and does not mean the DMG is corrupted.

1. Open the downloaded DMG and drag Codex Shift.app into Applications.
2. In Finder, Control-click Codex Shift.app, then choose Open and confirm.

If macOS instead reports that the app is damaged, remove the download quarantine attribute after copying it to Applications:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Codex Shift.app"

Then open the app normally. Only run this command for a release you downloaded from this repository.

Release builds use an explicit ad-hoc signature and disable the hardened runtime because they are not Developer ID signed. This makes the unsigned-build intent clear, but it does not replace Apple signing or notarization; a Developer ID signed and notarized release is required for a warning-free macOS installation.

In the packaged app's menu bar menu, enable Launch at login to start Codex Shift automatically when you sign in to macOS. Disable the same item to remove it from the macOS login items list. This option is unavailable while running the app in development mode.

cxs add <profile> [--label <name>]
cxs delete <profile>
cxs list
cxs use <profile>
cxs current
cxs path <profile>
cxs env <profile>
cxs login <profile>
cxs run [profile] [-- <codex args...>]
cxs exec [profile] -- <prompt or codex exec args...>

If you omit the profile for run or exec, the CLI shows a numbered profile list in the terminal:

cxs run
cxs exec -- "review this change"

Profiles:

~/.codex-profiles/<profile>

Current profile state:

~/Library/Application Support/Codex Shift/current-profile.json

For tests or custom layouts, override these paths:

CXS_PROFILES_DIR=/tmp/codex-profiles \
CXS_STATE_DIR=/tmp/codex-shift-state \
cxs add company

• Add a Tauri menu bar app that calls this CLI core.
• Add account labels and icons in a small settings UI.
• Improve the experimental Codex usage parser as response shapes evolve.
• Add shell integration helpers such as codex-company and codex-personal.