## Why
Ultra should be one user-facing reasoning selection for work that
benefits from both maximum reasoning and proactive multi-agent
delegation. Without it, clients must coordinate maximum reasoning with
the experimental `multiAgentMode` setting, even though the inference
backend still expects its existing `max` effort value.
This change makes reasoning effort the source of truth: clients select
`ultra`, core derives proactive multi-agent behavior when the turn is
eligible for multi-agent V2, and inference requests continue to use the
backend-compatible `max` value.
## What changed
- Add `ultra` as a first-class reasoning effort and preserve
model-catalog ordering when exposing it to clients.
- Convert `ultra` to `max` at the inference request boundary, including
Responses HTTP/WebSocket requests, startup prewarm, compaction, and
memory summarization.
- Derive effective multi-agent mode per turn from effective reasoning
effort:
- eligible multi-agent V2 + `ultra` → `proactive`
- eligible multi-agent V2 + any other effort → `explicitRequestOnly`
- V1 or otherwise ineligible sessions → no multi-agent mode instruction
- Keep the derived effective mode in turn context history so successive
turns can emit a developer-message update only when the effective mode
changes.
- Remove selected multi-agent mode from core session configuration, turn
construction, thread settings, resume/fork restoration, and subagent
spawn plumbing. Subagents inherit reasoning effort and derive their own
effective mode.
- Retain the experimental app-server `multiAgentMode` fields for wire
compatibility while marking them deprecated. Request values are accepted
but ignored; compatibility response fields report `explicitRequestOnly`.
- Display Ultra in the TUI using the order supplied by `model/list`.
## Validation
- `just test -p codex-core ultra_reasoning_uses_max_for_requests`
- `just test -p codex-tui model_reasoning_selection_popup`
## Why
Multi-agent delegation policy was split across `multiAgentMode`,
`features.multi_agent_mode`, and `usage_hint_enabled`. These controls
could disagree: a requested mode could be downgraded by the feature
flag, and disabling usage hints also disabled mode instructions.
Some clients also need multi-agent tools without adding
delegation-policy text to model context. The previous two-mode API could
not express that directly.
## What changed
`multiAgentMode` is now the only live delegation-policy control:
| Mode | Behavior |
| --- | --- |
| `none` | Keep multi-agent tools available without adding mode
instructions. |
| `explicitRequestOnly` | Only delegate after an explicit user request.
|
| `proactive` | Delegate when parallel work materially improves speed or
quality. |
- new threads default to `explicitRequestOnly`; omitting the mode on
later turns keeps the current value
- thread start, resume, fork, and settings responses always report the
concrete current mode instead of `null`
- mode selection remains sticky across turns and resume
- usage-hint text no longer controls whether mode instructions apply
- `features.multi_agent_mode` and `usage_hint_enabled` remain accepted
as ignored compatibility settings so existing configs continue to load
- app-server documentation and generated schemas describe the three-mode
API
## Tests
- `just test -p codex-core multi_agent_mode`
- `just test -p codex-core multi_agent_v2_config_from_feature_table`
- `just test -p codex-core spawn_agent_description`
- `just test -p codex-features`
- `just test -p codex-app-server-protocol`
- `just test -p codex-app-server multi_agent_mode`
## Why
Once multi-agent mode can be selected per turn, clients also need to
choose the initial selection when creating a thread and observe that
selection through lifecycle and settings APIs.
The selected value is intentionally distinct from the effective
model-visible value: no client selection is represented as `null`, even
though an eligible multi-agent v2 turn derives `explicitRequestOnly` as
its effective default.
## What changed
- Add the optional experimental `thread/start.multiAgentMode` parameter
and pass it through thread creation.
- Preserve an omitted initial value as an unset selection rather than
eagerly storing `explicitRequestOnly`.
- Apply an explicit `thread/start` selection to the first turn through
the session configuration established at thread creation.
- Restore the latest persisted effective mode as the selected baseline
on cold resume when rollout history contains one.
- Inherit the optional selected mode from a loaded parent when creating
related runtime threads.
- Return the current selected `multiAgentMode` from `thread/start`,
`thread/resume`, `thread/fork`, and thread settings, using `null` when
no mode is selected.
- Keep lifecycle reporting independent from model capability and feature
eligibility; core turn construction remains responsible for calculating
and persisting the effective mode.
## Not covered
- Clearing an existing loaded-session selection back to unset through
`turn/start`; omitted or `null` currently retains the session's
selection.
- A TUI control, slash command, or `config.toml` preference.
## Verification
- `CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 just test -p codex-app-server-protocol`
- `CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 just test -p codex-app-server multi_agent_mode`
The focused app-server coverage verifies explicit `thread/start`
initialization, first-turn prompting, nullable reporting for an omitted
selection, and retention of selections that are not currently
runtime-eligible.
## Stack
Stacked on #28685. This PR contains only the thread initialization and
lifecycle/settings API layer.
