Explain macOS permissions for Codex plugins (#1869)

* Explain macOS permissions for Codex plugins

* Check macOS access from the plugin card

* Show access state when the card opens

* Hold the add until the plugin's access check passes

* Note how to run desktop dev beside an installed app

* Let a desktop dev run keep its own userData and scope dir

* Note the access gate in the changeset

* Assert the preset id the bridge recipe now carries

Author: RhysSullivan

.changeset/codex-permission-onboarding.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+---
+"executor": patch
+"@executor-js/plugin-mcp": patch
+---
+
+Explain macOS permissions for Codex plugins instead of failing with an opaque
+error. A refused grant used to surface as `Internal tool error [id]` — the
+plugin reports "Unknown error" and only a numeric code says what happened, so
+neither the user nor the model could tell that macOS was the blocker.
+
+The bridge now recognises those codes and answers with the grant to enable and
+where to find it. Each plugin's add screen also states what macOS will ask for
+before anything runs, with a link straight to the right Privacy pane — macOS
+asks once, and a dismissed prompt never returns.
+
+The add screen checks that access when it opens, and holds the Add button
+until the plugin answers. Adding one that macOS is still blocking produced an
+integration that looked connected and failed on its first call, by which point
+the screen explaining the fix was gone.

RUNNING.md

@@ -40,6 +40,34 @@ develop on its `main`, publish a bump, then bump the dependency here. The
 The e2e globalsetup files are the source of truth for "how do I boot a
 working instance of X" — read them before inventing a boot path.
 
+A desktop dev run collides with an INSTALLED Executor in three places, all of
+which look like something else. Give the dev run its own of each:
+
+```
+EXECUTOR_DESKTOP_USER_DATA=/tmp/executor-desktop-dev-userdata \
+EXECUTOR_DESKTOP_SCOPE_DIR=/tmp/executor-desktop-dev-scope \
+EXECUTOR_DESKTOP_SETTINGS_DIR=/tmp/executor-desktop-dev-settings \
+bun run dev
+```
+
+- **userData** holds Electron's single-instance lock, so the second process
+  quits at startup with **exit code 0 and no message** — the log simply stops
+  after "starting electron app".
+- **The scope dir** (`~/.executor`) holds the sidecar's SQLite, owned by
+  whoever opened it first; the app reports "Failed to open local SQLite data".
+- **The port** comes from `settings.json` in the settings dir; write
+  `{"server":{"port":<free>}}` there before the first launch.
+
+Do NOT move these by pointing `HOME` at a scratch directory. The plugins a
+local run drives resolve their own paths from the real home, and a synthetic
+one breaks them in ways that read as product bugs: Codex Computer Use fails
+every call with "Sky Computer Use native pipe startup failed", even with
+`.codex` symlinked back.
+
+Renderer edits inside a workspace package can be served from vite's dep
+cache rather than the source the package exports. If a change does not appear
+after a reload, delete `apps/desktop/node_modules/.vite` and restart.
+
 ## E2E: running, viewing, sharing
 
 `e2e/AGENTS.md` covers writing scenarios. Operationally:

apps/desktop/src/main/index.ts

@@ -78,7 +78,13 @@ import {
 // executor.jsonc plugin manifest) is pinned separately to ~/.executor in
 // main/sidecar.ts — that path matches the CLI's default.
 app.setName("Executor");
-app.setPath("userData", join(app.getPath("appData"), "Executor"));
+// A dev run must not collide with an installed Executor: userData also holds
+// Electron's single-instance lock, so sharing it makes the second process quit
+// silently at startup. `EXECUTOR_DESKTOP_USER_DATA` gives a dev run its own.
+app.setPath(
+  "userData",
+  process.env.EXECUTOR_DESKTOP_USER_DATA ?? join(app.getPath("appData"), "Executor"),
+);
 
 log.initialize({ preload: true });
 log.transports.file.level = "info";

apps/desktop/src/main/sidecar.ts

@@ -215,6 +215,18 @@ const resolveClientDir = (): string => {
 const delay = (ms: number): Promise<void> =>
   new Promise((resolveDelay) => setTimeout(resolveDelay, ms));
 
+/**
+ * Where this app keeps `data.db`, `auth.json`, and the server manifest.
+ *
+ * A dev run overrides it: that SQLite has ONE owner, so a dev build started
+ * beside an installed Executor otherwise dies on the installed app's lock.
+ * Redirecting HOME is not an alternative — the machine-local tools a plugin
+ * drives resolve their own paths from it, and Codex Computer Use fails at
+ * "native pipe startup" under a synthetic home.
+ */
+const executorScopeDir = (): string =>
+  process.env.EXECUTOR_DESKTOP_SCOPE_DIR ?? join(homedir(), ".executor");
+
 export async function startSidecar(options: StartOptions = {}): Promise<SidecarConnection> {
   const hostname = options.hostname ?? "127.0.0.1";
   const settings = getServerSettings();
@@ -226,7 +238,7 @@ export async function startSidecar(options: StartOptions = {}): Promise<SidecarC
   // userData (set in main/index.ts) is still used for electron-store,
   // electron-log, and window-state — those stay app-scoped to avoid colliding
   // with anything else under HOME.
-  const scopeDir = join(homedir(), ".executor");
+  const scopeDir = executorScopeDir();
   const dataDir = scopeDir;
   mkdirSync(dataDir, { recursive: true });
 
