Operating systems

artifactize runs on Linux (x86_64 and aarch64), macOS (Apple silicon and Intel) and Windows (x64). WSL 2 runs the Linux build. Install has the channels for each. A project, its declarations and its reviews are the same on every OS; this page lists what differs.

Project commands run as declared

Runtime evals, fingerprint scripts, command Agent tools and command Human tools run their command with args as one argument vector on every OS. There is no shell and no per-OS variant of a declaration. A project declares commands that exist where it is reviewed: an eval that runs python3 or grep needs them on every reviewer’s PATH. For reading, searching and opening files, the built-in tools work everywhere without an external program.

Runtime evals, fingerprint scripts and command Agent tools also run in the author’s own environment: artifactize passes on its whole environment (the home and cache variables of each OS, and on Windows the system variables too), so a toolchain behind a version manager resolves as in a terminal. Only ARTIFACTIZE_* variables are withheld, and each run gets a private TMPDIR (TMP and TEMP as well) of its own. See the runtime environment. Command Human tools inherit the reviewer’s complete environment, ARTIFACTIZE_* variables included, and get no private temporary or output directories (Human tools).

On Linux, the desktop app started from its AppImage (directly or through install.sh’s launcher) runs with the bundle’s directories first in PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH and similar lists, and with variables of the bundle’s own, so that it loads its bundled libraries. Every program the app starts gets the environment the app was started with: those entries and variables are left out, and system programs load their own libraries.

Program lookup

A declared program is found the same way by tools check, runtime evals, fingerprint scripts and command tools:

• A bare name, such as python3, is searched on PATH. Relative and empty PATH entries resolve against the command’s working directory. On Unix, an unset or empty PATH therefore searches that directory. On Windows, a name without an extension tries each extension in PATHEXT, in order, so npx finds npx.cmd. Without PATHEXT, the order is .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD.
• A relative name containing /, such as ./tools/check, is resolved inside a folder Artifact’s admitted scope. For a file Artifact, a relative executable resolves beneath its containing folder and may name an unrelated sibling (for example ./inspect). .. and symlinks are refused in both cases. This executable lookup does not make sibling files visible to built-in tools or scoped argv references.
• An absolute path runs as given.

Built-in help is different: its literal executable uses ordinary cwd/PATH lookup, including absolute paths, parent-relative paths and executable symlinks. Its subcommand arguments are forwarded unchanged, not resolved as scoped file operands. It runs a trusted program, not an operation confined to Artifact files.

Windows batch files (.cmd, .bat) run directly, without a shell string: the Rust standard library quotes each argument for cmd.exe and refuses an argument it cannot pass safely. The error reads Process arguments could not be passed safely, and nothing runs.

Tool sessions use process groups on Unix and kill-on-close Jobs on Windows. Artifactize owns their cleanup and recovery; the cross-platform tool-session contract explains the guarantees and the limits of trusted commands.

Paths

Logical paths use / on every OS, in declarations, tool arguments, results and records. Artifactize matches them case-sensitively on every OS: Artifact references, tool paths, .artfignore and artifactsum files patterns match the exact spelling.

How the spelling on disk is checked differs by OS:

Opening files and the browser

The built-in open tool and the login codex sign-in open their target with the desktop’s default application:

WSL behaves as Linux: there is no fallback to wslview or Windows programs. If xdg-open is missing or opens nothing, install your distribution’s xdg-utils and set a default application. login codex also prints its sign-in URL for any browser.

Desktop console launches

On Windows, launching artifactize without arguments from Start or Explorer shows help plus a terminal hint and waits for Enter if this process is the console’s only attached process and both stdin and stdout are consoles. It never pauses with arguments, from an existing terminal, or with redirected input/output. Linux and macOS retain the ordinary no-argument help and immediate exit.

The Microsoft Store package has two visible entries, Artifactize for the desktop app and Artifactize CLI for this help launch, and one command alias, artifactize; its tools are available as artifactize tools. Non-Store channels also ship the standalone artifactize-tools command.

State

The default state directory differs by OS: %LOCALAPPDATA%\artifactize on Windows, ~/.local/state/artifactize on Linux and macOS. The Store version keeps its own package-private state, which Windows removes on uninstall, and WSL keeps its own Linux state. See State for the full precedence and the Windows overlay caveat.