## This PR
The original [combined remote plugin analytics PR
#26281](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/26281) mixed reusable
analytics test infrastructure, two manual smoke workflows, a metadata
refactor, and the final identity behavior. This PR isolates the generic
capture mechanism so it can be reviewed and landed before any
plugin-specific behavior.
- Add a debug-only analytics destination that writes final request
payloads as JSONL.
- Suppress HTTP delivery whenever capture mode is selected, including
after capture write failures.
- Keep release behavior unchanged even when the capture environment
variable is present.
- Keep the mechanism generic; this PR contains no plugin-specific
behavior.
Set `CODEX_ANALYTICS_EVENTS_CAPTURE_FILE=/path/events.jsonl` when
running a debug Codex binary to inspect the exact batched payload that
would otherwise be sent to the analytics endpoint.
## Testing
- `just test -p codex-analytics` (76 passed)
- `just test --release -p codex-analytics` (73 passed)
- CI is green across the required platform matrix.
## Split Overview
```text
main
├── #27093 Debug analytics capture ← you are here
│ └── #27099 Non-mutating plugin smoke
│ └── #27100 Remote install/uninstall smoke
└── #27102 Plugin telemetry metadata refactor
After #27093, #27099, #27100, and #27102 merge:
└── Final PR: add remote_plugin_id to plugin analytics
```
Review order and dependencies:
1. [#27093 Add debug-only analytics event
capture](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/27093) **(this PR, based
on `main`)**
2. [#27099 Add a plugin analytics smoke
workflow](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/27099) (stacked on
#27093)
3. [#27100 Add a remote plugin analytics mutation smoke
workflow](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/27100) (stacked on
#27099)
4. [#27102 Centralize plugin telemetry metadata
construction](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/27102) (independent,
based on `main`)
5. Final remote-ID behavior PR (created after PRs 1-4 merge)
The original [#26281](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/26281)
remains open as the green aggregate reference until the final PR is
published.
jameswt-oai