Connect DataForSEO to Codex

Before you run it

1. 1
   Install Codex if you haven't already. Open Terminal and run: brew install --cask codex or grab it from developers.openai.com/codex/cli.
2. 2
   Have your DataForSEO API credentials ready. These are NOT your regular dashboard login. Find them at app.dataforseo.com/api-access. You're looking for "API login" and "API password" on that page.

Run it

1. 1
   Find Connect DataForSEO to Codex.command in your Downloads folder.
2. 2
   Double-click the file. macOS will block it the first time with a message like "Apple could not verify this is free from malware." Click Done or close the dialog. We'll fix it in the next step.
3. 3
   Open System Settings → Privacy & Security. Scroll down to the Security section. You'll see a yellow warning that says "Connect DataForSEO to Codex.command" was blocked to protect your Mac. Click Open Anyway.

   If you don't see that warning here, double-click the file in Downloads again first — the warning only appears for about 1 hour after macOS blocks the file.
4. 4
   Enter your Mac password when prompted (this is your normal login password, not DataForSEO's). macOS will ask once and remember it.
5. 5
   A Terminal window opens. Paste your DataForSEO API login, hit Enter, paste your API password (you won't see it as you type — that's normal), hit Enter.
6. 6
   The script will verify your credentials with DataForSEO and tell you if anything's wrong. If everything works, you'll see Done.

Verify it worked

1. 1
   Restart Codex — close the CLI / IDE extension and reopen it. A running Codex doesn't reload its config automatically.
2. 2
   Inside Codex, type /mcp. You should see dataforseo listed.
3. 3
   Try this test prompt:

   Use DataForSEO to get the top 10 Google organic results for "best crm for agencies" in the US, desktop, English. Return domains, titles, and URLs. Do not dump the raw payload.

If something doesn't work

"Apple could not verify this file is free from malware"

That's macOS Sequoia's Gatekeeper. Close the dialog, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and click Open Anyway next to the blocked file warning. You only have to do this once. (Older macOS versions used "Right-click → Open" for this, but Sequoia changed it.)

"DataForSEO rejected those credentials"

You used your regular dashboard login instead of your API login. Go to app.dataforseo.com/api-access and grab the API login + API password shown on that page.

Codex still doesn't show dataforseo after restart

Open ~/.codex/config.toml in any text editor. Look for a [mcp_servers.dataforseo] section near the bottom. If it's not there the installer didn't write successfully — run it again and watch for an error.