### Motivation
- Prevent newly-created skills from being placed in unexpected locations
by prompting for an install path and defaulting to a discoverable
location so skills are usable immediately.
- Make the `skill-creator` instructions explicit about the recommended
default (`~/.codex/skills` / `$CODEX_HOME/skills`) so the agent and
users follow a consistent, discoverable convention.
### Description
- Updated `codex-rs/skills/src/assets/samples/skill-creator/SKILL.md` to
add a user prompt: "Where should I create this skill? If you do not have
a preference, I will place it in ~/.codex/skills so Codex can discover
it automatically.".
- Added guidance before running `init_skill.py` that if the user does
not specify a location, the agent should default to `~/.codex/skills`
(equivalently `$CODEX_HOME/skills`) for auto-discovery.
- Updated the `init_skill.py` examples in the same `SKILL.md` to use
`~/.codex/skills` as the recommended default while keeping one custom
path example.
### Testing
- Ran `cargo test -p codex-skills` and the crate's unit test suite
passed (`1 passed; 0 failed`).
- Verified relevant discovery behavior in code by checking
`codex-rs/utils/home-dir/src/lib.rs` (`find_codex_home` defaults to
`~/.codex`) and `codex-rs/core/src/skills/loader.rs` (user skill roots
include `$CODEX_HOME/skills`).
------
[Codex
Task](https://chatgpt.com/codex/tasks/task_i_69b75a50bb008322a278e55eb0ddccd6)
## Summary
- add the OpenAI Docs skill under
codex-rs/skills/src/assets/samples/openai-docs
- include the skill metadata, assets, and GPT-5.4 upgrade reference
files
- exclude the test harness and test fixtures
## Testing
- not run (skill-only asset copy)
This updates the `skill-creator` sample skill to explicitly cover
forward-testing as part of the skill authoring workflow. The guidance
now treats subagent-based validation as a first-class step for complex
or fragile skills, with an emphasis on preserving evaluation integrity
and avoiding leaked context.
The sample initialization script is also updated so newly created skills
point authors toward forward-testing after validation. Together, these
changes make the sample more opinionated about how skills should be
iterated on once the initial implementation is complete.
- Add new guidance to `SKILL.md` on protecting validation integrity,
when to use subagents for forward-testing, and how to structure
realistic test prompts without leaking expected answers.
- Expand the skill creation workflow so iteration explicitly includes
forward-testing for complex skills, including approval guidance for
expensive or risky validation runs.
## Why
`codex-core` was carrying the embedded system-skill sample assets (and a
`build.rs` that walks those files to register rerun triggers). Those
assets change infrequently, but any change under `codex-core` still ties
them to `codex-core`'s build/cache lifecycle.
This change moves the embedded system-skills packaging into a dedicated
`codex-skills` crate so it can be cached independently. That reduces
unnecessary invalidation/rebuild pressure on `codex-core` when the
skills bundle is the only thing that changes.
## What Changed
- Added a new `codex-rs/skills` crate (`codex-skills`) with:
- `Cargo.toml`
- `BUILD.bazel`
- `build.rs` to track skill asset file changes for Cargo rebuilds
- `src/lib.rs` containing the embedded system-skills install/cache logic
previously in `codex-core`
- Moved the embedded sample skill assets from
`codex-rs/core/src/skills/assets/samples` to
`codex-rs/skills/src/assets/samples`.
- Updated `codex-rs/core/Cargo.toml` to depend on `codex-skills` and
removed `codex-core`'s direct `include_dir` dependency.
- Removed `codex-core`'s `build.rs`.
- Replaced `codex-rs/core/src/skills/system.rs` implementation with a
thin re-export wrapper to keep existing `codex-core` call sites
unchanged.
- Updated workspace manifests/lockfile (`codex-rs/Cargo.toml`,
`codex-rs/Cargo.lock`) for the new crate.
xl-openai ·
Charlie Guo ·
Eugene Brevdo ·
jif-oai ·
Michael Bolin ·