## Why
#27198 made the extension-owned `codex_apps` MCP connection the hosted
plugin runtime, but its `mcp/skill` resources still bypassed the skills
extension. App-server could list and read those resources through
generic MCP APIs, but a thread with no selected environment did not
expose them in the model's skills catalog or load their `SKILL.md`
through `$skill`.
Hosted skills should stay remote while using the same typed catalog,
source authority, deduplication, bounded contextual catalog, and
selected-skill prompt injection as host and executor skills. They should
not be downloaded or exposed as ambient filesystem paths.
## What changed
- Add a session-scoped `McpResourceClient` over the replaceable MCP
connection manager so resource list/read calls follow startup and
refresh replacements.
- Add a `BackendSkillProvider` that pages `codex_apps` resources,
accepts bounded and validated `mcp/skill` entries, and reads a selected
skill's `SKILL.md` through the same MCP connection.
- Register the remote provider in app-server and include it in the
skills catalog even when a thread has no selected capability roots or
executor.
- Contribute hosted skill metadata through the bounded
`AvailableSkillsInstructions` developer-context path, exclude remote
entries from per-turn catalog injection, and classify `<skills>`
messages as contextual developer content so rollback can trim and
rebuild them correctly.
## Testing
- Extend the app-server MCP resource integration test with
`environments: []` to exercise two-page discovery, filter a
non-`mcp/skill` resource, verify the escaped developer catalog entry and
user-role `<skill>` fragment containing the fetched `SKILL.md`, and
preserve generic MCP resource reads.
- Add core event-mapping coverage that classifies `<skills>` developer
messages as contextual history.
## Summary
`cargo test` has entails both running standard Rust tests and doctests.
It turns out that the doctest discovery is fairly slow, and it's a cost
you pay even for crates that don't include any doctests.
This PR disables doctests with `doctest = false` for crates that lack
any doctests.
For the collection of crates below, this speeds up test execution by
>4x.
E.g., before this PR:
```
Benchmark 1: cargo test -p codex-utils-absolute-path -p codex-utils-cache -p codex-utils-cli -p codex-utils-home-dir -p codex-utils-output-truncation -p codex-utils-path -p codex-utils-string -p codex-utils-template -p codex-utils-elapsed -p codex-utils-json-to-toml
Time (mean ± σ): 1.849 s ± 4.455 s [User: 0.752 s, System: 1.367 s]
Range (min … max): 0.418 s … 14.529 s 10 runs
```
And after:
```
Benchmark 1: cargo test -p codex-utils-absolute-path -p codex-utils-cache -p codex-utils-cli -p codex-utils-home-dir -p codex-utils-output-truncation -p codex-utils-path -p codex-utils-string -p codex-utils-template -p codex-utils-elapsed -p codex-utils-json-to-toml
Time (mean ± σ): 428.6 ms ± 6.9 ms [User: 187.7 ms, System: 219.7 ms]
Range (min … max): 418.0 ms … 436.8 ms 10 runs
```
For a single crate, with >2x speedup, before:
```
Benchmark 1: cargo test -p codex-utils-string
Time (mean ± σ): 491.1 ms ± 9.0 ms [User: 229.8 ms, System: 234.9 ms]
Range (min … max): 480.9 ms … 512.0 ms 10 runs
```
And after:
```
Benchmark 1: cargo test -p codex-utils-string
Time (mean ± σ): 213.9 ms ± 4.3 ms [User: 112.8 ms, System: 84.0 ms]
Range (min … max): 206.8 ms … 221.0 ms 13 runs
```
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## DISCLAIMER
This is experimental and no production service must rely on this
## Why
Built-in MCPs are product-owned runtime capabilities, but they were
previously flattened into the same config-backed stdio path as
user-configured servers. That made them depend on a hidden `codex
builtin-mcp` re-exec path, exposed them through config-oriented CLI
flows, and erased distinctions the runtime needs to preserve—most
notably whether an MCP call should count as external context for
memory-mode pollution.
## What changed
- Model product-owned built-ins separately from config-backed MCP
servers via `BuiltinMcpServer` and `EffectiveMcpServer`.
- Launch built-ins in process through a reusable async transport instead
of the hidden `builtin-mcp` stdio subcommand.
- Keep config-oriented CLI operations such as `codex mcp
list/get/login/logout` scoped to configured servers, while merging
built-ins only into the effective runtime server set.
