Installation

Prerequisites

• macOS Ventura or later
• Rust toolchain: install via rustup
• Messages.app signed into an Apple ID

Clone and build

git clone <repo-url>
cd aimessage
cargo build --release

The release binary is output to target/release/aimessage.

Create the app bundle

Running AiMessage as a proper .app bundle is required for macOS to associate the Full Disk Access and Automation permissions with it. Running the bare binary from a terminal works only if you grant those permissions to your terminal emulator instead.

bash scripts/build-app.sh

This script compiles a release build and packages it into bundle/AiMessage.app. After it completes, grant the bundle Full Disk Access (see Permissions) and then launch it:

open bundle/AiMessage.app

What build-app.sh does

The script performs these steps:

1. Runs cargo build --release
2. Creates the bundle/AiMessage.app/Contents/MacOS/ directory structure
3. Copies the compiled binary into the bundle
4. Writes a minimal Info.plist

You need to re-run the script any time you rebuild the binary with new changes.