Secret Agent won’t activate

Codebook
1

Just got a MacBook Pro but having trouble keeping Secret Agent selected. I saw in troubleshooting that the Mac OS privacy option for Automation needs to show Codebook but that screen is blank and can’t see how to add apps.

2

Hey @Fethon

Thanks for using Codebook and posting to the discussion forum, although I’m sorry to hear about the trouble activating Secret Agent. We’ve responded separately to you via your private support request as well and are working with you there to troubleshoot, but I will also reiterate some of the information here for anyone else who’s experiencing a similar problem:

There are a few things to try if Secret Agent won’t activate or stay activated when you check the preference on macOS. They are enumerated in this post: Troubleshooting Codebook Secret Agent (under “Issue – Restarting Codebook turns off the “Enable Secret Agent” preference”)

Specifically there are typically 3 things that can cause this issue:

  1. Multiple copies of Codebook present on your system.
  2. The Codebook App is quarantined by Apple GateKeeper.
  3. The Secret Agent Helper application fails to launch with non-zero exit code (78)

There are steps to check if any of these are causing your issue and steps to resolve the issue if they are in the post above.

I saw in troubleshooting that the Mac OS privacy option for Automation needs to show Codebook but that screen is blank and can’t see how to add apps.

You should be prompted to allow Codebook for Automation when first attempting to insert data with Codebook Secret Agent. I don’t believe there’s a way to manually add an application to System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Automation. This Security & Privacy setting isn’t utilized until you actually insert data, so this isn’t what’s causing the issue for not being able to activate Secret Agent.

3

Thanks for your reply, I went through all the resolution steps for the various possible causes but nothing fixed it! Frustrating.
I sent a detailed email with screenshots to Don from Support.

4

@Fethon
Glad to hear that my colleague was able to get your issue resolved. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again if you run into any other issues.

1 Like
5

Yes, great outcome! It was a tricky one.