Codex Desktop doctor/search does not detect bundled ripgrep and falls back to system rg

Summary

The Codex Desktop app bundle contains a bundled ripgrep binary at:

/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/rg

However, codex doctor reports:

search provider: system

When no separate system rg is installed, codex doctor reports that search cannot be verified:

search command could not be verified
search command readiness: No such file or directory (os error 2)

After installing Homebrew ripgrep, codex doctor becomes OK, but still through the system provider:

✓ search ripgrep 15.1.0 (system, `rg`)

This suggests that the Desktop app's bundled rg is not being detected by the install-context / search provider selection logic. Instead, Codex Desktop falls back to system rg.

Environment

• Platform: macOS Apple Silicon
• Codex Desktop app: /Applications/Codex.app
• Codex CLI path: /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/codex
• Codex Doctor: v0.137.0-alpha.4
• Bundled ripgrep path: /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/rg
• Workaround system ripgrep path after Homebrew install: /opt/homebrew/bin/rg
• System ripgrep version after workaround: ripgrep 15.1.0

Steps to reproduce

1. Use Codex Desktop on macOS where no separate system rg is installed.

1. Confirm the Desktop app bundle contains bundled rg:

``text
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/rg
``

1. Run:

``bash
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/codex doctor
``

1. Observe that codex doctor reports search provider: system and search readiness fails with:

``text
No such file or directory (os error 2)
``

1. Install system ripgrep:

``bash
brew install ripgrep
``

1. Run codex doctor again.

1. Observe that search becomes OK, but still through the system provider:

``text
✓ search ripgrep 15.1.0 (system, rg)
``

Expected behavior

• Codex Desktop should detect and use the bundled ripgrep binary inside the app bundle.
• When bundled rg exists and is executable, codex doctor should report a bundled search provider.
• Users should not need to install a separate system rg for Codex Desktop search to work.

Actual behavior

• Bundled rg exists in the Desktop app bundle.
• codex doctor does not use the bundled rg.
• codex doctor falls back to the system provider.
• If no system rg is installed, search readiness fails.

Impact

• Search-dependent code navigation is unavailable or degraded.
• Cross-file definition lookup, call-site lookup, and code editing accuracy may be affected.
• The failure can be misdiagnosed as model quality degradation, while the local search provider is actually unavailable.

Workaround

Installing system ripgrep with Homebrew fixes codex doctor:

brew install ripgrep

After workaround:

rg is /opt/homebrew/bin/rg
/opt/homebrew/bin/rg
ripgrep 15.1.0

codex doctor then reports:

✓ search       ripgrep 15.1.0 (system, `rg`)
    search command           rg
    search provider          system
    search command readiness ripgrep 15.1.0

This is only a workaround. It does not fix Desktop bundled rg detection.

Evidence

Before workaround:

⚠ search   search command could not be verified
           Install ripgrep or repair the bundled Codex package.
           search command readiness: No such file or directory (os error 2)
           search provider: system

Bundled rg exists in the app bundle, is executable, and reports a valid version:

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 <user> staff 4066464 Jun 6 01:36 /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/rg
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/rg: Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64
ripgrep 15.1.0 (rev af60c2de9d)

features:+pcre2
simd(compile):+NEON
simd(runtime):+NEON

PCRE2 10.45 is available (JIT is available)

After workaround:

rg is /opt/homebrew/bin/rg
/opt/homebrew/bin/rg
ripgrep 15.1.0

Codex doctor after workaround:

✓ search       ripgrep 15.1.0 (system, `rg`)
    search command           rg
    search provider          system
    search command readiness ripgrep 15.1.0

Smoke test after workaround:

rg search found target_func definition and call sites.
Python validation output: smoke ok

Additional context

If maintainers need any additional details, I can be reached at: sxl3020545517@gmail.com

I am reporting this as an end user using Codex Desktop on macOS.