WSL Support

CodexBar runs natively inside WSL. The CLI works out of the box; the desktop shell requires WSLg (Windows 11, build 22000+).

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/Finesssee/Win-CodexBar.git
cd Win-CodexBar
./scripts/dev.sh

This will:

1. Detect your WSL environment
2. Build CodexBar Desktop through Tauri's no-bundle workflow
3. Launch the desktop shell (WSLg) or CLI (no display server detected)

CLI-only mode (no display server needed):

./scripts/dev.sh --cli              # codexbar usage -p all
./scripts/dev.sh --release          # optimised build

How It Works

When running inside WSL, CodexBar:

• Browser cookies: Reads Windows browser data from /mnt/c/Users/<you>/AppData/.... Chromium cookies encrypted with DPAPI cannot be decrypted from WSL automatically. Use manual cookies (Settings → provider detail → Browser Cookies) or CLI-based provider auth instead.
• Provider CLIs: Works with codex, claude, gemini etc. installed inside WSL natively.
• Desktop shell: Requires WSLg (Windows 11) or an X server. Falls back to CLI mode automatically.
• Notifications: Uses notify-send in WSL. Falls back to logging if unavailable.

Authentication Tips

Provider	WSL Auth Strategy
Codex	npm i -g @openai/codex inside WSL, then codex login
Claude	npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code inside WSL, then claude login
Gemini	gcloud auth login inside WSL (requires gcloud CLI)
Cursor / Kimi	Manual cookies — copy from browser DevTools (F12 → Network → Cookie header)
Copilot	GitHub Device Flow works natively in WSL

Differences from Native Windows

Feature	Windows	WSL
Cookie Decryption	DPAPI (automatic)	Manual cookies only
Desktop Shell	Native	Via WSLg
Notifications	PowerShell toast	notify-send