Elevated Sandbox NUX:
* prompt for elevated sandbox setup when agent mode is selected (via
/approvals or at startup)
* prompt for degraded sandbox if elevated setup is declined or fails
* introduce /elevate-sandbox command to upgrade from degraded
experience.
**Before:**
```
Error loading configuration: value `Never` is not in the allowed set [OnRequest]
```
**After:**
```
Error loading configuration: invalid value for `approval_policy`: `Never` is not in the
allowed set [OnRequest] (set by MDM com.openai.codex:requirements_toml_base64)
```
Done by introducing a new struct `ConfigRequirementsWithSources` onto
which we `merge_unset_fields` now. Also introduces a pair of requirement
value and its `RequirementSource` (inspired by `ConfigLayerSource`):
```rust
pub struct Sourced<T> {
pub value: T,
pub source: RequirementSource,
}
```
**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"
/>
With `config.toml`:
```
model = "gpt-5.1-codex"
```
(where `gpt-5.1-codex` has `show_in_picker: false` in
[`model_presets.rs`](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/codex-rs/core/src/models_manager/model_presets.rs);
this happens if the user hasn't used codex in a while so they didn't see
the popup before their model was changed to `show_in_picker: false`)
The upgrade picker used to not show (because `gpt-5.1-codex` was
filtered out of the model list in code). Now, the filtering is done
downstream in tui and app-server, so the model upgrade popup shows:
<img width="1503" height="227" alt="Screenshot 2026-01-06 at 5 04 37 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/26144cc2-0b3f-4674-ac17-e476781ec548"
/>
### What
Builds on #8293.
Add `additional_details`, which contains the upstream error message, to
relevant structures used to pass along retryable `StreamError`s.
Uses the new TUI status indicator's `details` field (shows under the
status header) to display the `additional_details` error to the user on
retryable `Reconnecting...` errors. This adds clarity for users for
retryable errors.
Will make corresponding change to VSCode extension to show
`additional_details` as expandable from the `Reconnecting...` cell.
Examples:
<img width="1012" height="326" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f35e7e6a-8f5e-4a2f-a764-358101776996"
/>
<img width="1526" height="358" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0029cbc0-f062-4233-8650-cc216c7808f0"
/>
Add `ctrl+g` shortcut to enable opening current prompt in configured
editor (`$VISUAL` or `$EDITOR`).
- Prompt is updated with editor's content upon editor close.
- Paste placeholders are automatically expanded when opening the
external editor, and are not "recompressed" on close
- They could be preserved in the editor, but it would be hard to prevent
the user from modifying the placeholder text directly, which would drop
the mapping to the `pending_paste` value
- Image placeholders stay as-is
- `ctrl+g` explanation added to shortcuts menu, snapshot tests updated
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4ee05c81-fa49-4e99-8b07-fc9eef0bbfce
# External (non-OpenAI) Pull Request Requirements
Before opening this Pull Request, please read the dedicated
"Contributing" markdown file or your PR may be closed:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/contributing.md
If your PR conforms to our contribution guidelines, replace this text
with a detailed and high quality description of your changes.
Include a link to a bug report or enhancement request.
This will make it easier to test for expected errors in unit tests since
we can compare based on the field values rather than the message (which
might change over time). See https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/8298
for an example.
It also ensures more consistency in the way a `ConstraintError` is
constructed.
https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/8235 introduced `ConfigBuilder` and
this PR updates all call non-test call sites to use it instead of
`Config::load_from_base_config_with_overrides()`.
This is important because `load_from_base_config_with_overrides()` uses
an empty `ConfigRequirements`, which is a reasonable default for testing
so the tests are not influenced by the settings on the host. This method
is now guarded by `#[cfg(test)]` so it cannot be used by business logic.
Because `ConfigBuilder::build()` is `async`, many of the test methods
had to be migrated to be `async`, as well. On the bright side, this made
it possible to eliminate a bunch of `block_on_future()` stuff.
# External (non-OpenAI) Pull Request Requirements
Before opening this Pull Request, please read the dedicated
"Contributing" markdown file or your PR may be closed:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/contributing.md
If your PR conforms to our contribution guidelines, replace this text
with a detailed and high quality description of your changes.
Include a link to a bug report or enhancement request.
# External (non-OpenAI) Pull Request Requirements
Before opening this Pull Request, please read the dedicated
"Contributing" markdown file or your PR may be closed:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/contributing.md
If your PR conforms to our contribution guidelines, replace this text
with a detailed and high quality description of your changes.
Include a link to a bug report or enhancement request.
Constrain `approval_policy` through new `admin_policy` config.
This PR will:
1. Add a `admin_policy` section to config, with a single field (for now)
`allowed_approval_policies`. This list constrains the set of
user-settable `approval_policy`s.
2. Introduce a new `Constrained<T>` type, which combines a current value
and a validator function. The validator function ensures disallowed
values are not set.
3. Change the type of `approval_policy` on `Config` and
`SessionConfiguration` from `AskForApproval` to
`Constrained<AskForApproval>`. The validator function is set by the
values passed into `allowed_approval_policies`.
4. `GenericDisplayRow`: add a `disabled_reason: Option<String>`. When
set, it disables selection of the value and indicates as such in the
menu. This also makes it unselectable with arrow keys or numbers. This
is used in the `/approvals` menu.
Follow ups are:
1. Do the same thing to `sandbox_policy`.
2. Propagate the allowed set of values through app-server for the
extension (though already this should prevent app-server from setting
this values, it's just that we want to disable UI elements that are
unsettable).
Happy to split this PR up if you prefer, into the logical numbered areas
above. Especially if there are parts we want to gavel on separately
(e.g. admin_policy).
