## Why
Adding goal metrics makes it possible to track how often goals are
created, completed, and stopped by budget limits, plus the final token
and wall-clock usage for terminal outcomes.
## What Changed
- Added OpenTelemetry metric constants for goal lifecycle tracking:
- `codex.goal.created`: increments each time a new persisted goal is
created or an existing goal is replaced with a new objective.
- `codex.goal.completed`: increments when a goal transitions to
`complete`.
- `codex.goal.budget_limited`: increments when a goal transitions to
`budget_limited` because its token budget has been reached.
- `codex.goal.token_count`: records the final persisted token count when
a goal transitions to `complete` or `budget_limited`.
- `codex.goal.duration_s`: records the final persisted elapsed
wall-clock time, in seconds, when a goal transitions to `complete` or
`budget_limited`.
- Emitted creation metrics when a goal is created or replaced.
- Emitted terminal outcome counters and final usage histograms when a
goal transitions to `complete` or `budget_limited`, avoiding
double-counting later in-flight accounting for already budget-limited
goals.
- Added focused `codex-core` tests for create/complete metrics and
one-time budget-limit metrics.
## Summary
Early adopters of the `/goal` feature have provided feedback that they
expect a goal they explicitly paused to remain paused when they resume a
thread. Previously, resuming a thread would reactivate a paused goal.
This PR keeps persisted goal status unchanged during thread resume. This
honors the user feedback while also simplifying the core goal logic.
Rather than have the core logic automatically resume a paused goal, that
responsibility is transferred to the client. The TUI now detects a
resumed thread with a paused goal and asks the user whether to `Resume
goal` or `Leave paused`. The prompt appears only for quiet resume flows,
so users who resume with an immediate prompt are not interrupted.
<img width="544" height="111" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0ac9de1c-6ee6-47ba-b223-c03c8eb4c192"
/>
## Why
`/goal` is supposed to keep Codex working until the goal is actually
done. The previous continuation logic had two ways to stop early: the
continuation prompt told the model to wait for new input when it felt
blocked, and the runtime suppressed another continuation turn after a
continuation finished without any tool calls.
That made goals stop short even when the agent could still keep making
progress (I received a few reports of this from users). It also relied
on a brittle heuristic that treated "no registry tool calls" as
equivalent to "should stop."
## What changed
- removed the continuation prompt sentence that told the model to stop
and wait for new input when it could not continue productively
- removed the goal runtime suppression heuristic that stopped
auto-continuation after a no-tool continuation turn
- deleted the continuation-activity bookkeeping and left `tool_calls` as
telemetry only
- added focused regressions for the two intended behaviors: completed
no-tool continuation turns still continue, while `request_user_input`
keeps the existing turn open instead of spawning a new continuation
Adds the core runtime behavior for active goals on top of the model
tools from PR 3.
## Why
A long-running goal should be a core runtime concern, not something
every client has to implement. Core owns the turn lifecycle, tool
completion boundaries, interruptions, resume behavior, and token usage,
so it is the right place to account progress, enforce budgets, and
decide when to continue work.
## What changed
- Centralized goal lifecycle side effects behind
`Session::goal_runtime_apply(GoalRuntimeEvent::...)`.
- Starts goal continuation turns only when the session is idle; pending
user input and mailbox work take priority.
- Accounts token and wall-clock usage at turn, tool, mutation,
interrupt, and resume boundaries; `get_thread_goal` remains read-only.
- Preserves sub-second wall-clock remainder across accounting boundaries
so long-running goals do not drift downward over time.
- Treats token budget exhaustion as a soft stop by marking the goal
`budget_limited` and injecting wrap-up steering instead of aborting the
active turn.
- Suppresses budget steering when `update_goal` marks a goal complete.
- Pauses active goals on interrupt and auto-reactivates paused goals
when a thread resumes outside plan mode.
- Suppresses repeated automatic continuation when a continuation turn
makes no tool calls.
- Added continuation and budget-limit prompt templates.
## Verification
- Added focused core coverage for continuation scheduling, accounting
boundaries, budget-limit steering, completion accounting, interrupt
pause behavior, resume auto-activation, and wall-clock remainder
accounting.
Adds the model-facing goal tools on top of the app-server API from PR 2.
## Why
Once goals are persisted and exposed to clients, the model needs a
small, constrained tool surface for goal workflows. The tool contract
should let the model inspect goals, create them only when explicitly
requested, and mark them complete without giving it broad control over
user/runtime-owned state.
## What changed
- Added `get_goal`, `create_goal`, and `update_goal` tool specs behind
the `goals` feature flag.
- Added core goal tool handlers that validate objectives and token
budgets before mutating persisted state.
- Constrained `create_goal` to create only when no goal exists, with
optional `token_budget` only when a budget is explicitly provided.
- Tightened the `create_goal` instructions so the model does not infer
goals from ordinary task requests.
- Constrained `update_goal` to expose only goal completion; pause,
resume, clear, and budget-limited transitions remain user- or
runtime-controlled.
- Registered the goal tools in the tool registry and kept them out of
review contexts where they should not appear.
## Verification
- Added tool-registry coverage for feature gating and tool availability.
- Added core session tests for create/get/update behavior, duplicate
goal rejection, budget validation, and completion-only updates.
Eric Traut ·
friel-openai ·