desktop

codbash desktop (Electron)

A native window around the unmodified codbash server. This is an addition: the npm CLI (codbash run) and the zero-dependency core are untouched — Electron lives entirely in this folder with its own package.json.

How it works

main.js (Electron main process):

1. picks a free loopback port,
2. spawns the real codbash server as a Node child process (node ../bin/cli.js run --port=<p> --host=127.0.0.1 --no-browser),
3. waits until http://127.0.0.1:<p>/ answers,
4. opens a BrowserWindow pointed at it.

The server runs under a normal Node runtime (not Electron's), so the prebuilt native @lydell/node-pty loads with no rebuild — the browser terminal keeps working. External http(s) links open in the user's real browser.

Run in development

# from the repo root, make sure core deps (incl. the optional terminal) are present
npm install

cd desktop
npm install          # fetches electron + electron-builder (dev-only)
npm start            # launches the app window

Smoke test (launches, verifies server+window, auto-quits):

npm run smoke

Override the Node binary used for the server child (rarely needed):

CODBASH_NODE=/usr/local/bin/node npm start

Build a macOS app

cd desktop
npm run dist:mac     # → dist/codbash-<version>.dmg  (universal arm64 + x64)

Before you ship it

• Icon: drop a build/icon.icns (1024×1024 source). Without it Electron uses a default icon.
• Bundled Node: the packaged app spawns node from PATH. For a self-contained DMG, place a node binary in the app resources (electron-builder extraResources) and resolveNodeBin() will prefer it. Most codbash users already have Node, so PATH works out of the box for a dev/internal build.
• node_modules: @lydell/node-pty is copied into the packaged resources (see extraResources). If you add other optional runtime deps, copy them too.
• Signing + notarization (for Gatekeeper / distribution outside the App Store): set CSC_LINK/CSC_KEY_PASSWORD (Developer ID cert) and configure notarization in build.mac. Do not target the Mac App Store — codbash spawns processes, drives Terminal.app via AppleScript, and reads across the filesystem, which the App Store sandbox forbids.

What is NOT cut

Nothing functional. A desktop app has the same (local) privileges the CLI relies on, so sessions, cost, the browser terminal, project launch, terminal detection, etc. all work. The only replacements for a packaged build are: self-update (use an Electron updater instead of npm i -g) and not assuming a system sqlite3 on PATH under a sandbox (codbash shells out to it for the SQLite-backed agents; macOS ships sqlite3, so unsandboxed builds are fine).