Codex CLI Launcher for Windows

A small PowerShell installer that adds Codex CLI to the current user's Windows Desktop and Start Menu.

The launcher opens a fresh Windows Terminal window in a selected workspace and runs the installed native Codex CLI.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7.
• Windows Terminal available as wt.exe.
• Codex CLI available as codex.exe.

Check the installation and login:

codex --version
codex login status

Install

Clone this private repository and run the installer:

gh repo clone Joinkiee/codex-cli-launcher
Set-Location codex-cli-launcher
pwsh -NoProfile -File .\Install-CodexLauncher.ps1

Windows PowerShell 5.1 also works:

powershell -NoProfile -File .\Install-CodexLauncher.ps1

The default workspace is Documents\Codex. To select another directory:

pwsh -NoProfile -File .\Install-CodexLauncher.ps1 -Workspace "C:\path\to\projects"

Useful options:

• -CodexPath and -WtPath select exact executable paths if discovery is ambiguous.
• -NoDesktop or -NoStartMenu skips that shortcut location.
• -WhatIf previews changes.
• -Force permits replacement of an unrelated same-name shortcut.

The installer uses Windows known-folder APIs, so redirected and OneDrive-backed Desktop and Documents folders are supported.

What it changes

• Creates the selected workspace directory if it does not exist.
• Creates Codex CLI.lnk on the current user's Desktop.
• Creates Codex CLI.lnk in the current user's Start Menu.

It does not require elevation, download software, change PATH, or read or write Codex credentials and configuration. Generated .lnk files are not stored in the repository because they contain machine-specific absolute paths.

This launcher passes no safety overrides. Codex applies the same configuration and defaults it would use if you ran codex directly from the selected workspace.

If Codex is not logged in, authenticate separately:

codex login

Uninstall the shortcuts

pwsh -NoProfile -File .\Uninstall-CodexLauncher.ps1

The uninstaller removes only shortcuts marked as owned by this installer. It never removes the workspace, Codex installation, .codex directory, sessions, configuration, or credentials.

Troubleshooting

Get-Command codex.exe
Get-Command wt.exe
codex --version
codex doctor