## Summary
- route apply_patch runtime execution through the selected Environment
filesystem instead of the local self-exec path
- keep the standalone apply_patch command surface intact while restoring
its launcher/test/docs contract
- add focused apply_patch filesystem sandbox regression coverage
## Validation
- remote devbox Bazel run in progress
- passed: //codex-rs/apply-patch:apply-patch-unit-tests
--test_filter=test_read_file_utf8_with_context_reports_invalid_utf8
- in progress / follow-up: focused core and exec Bazel test slices on
dev
## Follow-up under review
- remote pre-verification and approval/retry behavior still need
explicit scrutiny for delete/update flows
- runtime sandbox-denial classification may need a tighter assertion
path than rendered stderr matching
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Why
`codex-core` was re-exporting APIs owned by sibling `codex-*` crates,
which made downstream crates depend on `codex-core` as a proxy module
instead of the actual owner crate.
Removing those forwards makes crate boundaries explicit and lets leaf
crates drop unnecessary `codex-core` dependencies. In this PR, this
reduces the dependency on `codex-core` to `codex-login` in the following
files:
```
codex-rs/backend-client/Cargo.toml
codex-rs/mcp-server/tests/common/Cargo.toml
```
## What
- Remove `codex-rs/core/src/lib.rs` re-exports for symbols owned by
`codex-login`, `codex-mcp`, `codex-rollout`, `codex-analytics`,
`codex-protocol`, `codex-shell-command`, `codex-sandboxing`,
`codex-tools`, and `codex-utils-path`.
- Delete the `default_client` forwarding shim in `codex-rs/core`.
- Update in-crate and downstream callsites to import directly from the
owning `codex-*` crate.
- Add direct Cargo dependencies where callsites now target the owner
crate, and remove `codex-core` from `codex-rs/backend-client`.
## Why
PR #13783 moved the `codex.rs` unit tests into `codex_tests.rs`. This
applies the same extraction pattern across the rest of `codex-rs/core`
so the production modules stay focused on runtime code instead of large
inline test blocks.
Keeping the tests in sibling files also makes follow-up edits easier to
review because product changes no longer have to share a file with
hundreds or thousands of lines of test scaffolding.
## What changed
- replaced each inline `mod tests { ... }` in `codex-rs/core/src/**`
with a path-based module declaration
- moved each extracted unit test module into a sibling `*_tests.rs`
file, using `mod_tests.rs` for `mod.rs` modules
- preserved the existing `cfg(...)` guards and module-local structure so
the refactor remains structural rather than behavioral
## Testing
- `cargo test -p codex-core --lib` (`1653 passed; 0 failed; 5 ignored`)
- `just fix -p codex-core`
- `cargo fmt --check`
- `cargo shear`
## Why
`apply_patch` safety approval was still checking writable paths through
the legacy `SandboxPolicy` projection.
That can hide explicit `none` carveouts when a split filesystem policy
projects back to compatibility `ExternalSandbox`, which leaves one more
approval path that can auto-approve writes inside paths that are
intentionally blocked.
## What changed
- passed `turn.file_system_sandbox_policy` into `assess_patch_safety`
- changed writable-path checks to derive effective access from
`FileSystemSandboxPolicy` instead of the legacy `SandboxPolicy`
- made those checks reject explicit unreadable roots before considering
broad write access or writable roots
- added regression coverage showing that an `ExternalSandbox`
compatibility projection still asks for approval when the split
filesystem policy blocks a subpath
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-core safety::tests::`
- `cargo test -p codex-core test_sandbox_config_parsing`
- `cargo clippy -p codex-core --all-targets -- -D warnings`
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/13445).
* #13453
* #13452
* #13451
* #13449
* #13448
* __->__ #13445
* #13440
* #13439
---------
Co-authored-by: viyatb-oai <viyatb@openai.com>
## Why
`codex-rs/arg0` only needed two things from `codex-core`:
- the `find_codex_home()` wrapper
- the special argv flag used for the internal `apply_patch`
self-invocation path
That made `codex-arg0` depend on `codex-core` for a very small surface
area. This change removes that dependency edge and moves the shared
`apply_patch` invocation flag to a more natural boundary
(`codex-apply-patch`) while keeping the contract explicitly documented.
## What Changed
- Moved the internal `apply_patch` argv[1] flag constant out of
`codex-core` and into `codex-apply-patch`.
