Building from Source

Debug build

cargo build

Output: target/debug/aimessage

Release build

cargo build --release

Output: target/release/aimessage

Run directly

cargo run

This requires Full Disk Access to be granted to your terminal emulator (not just the app bundle). Suitable for development; use the app bundle for regular use.

Debug logging

AiMessage uses the tracing crate. Set RUST_LOG to control log output:

# Structured JSON logs for the aimessage crate only
RUST_LOG=aimessage=debug cargo run

# All crates at debug level
RUST_LOG=debug cargo run

# Trace-level (very verbose)
RUST_LOG=aimessage=trace cargo run

Linting

cargo clippy

Fix all warnings before submitting a pull request. The CI enforces a clean clippy run.

Build the app bundle

bash scripts/build-app.sh

This compiles a release build and packages it into bundle/AiMessage.app. Run this whenever you want to test with the proper macOS permissions setup, or to produce a distributable bundle.

Running tests

cargo test

There are 16 unit tests covering core logic. No special setup is required — the tests do not need a running Messages.app or database access.