From 14dbd0610a7a43fc716d394044c9f20ab9721cc6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Bolin <mbolin@openai.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:40:26 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] chore: include User layer in ConfigLayerStack even if
 config.toml is empty (#8456)

This is necessary so that `$CODEX_HOME/skills` and `$CODEX_HOME/rules`
still get loaded even if `$CODEX_HOME/config.toml` does not exist. See
#8453.

For now, it is possible to omit this layer when creating a dummy
`ConfigLayerStack` in a test. We can revisit that later, if it turns out
to be the right thing to do.
---
 .../app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs    |  2 ++
 codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/mod.rs        | 20 +++++++++++-------
 codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/tests.rs      | 21 ++++++++++++++++---
 3 files changed, 33 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs b/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs
index 7ba7cc04b..7a360cee2 100644
--- a/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs
@@ -237,6 +237,8 @@ pub enum ConfigLayerSource {
     #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
     #[ts(rename_all = "camelCase")]
     User {
+        /// This is the path to the user's config.toml file, though it is not
+        /// guaranteed to exist.
         file: AbsolutePathBuf,
     },
 
diff --git a/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/mod.rs b/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/mod.rs
index 4bc9fb9c5..7d98db708 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/mod.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/mod.rs
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ pub async fn load_config_layers_state(
     // exists, but is malformed, then this error should be propagated to the
     // user.
     let user_file = AbsolutePathBuf::resolve_path_against_base(CONFIG_TOML_FILE, codex_home)?;
-    match tokio::fs::read_to_string(&user_file).await {
+    let user_layer = match tokio::fs::read_to_string(&user_file).await {
         Ok(contents) => {
             let user_config: TomlValue = toml::from_str(&contents).map_err(|e| {
                 io::Error::new(
@@ -123,13 +123,18 @@ pub async fn load_config_layers_state(
             })?;
             let user_config =
                 resolve_relative_paths_in_config_toml(user_config, user_config_parent)?;
-            layers.push(ConfigLayerEntry::new(
-                ConfigLayerSource::User { file: user_file },
-                user_config,
-            ));
+            ConfigLayerEntry::new(ConfigLayerSource::User { file: user_file }, user_config)
         }
         Err(e) => {
-            if e.kind() != io::ErrorKind::NotFound {
+            if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::NotFound {
+                // If there is no config.toml file, record an empty entry
+                // for this user layer, as this may still have subfolders
+                // that are significant in the overall ConfigLayerStack.
+                ConfigLayerEntry::new(
+                    ConfigLayerSource::User { file: user_file },
+                    TomlValue::Table(toml::map::Map::new()),
+                )
+            } else {
                 return Err(io::Error::new(
                     e.kind(),
                     format!(
@@ -139,7 +144,8 @@ pub async fn load_config_layers_state(
                 ));
             }
         }
-    }
+    };
+    layers.push(user_layer);
 
     if let Some(cwd) = cwd {
         let mut merged_so_far = TomlValue::Table(toml::map::Map::new());
diff --git a/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/tests.rs b/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/tests.rs
index 7160f8c10..4efeeaa98 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/tests.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/core/src/config_loader/tests.rs
@@ -88,9 +88,24 @@ async fn returns_empty_when_all_layers_missing() {
     )
     .await
     .expect("load layers");
-    assert!(
-        layers.get_user_layer().is_none(),
-        "no user layer when CODEX_HOME/config.toml does not exist"
+    let user_layer = layers
+        .get_user_layer()
+        .expect("expected a user layer even when CODEX_HOME/config.toml does not exist");
+    assert_eq!(
+        &ConfigLayerEntry {
+            name: super::ConfigLayerSource::User {
+                file: AbsolutePathBuf::resolve_path_against_base(CONFIG_TOML_FILE, tmp.path())
+                    .expect("resolve user config.toml path")
+            },
+            config: TomlValue::Table(toml::map::Map::new()),
+            version: version_for_toml(&TomlValue::Table(toml::map::Map::new())),
+        },
+        user_layer,
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        user_layer.config,
+        TomlValue::Table(toml::map::Map::new()),
+        "expected empty config for user layer when config.toml does not exist"
     );
 
     let binding = layers.effective_config();