- Renamed the constant to `CODEX_CORE_APPLY_PATCH_ARG1` and documented
that it is part of the Codex core process-invocation contract (even
though it now lives in `codex-apply-patch`).
- Updated `arg0`, the core apply-patch runtime, and the `codex-exec`
apply-patch test to import the constant from `codex-apply-patch`.
- Updated `codex-rs/arg0` to call
`codex_utils_home_dir::find_codex_home()` directly instead of
`codex_core::config::find_codex_home()`.
- Removed the `codex-core` dependency from `codex-rs/arg0` and added the
needed direct dependency on `codex-utils-home-dir`.
- Added `codex-apply-patch` as a dev-dependency for `codex-rs/exec`
tests (the apply-patch test now imports the moved constant directly).
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-apply-patch`
- `cargo test -p codex-arg0`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --lib apply_patch`
- `cargo test -p codex-exec
test_standalone_exec_cli_can_use_apply_patch`
- `cargo shear`
**Summary**
This PR makes “ApprovalDecision::AcceptForSession / don’t ask again this
session” actually work for `apply_patch` approvals by caching approvals
based on absolute file paths in codex-core, properly wiring it through
app-server v2, and exposing the choice in both TUI and TUI2.
- This brings `apply_patch` calls to be at feature-parity with general
shell commands, which also have a "Yes, and don't ask again" option.
- This also fixes VSCE's "Allow this session" button to actually work.
While we're at it, also split the app-server v2 protocol's
`ApprovalDecision` enum so execpolicy amendments are only available for
command execution approvals.
**Key changes**
- Core: per-session patch approval allowlist keyed by absolute file
paths
- Handles multi-file patches and renames/moves by recording both source
and destination paths for `Update { move_path: Some(...) }`.
- Extend the `Approvable` trait and `ApplyPatchRuntime` to work with
multiple keys, because an `apply_patch` tool call can modify multiple
files. For a request to be auto-approved, we will need to check that all
file paths have been approved previously.
- App-server v2: honor AcceptForSession for file changes
- File-change approval responses now map AcceptForSession to
ReviewDecision::ApprovedForSession (no longer downgraded to plain
Approved).
- Replace `ApprovalDecision` with two enums:
`CommandExecutionApprovalDecision` and `FileChangeApprovalDecision`
- TUI / TUI2: expose “don’t ask again for these files this session”
- Patch approval overlays now include a third option (“Yes, and don’t
ask again for these files this session (s)”).
- Snapshot updates for the approval modal.
**Tests added/updated**
- Core:
- Integration test that proves ApprovedForSession on a patch skips the
next patch prompt for the same file
- App-server:
- v2 integration test verifying
FileChangeApprovalDecision::AcceptForSession works properly
**User-visible behavior**
- When the user approves a patch “for session”, future patches touching
only those previously approved file(s) will no longer prompt gain during
that session (both via app-server v2 and TUI/TUI2).
**Manual testing**
Tested both TUI and TUI2 - see screenshots below.
TUI:
<img width="1082" height="355" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/adcf45ad-d428-498d-92fc-1a0a420878d9"
/>
TUI2:
<img width="1089" height="438" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dd768b1a-2f5f-4bd6-98fd-e52c1d3abd9e"
/>
## Refactor of the `execpolicy` crate
To illustrate why we need this refactor, consider an agent attempting to
run `apple | rm -rf ./`. Suppose `apple` is allowed by `execpolicy`.
Before this PR, `execpolicy` would consider `apple` and `pear` and only
render one rule match: `Allow`. We would skip any heuristics checks on
`rm -rf ./` and immediately approve `apple | rm -rf ./` to run.
To fix this, we now thread a `fallback` evaluation function into
`execpolicy` that runs when no `execpolicy` rules match a given command.
In our example, we would run `fallback` on `rm -rf ./` and prevent
`apple | rm -rf ./` from being run without approval.
this PR enables TUI to approve commands and add their prefixes to an
allowlist:
<img width="708" height="605" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-21 at 4 18 07 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/56a19893-4553-4770-a881-becf79eeda32"
/>
note: we only show the option to whitelist the command when
1) command is not multi-part (e.g `git add -A && git commit -m 'hello
world'`)
2) command is not already matched by an existing rule
In this PR, I am exploring migrating task kind to an invocation of
Codex. The main reason would be getting rid off multiple
`ConversationHistory` state and streamlining our context/history
management.