- Retain server metadata after launch so parallel-tool support and
context classification come from the live server set; built-in
`memories` is now classified as local Codex state rather than external
context.
## Test plan
- `cargo test -p codex-mcp`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test suite
builtin_memories_mcp_call_does_not_mark_thread_memory_mode_polluted_when_configured`
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Why
`codex-mcp` currently exposes more API than the rest of the workspace
uses. Some of that surface is simply visibility that can be tightened,
and some of it is public helper code that remains compiler-valid because
it is exported even though no workspace caller uses it.
That distinction matters: Rust does not warn on exported API just
because the current workspace does not call it. This PR intentionally
treats those exported-but-workspace-unreferenced paths as stale
`codex-mcp` surface. The main example is MCP skill dependency
collection, where the active implementation now lives in
`codex-rs/core/src/mcp_skill_dependencies.rs`; keeping the older
`codex-mcp` copy makes it unclear which implementation owns skill MCP
installation.
## What Changed
- Pruned unused `codex-mcp` re-exports from `codex-mcp/src/lib.rs`.
- Removed non-runtime helper methods from `McpConnectionManager` so it
stays focused on live MCP clients.
- Made `ToolPluginProvenance` lookup methods crate-private.
- Removed workspace-unreferenced snapshot wrapper APIs and
qualified-tool grouping helpers.
- Deleted the duplicate `codex-mcp` skill dependency module and tests
now that skill MCP dependency handling is owned by `core`.
## Verification
- `cargo check -p codex-mcp`
## Summary
- Add the executor-backed RMCP stdio transport.
- Wire MCP stdio placement through the executor environment config.
- Cover local and executor-backed stdio paths with the existing MCP test
helpers.
## Stack
```text
o #18027 [6/6] Fail exec client operations after disconnect
│
@ #18212 [5/6] Wire executor-backed MCP stdio
│
o #18087 [4/6] Abstract MCP stdio server launching
│
o #18020 [3/6] Add pushed exec process events
│
o #18086 [2/6] Support piped stdin in exec process API
│
o #18085 [1/6] Add MCP server environment config
│
o main
```
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
- Split MCP runtime/server code out of `codex-core` into the new
`codex-mcp` crate. New/moved public structs/types include `McpConfig`,
`McpConnectionManager`, `ToolInfo`, `ToolPluginProvenance`,
`CodexAppsToolsCacheKey`, and the `McpManager` API
(`codex_mcp::mcp::McpManager` plus the `codex_core::mcp::McpManager`
wrapper/shim). New/moved functions include `with_codex_apps_mcp`,
`configured_mcp_servers`, `effective_mcp_servers`,
`collect_mcp_snapshot`, `collect_mcp_snapshot_from_manager`,
`qualified_mcp_tool_name_prefix`, and the MCP auth/skill-dependency
helpers. Why: this creates a focused MCP crate boundary and shrinks
`codex-core` without forcing every consumer to migrate in the same PR.
- Move MCP server config schema and persistence into `codex-config`.
New/moved structs/enums include `AppToolApproval`,
`McpServerToolConfig`, `McpServerConfig`, `RawMcpServerConfig`,
`McpServerTransportConfig`, `McpServerDisabledReason`, and
`codex_config::ConfigEditsBuilder`. New/moved functions include
`load_global_mcp_servers` and
`ConfigEditsBuilder::replace_mcp_servers`/`apply`. Why: MCP TOML
parsing/editing is config ownership, and this keeps config
validation/round-tripping (including per-tool approval overrides and
inline bearer-token rejection) in the config crate instead of
`codex-core`.
- Rewire `codex-core`, app-server, and plugin call sites onto the new
crates. Updated `Config::to_mcp_config(&self, plugins_manager)`,
`codex-rs/core/src/mcp.rs`, `codex-rs/core/src/connectors.rs`,
`codex-rs/core/src/codex.rs`,
`CodexMessageProcessor::list_mcp_server_status_task`, and
`utils/plugins/src/mcp_connector.rs` to build/pass the new MCP
config/runtime types. Why: plugin-provided MCP servers still merge with
user-configured servers, and runtime auth (`CodexAuth`) is threaded into
`with_codex_apps_mcp` / `collect_mcp_snapshot` explicitly so `McpConfig`
stays config-only.
jif ·
Charlie Marsh ·
Ahmed Ibrahim ·
efrazer-oai ·
pakrym-oai ·