On macOS `mxcli setup mxbuild` prints "Using Studio Pro mxbuild for X" and returns without touching `~/.mxcli/mxbuild/X/`, so the remedy that `run --local`'s own messages recommend leaves the cache exactly as broken as before

[MendixMau]

Summary

Three places in the local run path tell the user to run mxcli setup mxbuild:

• javadeps.go: Run 'mxcli setup mxbuild --version <ver>' if this misbehaves.
• mxserve.go verifyMxBuildCache: mxbuild cache incomplete: missing runtime directory ... re-run 'mxcli setup mxbuild -p <app.mpr>'
• mxserve.go StartServe: mxbuild not found; run 'mxcli setup mxbuild -p <app.mpr>' or pass ServeOptions.MxBuildPath

On macOS the command detects the version, finds the Studio Pro bundle, prints its path, and exits.
It creates no ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/<ver>/modeler link and does not replace a Linux CDN download that
is already there. Because StartServe reads only the cache (see b2a), the next run --local
fails in the same way as before the "remedy".

Environment

• mxcli v0.21.0 (binary built 2026-09-06T15:33:18Z); cmd/mxcli/setup.go read at v0.21.0.
• macOS (Darwin 25.6.0, Apple Silicon), Studio Pro 11.12.0 Beta and 11.12.2 Beta installed.
• Mendix 11.12.2 project and a Mendix 11.12.0 blank app.

Steps to reproduce

Case A, entry absent:

$ ls -la ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/11.12.2/
runtime -> /Users/<me>/.mxcli/runtime/11.12.2/runtime

$ mxcli setup mxbuild -p <project>.mpr --version 11.12.2
Using Studio Pro mxbuild for 11.12.2: /Applications/Mendix Studio Pro 11.12.2 Beta.app/Contents/modeler/mxbuild
(No download needed. Re-run with --force to download the Linux CDN binary instead.)

$ mxcli setup mxbuild -p <project>.mpr
Detected Mendix version: 11.12.2
Using Studio Pro mxbuild for 11.12.2: /Applications/Mendix Studio Pro 11.12.2 Beta.app/Contents/modeler/mxbuild
(No download needed. Re-run with --force to download the Linux CDN binary instead.)

$ ls -la ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/11.12.2/
runtime -> /Users/<me>/.mxcli/runtime/11.12.2/runtime

Case B, wrong entry present:

$ file -b ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/11.12.0/modeler/mxbuild
ELF 64-bit LSB pie executable, ARM aarch64 ...
$ mxcli setup mxbuild -p <blankapp>.mpr
Detected Mendix version: 11.12.0
Using Studio Pro mxbuild for 11.12.0: /Applications/Mendix Studio Pro 11.12.0 Beta.app/Contents/modeler/mxbuild
(No download needed. Re-run with --force to download the Linux CDN binary instead.)
$ file -b ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/11.12.0/modeler/mxbuild
ELF 64-bit LSB pie executable, ARM aarch64 ...

In both cases the following mxcli run --local fails exactly as it did before (b2a shapes 1 and
2). The only thing that helps is a hand made symlink:
ln -s "/Applications/Mendix Studio Pro 11.12.2 Beta.app/Contents/modeler" ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/11.12.2/modeler.

Expected

Either setup mxbuild records its finding where the run path looks (a modeler symlink to the
Studio Pro bundle plus the runtime sibling, the layout verifyMxBuildCache already expects), or
the three messages stop recommending it on macOS and instead print the symlink, or say "install
Studio Pro ".

Actual

The command is a no op on the cache; the messages send the user in a circle.

Root cause

cmd/mxcli/setup.go (v0.21.0), macOS branch of setup mxbuild: after NativeMxBuildForSetup
returns a Studio Pro path it prints "Using Studio Pro mxbuild for %s: %s" and returns. The only
symlink writers in the tree are build.go:710, download.go:456, runlocal.go:395
(ensureMxBuildRuntimeSibling, runtime side only) and marketplace/refcache.go:341; none is on
this path.

Severity

Medium on mxcli v0.21.0 macOS: on its own it is a misleading remedy. Combined with b2a it is the
reason a macOS user must hand edit ~/.mxcli/mxbuild/ to run any project whose version was not
already cached, which is a blocker until b2a lands. Not applicable on Linux (the CDN download
populates the cache).

Trigger boundary

Cache state before	setup mxbuild output	Cache state after	Next run --local
<ver>/ has runtime only	Using Studio Pro mxbuild for 11.12.2	unchanged	version mismatch (b2a shape 1)
<ver>/modeler is the Linux download	Using Studio Pro mxbuild for 11.12.0	unchanged	linux binary error (b2a shape 2)
<ver>/modeler symlink made by hand	Using Studio Pro mxbuild for 11.12.2	unchanged	build proceeds

Follow-up to #1122

This is the setup-side remedy for the resolver defect in #1122, split out per one-issue-one-file.
If #1122 is fixed by passing the resolved path through to StartServe, this one shrinks to "three
messages recommend a command that changes nothing on macOS".