This approach depends on opening a channel between the sub-codex and
codex. This channel is responsible for forwarding `interactive`
(`approvals`) and `non-interactive` events. The `task` is responsible
for handling those events.
This opens the door for implementing `codex as a tool`, replacing
`compact` and `review`, and potentially subagents.
One consideration is this code is very similar to `app-server` specially
in the approval part. If in the future we wanted an interactive
`sub-codex` we should consider using `codex-mcp`
Today `sub_id` is an ID of a single incoming Codex Op submition. We then
associate all events triggered by this operation using the same
`sub_id`.
At the same time we are also creating a TurnContext per submission and
we'd like to start associating some events (item added/item completed)
with an entire turn instead of just the operation that started it.
Using turn context when sending events give us flexibility to change
notification scheme.
# Extract and Centralize Sandboxing
- Goal: Improve safety and clarity by centralizing sandbox planning and
execution.
- Approach:
- Add planner (ExecPlan) and backend registry (Direct/Seatbelt/Linux)
with run_with_plan.
- Refactor codex.rs to plan-then-execute; handle failures/escalation via
the plan.
- Delegate apply_patch to the codex binary and run it with an empty env
for determinism.
### Title
## otel
Codex can emit [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io/) **log events**
that
describe each run: outbound API requests, streamed responses, user
input,
tool-approval decisions, and the result of every tool invocation. Export
is
**disabled by default** so local runs remain self-contained. Opt in by
adding an
`[otel]` table and choosing an exporter.
```toml
[otel]
environment = "staging" # defaults to "dev"
exporter = "none" # defaults to "none"; set to otlp-http or otlp-grpc to send events
log_user_prompt = false # defaults to false; redact prompt text unless explicitly enabled
```
Codex tags every exported event with `service.name = "codex-cli"`, the
CLI
version, and an `env` attribute so downstream collectors can distinguish
dev/staging/prod traffic. Only telemetry produced inside the
`codex_otel`
crate—the events listed below—is forwarded to the exporter.
### Event catalog
Every event shares a common set of metadata fields: `event.timestamp`,
`conversation.id`, `app.version`, `auth_mode` (when available),
`user.account_id` (when available), `terminal.type`, `model`, and
`slug`.
With OTEL enabled Codex emits the following event types (in addition to
the
metadata above):
- `codex.api_request`
- `cf_ray` (optional)
- `attempt`
- `duration_ms`
- `http.response.status_code` (optional)
- `error.message` (failures)
- `codex.sse_event`
- `event.kind`
- `duration_ms`
- `error.message` (failures)
- `input_token_count` (completion only)
- `output_token_count` (completion only)
- `cached_token_count` (completion only, optional)
- `reasoning_token_count` (completion only, optional)
- `tool_token_count` (completion only)
- `codex.user_prompt`
- `prompt_length`
- `prompt` (redacted unless `log_user_prompt = true`)
- `codex.tool_decision`
- `tool_name`
- `call_id`
- `decision` (`approved`, `approved_for_session`, `denied`, or `abort`)
- `source` (`config` or `user`)
- `codex.tool_result`
- `tool_name`
- `call_id`
- `arguments`
- `duration_ms` (execution time for the tool)
- `success` (`"true"` or `"false"`)
- `output`
### Choosing an exporter
Set `otel.exporter` to control where events go:
- `none` – leaves instrumentation active but skips exporting. This is
the
default.
- `otlp-http` – posts OTLP log records to an OTLP/HTTP collector.
Specify the
endpoint, protocol, and headers your collector expects:
```toml
[otel]
exporter = { otlp-http = {
endpoint = "https://otel.example.com/v1/logs",
protocol = "binary",
headers = { "x-otlp-api-key" = "${OTLP_TOKEN}" }
}}
```
- `otlp-grpc` – streams OTLP log records over gRPC. Provide the endpoint
and any
metadata headers:
```toml
[otel]
exporter = { otlp-grpc = {
endpoint = "https://otel.example.com:4317",
headers = { "x-otlp-meta" = "abc123" }
}}
```
If the exporter is `none` nothing is written anywhere; otherwise you
must run or point to your
own collector. All exporters run on a background batch worker that is
flushed on
shutdown.
If you build Codex from source the OTEL crate is still behind an `otel`
feature
flag; the official prebuilt binaries ship with the feature enabled. When
the
feature is disabled the telemetry hooks become no-ops so the CLI
continues to
function without the extra dependencies.