## Why
`TurnEnvironmentSelections::new` rewrote the primary environment's
explicit `cwd` to the legacy fallback cwd. For a remote-first selection,
this could replace the remote working directory with a local fallback
path and made the legacy cwd overlay authoritative over
environment-owned state.
## What changed
- Preserve every explicit environment cwd when constructing turn
environment selections.
- Keep `cwd`-only app-server updates compatible by rebuilding the
default environment selections at the requested cwd.
- Cover both explicit primary cwd preservation and cwd-only updates
reaching the model-visible execution environment.
## Testing
- `just test -p codex-core
session_update_settings_does_not_rewrite_sticky_environment_cwds`
- `just test -p codex-core
environment_settings_preserve_explicit_primary_cwd`
- `just test -p codex-app-server
thread_settings_update_cwd_retargets_default_environment`
This PR brought to you via VS Code rather than Codex...
- opened `codex-rs/app-server/tests/common/mcp_process.rs`
- put the cursor on `McpServer`
- hit `F2` and renamed the symbol to `TestAppServer`
- went to the file tree
- hit enter and renamed `mcp_process.rs` to `test_app_server.rs`
- ran **Save All Files** from the Command Palette
- ran `just fmt`
The End
(Admittedly, most of the local variables for `TestAppServer` are still
named `mcp`, though.)
## Summary
Adds an optional `clientId` field to app-server v2 `UserInput` and
carries it through the core `UserInput` model so clients can correlate
echoed user input items without relying on payload equality.
## Details
- Adds `client_id: Option<String>` to core `UserInput` variants.
- Exposes the v2 app-server field as `clientId` on the wire and in
generated TypeScript.
- Preserves the id when converting between app-server v2 and core
protocol types.
- Regenerates app-server schema fixtures.
## Validation
- `just fmt`
- `just write-app-server-schema`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server-protocol`
- `cargo test -p codex-protocol`
- `just fix -p codex-app-server-protocol`
- `just fix -p codex-protocol`
- `git diff --check`
## Why
Model catalog responses can now advertise a nullable
`default_service_tier` for each model. Codex needs to preserve three
distinct states all the way from config/app-server inputs to inference:
- no explicit service tier, so the client may apply the current model
catalog default when FastMode is enabled
- explicit `default`, meaning the user intentionally wants standard
routing
- explicit catalog tier ids such as `priority`, `flex`, or future tiers
Keeping those states distinct prevents the UI from showing one tier
while core sends another, especially after model switches or app-server
`thread/start` / `turn/start` updates.
## What Changed
- Plumbed `default_service_tier` through model catalog protocol types,
app-server model responses, generated schemas, model cache fixtures, and
provider/model-manager conversions.
- Added the request-only `default` service tier sentinel and normalized
legacy config spelling so `fast` in `config.toml` still materializes as
the runtime/request id `priority`.
- Moved catalog default resolution to the TUI/client side, including
recomputing the effective service tier when model/FastMode-dependent
surfaces change.
- Updated app-server thread lifecycle config construction so
`serviceTier: null` preserves explicit standard-routing intent by
mapping to `default` instead of internal `None`.
- Kept core responsible for validating explicit tiers against the
current model and stripping `default` before `/v1/responses`, without
applying catalog defaults itself.
## Validation
- `CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 cargo build -p codex-cli`
- `CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 cargo test -p codex-app-server model_list`
- `cargo test -p codex-tui service_tier`
- `cargo test -p codex-protocol service_tier_for_request`
- `cargo test -p codex-core get_service_tier`
- `RUST_MIN_STACK=8388608 CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 cargo test -p codex-core
service_tier`
## Why
App-server clients need a way to update a thread's next-turn settings
without starting a turn, adding transcript content, or waiting for turn
lifecycle events. This gives settings UI a direct path for durable
thread settings while clients observe the eventual effective state
through a notification.
This is a simplified rework of PR
https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/22509. In particular, it changes
the `thread/settings/update` api to return immediately rather than
waiting and returning the effective (updated) thread settings. This
makes the new api consistent with `turn/start` and greatly reduces the
complexity of the implementation relative to the earlier attempt.
## What Changed
- Adds experimental `thread/settings/update` with partial-update request
fields and an empty acknowledgment response.
- Adds experimental `thread/settings/updated`, carrying full effective
`ThreadSettings` and scoped by `threadId` to subscribed clients for the
affected thread.
- Shares durable settings validation with `turn/start`, including
`sandboxPolicy` plus `permissions` rejection and `serviceTier: null`
clearing.
- Emits the same settings notification when `turn/start` overrides
change the stored effective thread settings.
- Regenerates app-server protocol schema fixtures and updates
`app-server/README.md`.
Shijie Rao ·
jif ·
pakrym-oai ·
Michael Bolin ·
Alexi Christakis ·
Eric Traut ·