deepcodex-mac-repair

name

deepcodex-mac-repair

description

Fix a broken DeepCodex UI feature on macOS IN PLACE, on the already-installed app, with no repo and no repackaging. Use when, after a Codex Desktop update, the DeepCodex (not official Codex) UI breaks: stuck in English / won't switch to Chinese, Appearance panel empty/broken, app/window name shows "Codex" instead of "DeepCodex", or the login/onboarding gate blocks use. DeepCodex makes these changes by string-patching Codex's minified app.asar; a Codex update changes that minified code so a patch anchor stops matching and the feature breaks. The fix is to re-anchor the patcher ALREADY installed inside DeepCodex.app and re-run it on the installed app — the agent does it directly. (Separately: a "First setup failed / built for macOS 16.0" dyld crash is NOT fixable in place — see the last section.) Core model/chat functionality is unaffected by UI breakage.

Fix DeepCodex macOS UI (in place, no repo)

You are fixing the installed /Applications/DeepCodex.app on this machine. Do not look for a git repo or rebuild a dmg. Quit DeepCodex first (a running app locks the files).

0. Locate the installed pieces

# the patched Codex asar (location varies by version — find it):
find ~/Library/Application\ Support/deepcodex "/Applications/DeepCodex.app" -name app.asar 2>/dev/null
# the patcher, already installed:
ls "/Applications/DeepCodex.app/Contents/Resources/runtime/scripts/brand-patched-asar.mjs"

You also need node (DeepCodex bundles/uses it; use system node or the one under the app runtime).

1. Which patch broke (symptom → patch name)

These asar patches apply on macOS (the win32-only ones — browser-window-icon, app-user-model-id, windows-close, profile-dropdown-settings — do not):

Symptom	patch name
Stuck in English / won't switch	locale-info, default-locale, enable-i18n, i18n-loading-gate
Appearance panel empty/broken	appearance-settings, general-appearance-settings
App/window name shows "Codex"	session-title
Login/onboarding blocks use	auth-requirement, onboarding-gate
Settings won't save / theme not applied	config-write

2. Confirm it's a dropped anchor

Check the patch log under ~/Library/Application Support/deepcodex/ (a brand-patched-asar*.log with JSON skipped[]). Then look at the installed asar — grep ? { } ( ) are regex metacharacters that give FALSE NEGATIVES; use grep -aF or grep -ao '.\{20\}KEYWORD.\{40\}':

A="<app.asar path from step 0>"
grep -ao '.\{20\}"locale-info".\{60\}' "$A"     # see the real current minified code near the API

3. Re-anchor the INSTALLED patcher

Edit /Applications/DeepCodex.app/Contents/Resources/runtime/scripts/brand-patched-asar.mjs. Find the broken patch's find* + patch*, take the real current string from step 2, and re-anchor with a regex that locks the stable literal (e.g. the quoted handler name "locale-info") and wildcards the volatile minified parts:

• variable name → ([\w$]+) • call args incl. nested parens → \((?:[^()]|\([^()]*\))*\)

The replacement must be <= the matched length (the patcher space-pads to keep asar offsets). Keep the find* regex in sync and keep the "already patched?" short-circuit.

4. Re-run the patcher on the installed asar

node "/Applications/DeepCodex.app/Contents/Resources/runtime/scripts/brand-patched-asar.mjs" "<app.asar path>"

Already-applied patches short-circuit; your fixed one now lands. Verify with grep -aF for the patched marker. Then relaunch DeepCodex and check.

NOT fixable in place: "First setup failed / built for macOS 16.0" dyld crash

If first-setup shows DeepCodexSetup ... built for macOS 16.0 which is newer than running OS or a Symbol not found ... Foundation dyld error, that is a build problem in the shipped binary (DeepCodexSetup compiled with too-high a deployment target / arm64-only). The installed app does not ship the Swift source, so you cannot recompile it here. Fix for the user: download the latest release dmg, which ships DeepCodexSetup rebuilt universal (x86_64 + arm64) with deployment target macOS 12.0: https://github.com/louchi1984-coder/deepcodex/releases → deepcodex-macos-*-macos12-fix.dmg.

Facts

• Don't patch while DeepCodex/Codex is running (file locks).
• The app's LSMinimumSystemVersion (12.0) can be a lie if a bundled binary has a higher target — that's the dyld case above, which needs a fresh release, not an in-place asar edit.
• "Reconnecting 1-5/5" reconnect noise is Codex's own client behavior (official Codex too); the HTTP path still completes. Not a bug to fix here.
• After any future Codex update, redo from step 2 — anchors can drift again.