---------
Co-authored-by: Anton Panasenko <apanasenko@openai.com>
This PR introduces `TurnContext`, which is designed to hold a set of
fields that should be constant for a turn of a conversation. Note that
the fields of `TurnContext` were previously governed by `Session`.
Ultimately, we want to enable users to change these values between turns
(changing model, approval policy, etc.), though in the current
implementation, the `TurnContext` is constant for the entire
conversation.
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/2345).
* #2345
* #2329
* __->__ #2343
* #2340
* #2338
I was looking at the implementation of `Session::get_writable_roots()`,
which did not seem right, as it was a copy of writable roots, which is
not guaranteed to be in sync with the `sandbox_policy` field.
I looked at who was calling `get_writable_roots()` and its only call
site was `apply_patch()` in `codex-rs/core/src/apply_patch.rs`, which
took the roots and forwarded them to `assess_patch_safety()` in
`safety.rs`. I updated `assess_patch_safety()` to take `sandbox_policy:
&SandboxPolicy` instead of `writable_roots: &[PathBuf]` (and replaced
`Session::get_writable_roots()` with `Session::get_sandbox_policy()`).
Within `safety.rs`, it was fairly easy to update
`is_write_patch_constrained_to_writable_paths()` to work with
`SandboxPolicy`, and in particular, it is far more accurate because, for
better or worse, `SandboxPolicy::get_writable_roots_with_cwd()` _returns
an empty vec_ for `SandboxPolicy::DangerFullAccess`, suggesting that
_nothing_ is writable when in reality _everything_ is writable. With
this PR, `is_write_patch_constrained_to_writable_paths()` now does the
right thing for each variant of `SandboxPolicy`.
I thought this would be the end of the story, but it turned out that
`test_writable_roots_constraint()` in `safety.rs` needed to be updated,
as well. In particular, the test was writing to
`std::env::current_dir()` instead of a `TempDir`, which I suspect was a
holdover from earlier when `SandboxPolicy::WorkspaceWrite` would always
make `TMPDIR` writable on macOS, which made it hard to write tests to
verify `SandboxPolicy` in `TMPDIR`. Fortunately, we now have
`exclude_tmpdir_env_var` as an option on
`SandboxPolicy::WorkspaceWrite`, so I was able to update the test to
preserve the existing behavior, but to no longer write to
`std::env::current_dir()`.
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/2338).
* #2345
* #2329
* #2343
* #2340
* __->__ #2338
As `Session` needs a bit of work, it will make things easier to move
around if we can start by reducing the extent of its public API. This
makes all the fields private, though adds three `pub(crate)` getters.
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/2285).
* #2287
* #2286
* __->__ #2285
This is a follow-up to https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/1705, as
that PR inadvertently lost the logic where `PatchApplyBeginEvent` and
`PatchApplyEndEvent` events were sent when patches were auto-approved.
Though as part of this fix, I believe this also makes an important
safety fix to `assess_patch_safety()`, as there was a case that returned
`SandboxType::None`, which arguably is the thing we were trying to avoid
in #1705.
On a high level, we want there to be only one codepath where
`apply_patch` happens, which should be unified with the patch to run
`exec`, in general, so that sandboxing is applied consistently for both
cases.
Prior to this change, `apply_patch()` in `core` would either:
* exit early, delegating to `exec()` to shell out to `apply_patch` using
the appropriate sandbox
* proceed to run the logic for `apply_patch` in memory
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/549846b29ad52f6cb4f8560365a731966054a9b3/codex-rs/core/src/apply_patch.rs#L61-L63
In this implementation, only the latter would dispatch
`PatchApplyBeginEvent` and `PatchApplyEndEvent`, though the former would
dispatch `ExecCommandBeginEvent` and `ExecCommandEndEvent` for the
`apply_patch` call (or, more specifically, the `codex
--codex-run-as-apply-patch PATCH` call).
To unify things in this PR, we:
* Eliminate the back half of the `apply_patch()` function, and instead
have it also return with `DelegateToExec`, though we add an extra field
to the return value, `user_explicitly_approved_this_action`.
* In `codex.rs` where we process `DelegateToExec`, we use
`SandboxType::None` when `user_explicitly_approved_this_action` is
`true`. This means **we no longer run the apply_patch logic in memory**,
as we always `exec()`. (Note this is what allowed us to delete so much
code in `apply_patch.rs`.)