Disabled full access:
<img width="1680" height="380" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1fb61c8c-1fcb-4dc4-8355-2293edb52ba0"
/>
Disabled `--yolo` on startup:
<img width="749" height="76" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0a1211a0-6eb1-40d6-a1d7-439c41e94ddb"
/>
CODEX-4087
refactor the way we load and manage skills:
1. Move skill discovery/caching into SkillsManager and reuse it across
sessions.
2. Add the skills/list API (Op::ListSkills/SkillsListResponse) to fetch
skills for one or more cwds. Also update app-server for VSCE/App;
3. Trigger skills/list during session startup so UIs preload skills and
handle errors immediately.
Changes the `writable_roots` field of the `WorkspaceWrite` variant of
the `SandboxPolicy` enum from `Vec<PathBuf>` to `Vec<AbsolutePathBuf>`.
This is helpful because now callers can be sure the value is an absolute
path rather than a relative one. (Though when using an absolute path in
a Seatbelt config policy, we still have to _canonicalize_ it first.)
Because `writable_roots` can be read from a config file, it is important
that we are able to resolve relative paths properly using the parent
folder of the config file as the base path.
## Problem
The introduction of `notify_sandbox_state_change()` in #7112 caused a
regression where the blocking call in `Session::new()` waits for all MCP
servers to fully initialize before returning. This prevents the TUI
event loop from starting, resulting in `McpStartupUpdateEvent` messages
being emitted but never consumed or displayed. As a result, the app
appears to hang during startup, and users do not see the expected
"Booting MCP server: {name}" status line.
Issue: [#7827](https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/7827)
## Solution
This change moves sandbox state notification into each MCP server's
background initialization task. The notification is sent immediately
after the server transitions to the Ready state. This approach:
- Avoids blocking `Session::new()`, allowing the TUI event loop to start
promptly.
- Ensures each MCP server receives its sandbox state before handling any
tool calls.
- Restores the display of "Booting MCP server" status lines during
startup.
## Key Changes
- Added `ManagedClient::notify_sandbox_state()` method.
- Passed sandbox_state to `McpConnectionManager::initialize()`.
- Sends sandbox state notification in the background task after the
server reaches Ready status.
- Removed blocking notify_sandbox_state_change() methods.
- Added a chatwidget snapshot test for the "Booting MCP server" status
line.
## Regression Details
Regression was bisected to #7112, which introduced the blocking
behavior.
---------
Co-authored-by: Michael Bolin <bolinfest@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Michael Bolin <mbolin@openai.com>
1. Skills load once in core at session start; the cached outcome is
reused across core and surfaced to TUI via SessionConfigured.
2. TUI detects explicit skill selections, and core injects the matching
SKILL.md content into the turn when a selected skill is present.
- Make Config.model optional and centralize default-selection logic in
ModelsManager, including a default_model helper (with
codex-auto-balanced when available) so sessions now carry an explicit
chosen model separate from the base config.
- Resolve `model` once in `core` and `tui` from config. Then store the
state of it on other structs.
- Move refreshing models to be before resolving the default model
This is a step towards removing the need to know `model` when
constructing config. We firstly don't need to know `model_info` and just
respect if the user has already set it. Next step, we don't need to know
`model` unless the user explicitly set it in `config.toml`
## Summary
- restore the previous status header when a non-error event arrives
after a stream retry
- add a regression test to ensure the reconnect banner clears once
streaming resumes
## Testing
- cargo fmt -- --config imports_granularity=Item
- cargo clippy --fix --all-features --tests --allow-dirty -p codex-tui
- NO_COLOR=0 cargo test -p codex-tui *(fails: vt100 color assertion
tests expect colored cells but the environment returns Default colors
even with NO_COLOR cleared and TERM/COLORTERM set)*
------
[Codex
Task](https://chatgpt.com/codex/tasks/task_i_69337f8c77508329b3ea85134d4a7ac7)
# External (non-OpenAI) Pull Request Requirements
Before opening this Pull Request, please read the dedicated
"Contributing" markdown file or your PR may be closed:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/contributing.md
If your PR conforms to our contribution guidelines, replace this text
with a detailed and high quality description of your changes.
Include a link to a bug report or enhancement request.
# External (non-OpenAI) Pull Request Requirements
Before opening this Pull Request, please read the dedicated
"Contributing" markdown file or your PR may be closed:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/contributing.md
If your PR conforms to our contribution guidelines, replace this text
with a detailed and high quality description of your changes.
Include a link to a bug report or enhancement request.
- This PR wires `with_remote_overrides` and make the
`construct_model_families` an async function
- Moves getting model family a level above to keep the function `sync`
- Updates the tests to local, offline, and `sync` helper for model
families
- Introduce `with_remote_overrides` and update
`refresh_available_models`
- Put `auth_manager` instead of `auth_mode` on `models_manager`
- Remove `ShellType` and `ReasoningLevel` to use already existing
structs
## Updating the `execpolicy` TUI flow
In the TUI, when going through the command approval flow, codex will now
ask the user if they would like to whitelist the FIRST unmatched command
among a chain of commands.
For example, let's say the agent wants to run `apple | pear` with an
empty `execpolicy`
Neither apple nor pear will match to an `execpolicy` rule. Thus, when
prompting the user, codex tui will ask the user if they would like to
whitelist `apple`.
If the agent wants to run `apple | pear` again, they would be prompted
again because pear is still unknown. when prompted, the user will now be
asked if they'd like to whitelist `pear`.
Here's a demo video of this flow:
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fd160717-f6cb-46b0-9f4a-f0a974d4e710
This PR also removed the `allow for this session` option from the TUI.