Install Codex on macOS
Published Jul 15, 2026 · Checked against the official docs
Two clean paths on macOS. `brew install --cask codex` pulls the prebuilt binary and needs no Node. `npm install -g @openai/codex` works if you already run Node 16 or newer. Then run `codex`, pick Sign in with ChatGPT, and you're working. Homebrew installs can trip a Gatekeeper popup on the bundled ripgrep, which one command clears.
The fastest correct path on macOS is Homebrew. It drops a prebuilt, OpenAI-signed binary on your PATH and skips Node entirely. If you already live in Node, npm works too. The official docs list both side by side without ranking one over the other, so pick by what’s already on your machine.
Install with Homebrew
-
Make sure Homebrew is installed (
brew --versionshould print something). -
Run the cask install:
brew install --cask codex -
Confirm it landed:
codex --version
This is a cask, currently version 0.144.4, so it grabs the compiled binary rather than building from source. No Node, nothing to compile.
Install with npm
Go this way if you’re already on Node and want Codex managed alongside your other global CLIs. The npm route needs Node on your machine; the package’s engines field sets the floor at Node 16 or newer.
npm install -g @openai/codexWatch the package name. The single most common install miss is typing npm i -g codex instead of the scoped @openai/codex, which installs a completely unrelated package.
If you don’t want either package manager, the releases page has raw tarballs: codex-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz for Apple Silicon and codex-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz for older Intel Macs. Extract, rename the binary to codex, and put it on your PATH.
Sign in and first run
- From any project directory, run
codex. - Pick Sign in with ChatGPT. OpenAI recommends this over an API key so Codex runs against your Plus, Pro, Business, Edu, or Enterprise plan. Your browser opens, you approve, and the CLI catches the callback.
- Prefer usage-based billing? Choose the API key option instead, which needs a bit of extra setup.
After that, codex drops you into the interactive agent in whatever folder you launched it from.
Gotchas
Homebrew installs have hit a Gatekeeper popup reading “Apple could not verify ‘rg’ is free of malware.” That’s the ripgrep binary Codex bundles for repo search, and since the agent searches constantly, the popup makes a session unusable. The fix is one xattr command or a cask reinstall. Full steps are on the Apple could not verify “rg” page. npm installs don’t hit this.
Related
- Apple could not verify “rg”: the Gatekeeper popup on Homebrew installs
- Install Codex on Windows: the Windows path, including a different sign-in gotcha
- Models: which model your session runs after sign-in
- Limits: what the ChatGPT-plan sign-in gives you for usage
Facts on this page verified July 15, 2026.