* In `codex.rs`, we further update `notify_exec_command_begin()` and
`notify_exec_command_end()` to take additional fields to determine what
type of notification to send: `ExecCommand` or `PatchApply`.
Admittedly, this PR also drops some of the functionality about giving
the user the opportunity to expand the set of writable roots as part of
approving the `apply_patch` command. I'm not sure how much that was
used, and we should probably rethink how that works as we are currently
tidying up the protocol to the TUI, in general.
Building on the work of https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/1702, this
changes how a shell call to `apply_patch` is handled.
Previously, a shell call to `apply_patch` was always handled in-process,
never leveraging a sandbox. To determine whether the `apply_patch`
operation could be auto-approved, the
`is_write_patch_constrained_to_writable_paths()` function would check if
all the paths listed in the paths were writable. If so, the agent would
apply the changes listed in the patch.
Unfortunately, this approach afforded a loophole: symlinks!
* For a soft link, we could fix this issue by tracing the link and
checking whether the target is in the set of writable paths, however...
* ...For a hard link, things are not as simple. We can run `stat FILE`
to see if the number of links is greater than 1, but then we would have
to do something potentially expensive like `find . -inum <inode_number>`
to find the other paths for `FILE`. Further, even if this worked, this
approach runs the risk of a
[TOCTOU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-of-check_to_time-of-use)
race condition, so it is not robust.
The solution, implemented in this PR, is to take the virtual execution
of the `apply_patch` CLI into an _actual_ execution using `codex
--codex-run-as-apply-patch PATCH`, which we can run under the sandbox
the user specified, just like any other `shell` call.
This, of course, assumes that the sandbox prevents writing through
symlinks as a mechanism to write to folders that are not in the writable
set configured by the sandbox. I verified this by testing the following
on both Mac and Linux:
```shell
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
# Can running a command in SANDBOX_DIR write a file in EXPLOIT_DIR?
# Codex is run in SANDBOX_DIR, so writes should be constrianed to this directory.
SANDBOX_DIR=$(mktemp -d -p "$HOME" sandboxtesttemp.XXXXXX)
# EXPLOIT_DIR is outside of SANDBOX_DIR, so let's see if we can write to it.
EXPLOIT_DIR=$(mktemp -d -p "$HOME" sandboxtesttemp.XXXXXX)
echo "SANDBOX_DIR: $SANDBOX_DIR"
echo "EXPLOIT_DIR: $EXPLOIT_DIR"
cleanup() {
# Only remove if it looks sane and still exists
[[ -n "${SANDBOX_DIR:-}" && -d "$SANDBOX_DIR" ]] && rm -rf -- "$SANDBOX_DIR"
[[ -n "${EXPLOIT_DIR:-}" && -d "$EXPLOIT_DIR" ]] && rm -rf -- "$EXPLOIT_DIR"
}
trap cleanup EXIT
echo "I am the original content" > "${EXPLOIT_DIR}/original.txt"
# Drop the -s to test hard links.
ln -s "${EXPLOIT_DIR}/original.txt" "${SANDBOX_DIR}/link-to-original.txt"
cat "${SANDBOX_DIR}/link-to-original.txt"
if [[ "$(uname)" == "Linux" ]]; then
SANDBOX_SUBCOMMAND=landlock
else
SANDBOX_SUBCOMMAND=seatbelt
fi
# Attempt the exploit
cd "${SANDBOX_DIR}"
codex debug "${SANDBOX_SUBCOMMAND}" bash -lc "echo pwned > ./link-to-original.txt" || true
cat "${EXPLOIT_DIR}/original.txt"
```
Admittedly, this change merits a proper integration test, but I think I
will have to do that in a follow-up PR.
This is a straight refactor, moving apply-patch-related code from
`codex.rs` and into the new `apply_patch.rs` file. The only "logical"
change is inlining `#[allow(clippy::unwrap_used)]` instead of declaring
`#![allow(clippy::unwrap_used)]` at the top of the file (which is
currently the case in `codex.rs`).
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/1703).
* #1705
* __->__ #1703
* #1702
* #1698
* #1697
pakrym-oai ·
starr-openai ·
Michael Bolin ·
Jack Mousseau ·
iceweasel-oai ·
Owen Lin ·
zhao-oai ·
Ahmed Ibrahim ·
jif-oai ·
vishnu-oai ·
Jeremy Rose ·