Summary
On macOS 15.6 (Apple Silicon), npm install -g @openai/codex completes, but codex --version fails immediately. The failure occurs when the Node launcher tries to spawn the native Darwin ARM64 binary.
Environment
- macOS 15.6
- Build: 24G84
- Architecture: arm64
- Kernel: Darwin 24.6.0
- Node.js: v25.9.0
- npm: 11.12.1
Install command
npm install -g @openai/codex
Also reproduced after rolling back to @openai/codex@0.125.0.
Reproduction
Actual result
node:internal/child_process:440
throw new ErrnoException(err, 'spawn');
^
Error: spawn Unknown system error -88
at ChildProcess.spawn (node:internal/child_process:440:11)
at spawn (node:child_process:796:9)
at file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/bin/codex.js:175:15
at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:437:25)
at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:639:26)
at async asyncRunEntryPointWithESMLoader (node:internal/modules/run_main:101:5) {
errno: -88,
code: 'Unknown system error -88',
syscall: 'spawn'
}
Node.js v25.9.0
Additional diagnostics
The native binary is present and matches the machine architecture:
file /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex/codex
Output:
Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64
Gatekeeper / signing checks:
codesign -dv /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex/codex
code object is not signed at all
spctl --assess --type execute -vv /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex/codex
invalid or unsupported format for signature
Also present in xattrs:
xattr -l /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex/codex
com.apple.provenance: ...
Attempting to ad-hoc sign locally also failed:
codesign --force --sign - /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex/codex
main executable failed strict validation
Notes
This is not specific to any project directory; it reproduces from the home directory as well.
It also reproduced after uninstalling, cleaning the global install, reinstalling, and then rolling back from 0.128.0 to 0.125.0.
Summary
On macOS 15.6 (Apple Silicon),
npm install -g @openai/codexcompletes, butcodex --versionfails immediately. The failure occurs when the Node launcher tries to spawn the native Darwin ARM64 binary.Environment
Install command
Also reproduced after rolling back to
@openai/codex@0.125.0.Reproduction
Actual result
Additional diagnostics
The native binary is present and matches the machine architecture:
Output:
Gatekeeper / signing checks:
Also present in xattrs:
Attempting to ad-hoc sign locally also failed:
Notes
This is not specific to any project directory; it reproduces from the home directory as well.
It also reproduced after uninstalling, cleaning the global install, reinstalling, and then rolling back from
0.128.0to0.125.0.