@@ -429,7 +441,7 @@ const isDaemonReachable = async (origin: string): Promise<boolean> => {
  * is handled by the existing single-instance / ownership logic.
  */
 export async function attachToSupervisedDaemon(): Promise<SidecarConnection | null> {
-  const dataDir = join(homedir(), ".executor");
+  const dataDir = executorScopeDir();
   const manifest = readManifest(dataDir);
   const decision = await resolveSupervisedDaemonAttach(manifest, {
     isReachable: isDaemonReachable,

e2e/local/codex-plugins.test.ts

@@ -143,23 +143,28 @@ scenario(
             });
           }
           // Curated entries carry the app-server bridge recipe: `codex
-          // app-server` plus the server name the bridge calls tools on.
+          // app-server`, the server name the bridge calls tools on, and the
+          // preset it came from — that last one is what lets a macOS refusal
+          // name the exact grant to enable.
           const messages = byId.get("codex-messages");
           expect(messages?.command.endsWith("codex"), "curated entries spawn the codex CLI").toBe(
             true,
           );
           expect(messages?.args, "curated entries run the app-server").toEqual(["app-server"]);
           expect(messages?.appServer, "curated entries name their Codex server").toEqual({
+            presetId: "codex-messages",
             server: "messages",
           });
           // Computer Use and Chrome have no server of their own: both are
           // projected onto `node_repl`, and Chrome carries the client module
           // its surface imports, resolved through the `latest` symlink.
           expect(byId.get("codex-computer-use")?.appServer).toEqual({
+            presetId: "codex-computer-use",
             server: "node_repl",
             surface: "sky",
           });
           expect(byId.get("codex-chrome")?.appServer).toEqual({
+            presetId: "codex-chrome",
             server: "node_repl",
             surface: "browser",
             modulePath: join(codexHome, CHROME_CLIENT_RELATIVE),

packages/plugins/mcp/src/api/group.ts

@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ const AddStdioServerPayload = Schema.Struct({
       server: Schema.String,
       surface: Schema.optional(Schema.Literals(["sky", "browser"])),
       modulePath: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
+      presetId: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
     }),
   ),
   slug: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
@@ -177,6 +178,7 @@ const CodexPluginEntrySchema = Schema.Struct({
       server: Schema.String,
       surface: Schema.optional(Schema.Literals(["sky", "browser"])),
       modulePath: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
+      presetId: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
     }),
   ),
   setupHint: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
@@ -190,6 +192,20 @@ const CodexPluginEntrySchema = Schema.Struct({
   description: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
 });
 
+/** The result of actually trying the plugin, not a reading of any privacy
+ *  database — macOS exposes no way to read another app's decisions. */
+const CodexPluginAccessResponse = Schema.Struct({
+  status: Schema.Literals([
+    "ok",
+    "blocked",
+    "not-installed",
+    "nothing-to-check",
+    "unknown",
+    "unsupported",
+  ]),
+  message: Schema.optional(Schema.String),
+});
+
 const ListCodexPluginsResponse = Schema.Struct({
   plugins: Schema.Array(CodexPluginEntrySchema),
 });
@@ -266,6 +282,13 @@ export const McpGroup = HttpApiGroup.make("mcp")
       error: [InternalError],
     }),
   )
+  .add(
+    HttpApiEndpoint.post("checkCodexPluginAccess", "/mcp/codex-plugins/:id/check", {
+      params: { id: Schema.String },
+      success: CodexPluginAccessResponse,
+      error: [InternalError],
+    }),
+  )
   .add(
     HttpApiEndpoint.get("getCodexPluginIcon", "/mcp/codex-plugins/:id/icon", {
       params: { id: Schema.String },

packages/plugins/mcp/src/api/handlers.test.ts

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ const failingExtension: McpPluginExtension = {
   configureServer: () => unused,
   configureAuth: () => unused,
   listCodexPlugins: () => Effect.succeed([]),
+  checkCodexPluginAccess: () => Effect.succeed({ status: "unknown" as const }),
 };
 
 const Api = addGroup(McpGroup);

packages/plugins/mcp/src/api/handlers.ts

@@ -43,7 +43,12 @@ const toServerInput = (
       cwd?: string;
       versionNegotiation?: "legacy" | "auto";
       spawnPerCall?: boolean;
-      appServer?: { server: string; surface?: "sky" | "browser"; modulePath?: string };
+      appServer?: {
+        server: string;
+        surface?: "sky" | "browser";
+        modulePath?: string;
+        presetId?: string;
+      };
       slug?: string;
     };
     return {
@@ -179,6 +184,14 @@ export const McpHandlers = HttpApiBuilder.group(ExecutorApiWithMcp, "mcp", (hand
         }),
       ),
     )
+    .handle("checkCodexPluginAccess", ({ params }) =>
+      capture(
+        Effect.gen(function* () {
+          const ext = yield* McpExtensionService;
+          return yield* ext.checkCodexPluginAccess(params.id);
+        }),
+      ),
+    )
     .handle("getCodexPluginIcon", ({ params }) =>
       capture(
         Effect.gen(function* () {