rdmsm4x-changelog-20260823-2122-codex-cli-fleet-consolidation-to-homebrew

Consolidated Codex CLI to a single Homebrew-managed install on all six fleet Macs by removing two shadowing non-brew installs; confirmed Claude Code, Codex and agy status lines are already at parity.

When: started 2026-08-23 21:16 EDT, closed 2026-08-23 21:22:45 EDT
Host executing: rdmsm4x (lead)
Scope: rdmsm4x, rdmbair13m5, rdmbair15m5, rdmpw3265m, rdmpw3275m, jdmbair13m5

Context

Rich asked to run ~/install_codex-cli.zsh fleet-wide. That path does not exist; the actual file is ~/dev/install_codex-cli.sh (created 2026-08-23 21:15), containing one line: npm install -g @openai/codex.

Preflight found Codex already installed via Homebrew cask on all six hosts at 0.149.0. Running the npm script would have added a second, fnm-managed install on every host, outside brew's upgrade path and orphaned by any node-version switch. This conflicts with global rule 27 (prefer Homebrew where a cask exists; brew install --cask codex does exist). Rich chose the Homebrew consolidation path.

Findings

brew outdated --cask codex = up to date on all six. Cask latest is 0.149.0; npm publishes 0.149.1. No brew upgrade was available or performed.
Two hosts had shadowing installs, via two different mechanisms:
- rdmsm4x — npm global @openai/[email protected] under fnm node v24.19.0. A non-login shell resolved the fnm shim while a login shell resolved brew, so codex differed by shell type.
- rdmpw3275m — Codex's own standalone self-updater at ~/.codex/packages/standalone (releases 0.148.0 and 0.149.1, install.lock dated Aug 20), fronted by symlink ~/.local/bin/codex, which preceded /usr/local/bin on PATH. 566 MB.
Verified the brew binary and the standalone binary are independent Mach-O executables; brew's is not a launcher delegating to the standalone, so removal was safe.

Changes made

Host	Action
rdmsm4x	`npm uninstall -g @openai/codex` (removed 2 packages); fnm bin shim gone
rdmpw3275m	`rm -f ~/.local/bin/codex`; `rm -rf ~/.codex/packages/standalone` (reclaimed 566 MB)
other four	no change — already brew-only

~/.codex/config.toml was not modified on any host (rdmpw3275m verified intact at 7316 bytes).

Verification (at close)

All six hosts, checked in login shells, plus rdmsm4x re-checked in a non-login shell:

rdmsm4x       brew   codex-cli 0.149.0  standalone=none localbin=none npm=0 tui_items=28
rdmbair13m5   brew   codex-cli 0.149.0  standalone=none localbin=none npm=0 tui_items=28
rdmbair15m5   brew   codex-cli 0.149.0  standalone=none localbin=none npm=0 tui_items=28
rdmpw3265m    brew   codex-cli 0.149.0  standalone=none localbin=none npm=0 tui_items=28
rdmpw3275m    brew   codex-cli 0.149.0  standalone=none localbin=none npm=0 tui_items=28
jdmbair13m5   brew   codex-cli 0.149.0  standalone=none localbin=none npm=0 tui_items=28

Reproduce with zsh -l on any host:

command -v codex; codex --version
ls ~/.codex/packages/standalone 2>/dev/null; ls ~/.local/bin/codex 2>/dev/null
npm ls -g --depth=0 2>/dev/null | grep '@openai/codex'

Status line parity (no changes needed)

Verified already at parity across all six hosts — the earlier fleet-cli-status-meters handoff (mail 20260822-222323-9A551573) had completed:

Surface	State
Claude Code	`statusLine.command = bash ~/.claude/statusline.sh`; renderer sha256 `86252490851c…` identical on 6/6
agy	`statusLine` set + `enabled: true` in `~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/settings.json` on 6/6; renderer sha256 `32e399799337…` identical on 6/6
Codex	`[tui] status_line` array, 28 identical items, on 6/6

Note for future probes: agy's status line lives in ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/settings.json, not ~/.gemini/settings.json (the latter is auth-only, ~82 bytes). An initial probe against the wrong path falsely reported the status line as unset on all six hosts.

Only remaining drift is cosmetic: rdmbair15m5's [tui] block carries two extra comment lines and a trailing newline. The status_line array itself is byte-identical. Left as-is.

Claude Code version check

rdmsm4x is on cask claude-code@latest (fast channel) at 2.1.241, matching the published cask latest. Exec bit present. No action taken.

How to undo

Reinstall npm global: npm install -g @openai/codex (restores the fnm-managed shadow).
rdmpw3275m standalone rebuilds itself on demand via Codex's own updater; nothing else to restore.
No config files were edited, so there is no config rollback.

Outstanding owner actions

None blocking. When Homebrew publishes cask codex 0.149.1, brew upgrade --cask codex fleet-wide brings all six to that patch through the managed path.
~/dev/install_codex-cli.sh still contains the npm one-liner. Left in place, unmodified — deleting or rewriting it was not authorized. Recommend replacing its body with brew upgrade --cask codex if it is meant to stay as the fleet install path.