## Summary
- Add sorting support to the resume session picker with Tab key toggle
- Sessions can now be sorted by either creation time or last updated
time
- Display the current sort mode in the picker header
- Default to sorting by creation time (most recent first)
## Changes
- Add `sort_key` field to `PickerState` to track current sort order
- Pass sort key to `RolloutRecorder::list_threads()` for proper backend
sorting
- Add Tab key handler to toggle between `CreatedAt` and `UpdatedAt`
sorting
- Show current sort mode ("Created at" / "Updated at") in header
- Add "Tab to toggle sort" keyboard hint
- Intelligently hide secondary date column when terminal is narrow
- Reload session list when sort order changes
## Test plan
- [x] Unit tests for sort key toggle functionality
- [x] Snapshot tests updated for new header format
- [x] Test that Tab key triggers reload with new sort key
- [x] Test column visibility adapts to narrow terminals
- shows names of threads in the ResumePicker used by `/resume` and
`codex resume` if set, default to preview (previous behaviour) if none
- adds a `find_thread_names_by_ids` that maps names to IDs in
`codex-rs/core/src/rollout/session_index.rs`. It reads sequentially in
normal (instead of reverse order in `codex resume <name>`) the index
mapping file. This function is called from a list of session (default
page is 25, pages loaded depends of height of terminal), for which most
of them will always have at least one session unnamed and require the
whole file to be read therefore. Could be better and sqlite integration
will make this better
- those reads won't be needed when leveraging sqlite
Opened questions:
- We could rename the TUI "Conversation" column to "Name" or "Thread"
that would feel more accurate. Could be a fast-follow if we implement
auto-naming as it'll always be a name instead?
# Summary
- Fix resume/fork config rebuild so cwd changes inside the TUI produce a
fully rebuilt Config (trust/approval/sandbox) instead of mutating only
the cwd.
- Preserve `--add-dir` behavior across resume/fork by normalizing
relative roots to absolute paths once (based on the original cwd).
- Prefer latest `TurnContext.cwd` for resume/fork prompts but fall back
to `SessionMeta.cwd` if the latest cwd no longer exists.
- Align resume/fork selection handling and ensure UI config matches the
resumed thread config.
- Fix Windows test TOML path escaping in trust-level test.
# Details
- Rebuild Config via `ConfigBuilder` when resuming into a different cwd;
carry forward runtime approval/sandbox overrides.
- Add `normalize_harness_overrides_for_cwd` to resolve relative
`additional_writable_roots` against the initial cwd before reuse.
- Guard `read_session_cwd` with filesystem existence check for the
latest `TurnContext.cwd`.
- Update naming/flow around cwd comparison and prompt selection.
<img width="603" height="150" alt="Screenshot 2026-01-23 at 5 42 13 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d1897386-bb28-4e8a-98cf-187fdebbecb0"
/>
And proof the model understands the new cwd:
<img width="828" height="353" alt="Screenshot 2026-01-22 at 5 36 45 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/12aed8ca-dec3-4b64-8dae-c6b8cff78387"
/>
### Problem
Ctrl+T transcript overlay can omit in-flight coalesced tool calls because it
renders only committed transcript cells while the main viewport can render the
current in-flight ChatWidget.active_cell immediately.
### Mental model
The UI has both committed transcript cells (finalized HistoryCell entries) and
an in-flight active cell that can mutate in place while streaming, often
representing a coalesced exec/tool group. The transcript overlay renders
committed cells plus a render-only live tail derived from the current active
cell. The live tail is cached and only recomputed when its cache key changes,
which is derived from terminal width (wrapping), active-cell revision
(in-place mutations), stream continuation (spacing), and animation tick
(time-based visuals).
### Non-goals
This does not change coalescing rules, flush boundaries, or when active cells
become committed. It does not change tool-call semantics or transcript
persistence; it is a rendering-only improvement for the overlay.
### Tradeoffs
This adds cache invalidation complexity: correctness depends on bumping an
active-cell revision (and/or providing an animation tick) when the active cell
mutates in place. The mechanism is implemented in both codex-tui and codex-tui2,
which keeps behavior consistent but risks drift if future changes are not
applied in lockstep.
### Architecture
App special-cases transcript overlay draws to sync a live tail from ChatWidget
into TranscriptOverlay. TranscriptOverlay remains the owner of committed
transcript cells; the live tail is an optional appended renderable.
HistoryCell::transcript_animation_tick() allows time-dependent transcript output
(spinner/shimmer) to invalidate the cached tail without requiring data mutation.
### Observability
Manual verification is to open Ctrl+T while an exploring/coalesced active cell
is still in-flight and confirm the overlay includes the same in-flight tool-call
group the main viewport shows. The overlay is kept in sync by App passing an
active-cell key and transcript lines into TranscriptOverlay::sync_live_tail; the
key must change when the active cell mutates or animates.
### Tests
Snapshot tests validate that the transcript overlay renders a live tail appended
after committed cells and that identical keys short-circuit recomputation. Unit
tests validate that active-cell revision bumps occur on specific in-place
mutations (e.g. unified exec wait cell command display becoming known late) so
cached tails are invalidated.
## Documentation patches (module, type, function)
### Module-level docs (invariants + mechanisms)
- codex-rs/tui/src/app_backtrack.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui/src/pager_overlay.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui/src/history_cell.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui2/src/app_backtrack.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui2/src/chatwidget.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui2/src/pager_overlay.rs:1
- codex-rs/tui2/src/history_cell.rs:1
### Type-level docs (cache key + invariants)
- codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs (ChatWidget.active_cell_revision, ActiveCellTranscriptKey)
- codex-rs/tui/src/pager_overlay.rs (TranscriptOverlay live tail storage model)
- codex-rs/tui/src/history_cell.rs (HistoryCell::transcript_animation_tick, UnifiedExecWaitCell::update_command_display)
- Mirrored in codex-rs/tui2/src/chatwidget.rs, codex-rs/tui2/src/pager_overlay.rs, codex-rs/tui2/src/history_cell.rs
### Function-level docs (why/when/guarantees/pitfalls)
- codex-rs/tui/src/app_backtrack.rs (overlay_forward_event)
- codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs (active_cell_transcript_key, active_cell_transcript_lines)
- codex-rs/tui/src/pager_overlay.rs (sync_live_tail, take_live_tail_renderable)
- codex-rs/tui/src/history_cell.rs (transcript_animation_tick, UnifiedExecWaitCell::update_command_display)
- Mirrored in codex-rs/tui2 equivalents where present
### Validation performed
- cd codex-rs && just fmt
- cd codex-rs && cargo test -p codex-tui
- cd codex-rs && cargo test -p codex-tui2
## Design inconsistencies / risks
- Cache invalidation is a distributed responsibility: any future in-place active
cell transcript mutation that forgets to bump active_cell_revision (or expose
an animation tick) can leave the transcript overlay live tail out of sync with
the main viewport.
- TranscriptOverlay tail handling assumes a structural invariant that the live
tail, when present, is exactly one trailing renderable after the committed cell
renderables; if renderable construction changes in a way that violates that
assumption, tail insertion/removal logic becomes incorrect.
- codex-tui and codex-tui2 duplicate the live-tail mechanism; the documentation
is aligned, but the implementation can still drift unless changes continue to
be applied in lockstep.
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"
/>
See snapshots for view of edge cases
This is still named `UnifiedExecSessions` for consistency across the
code but should be renamed to `BackgroundTerminals` in a follow-up
Example:
<img width="945" height="687" alt="Screenshot 2025-12-18 at 20 12 53"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/92f39ff2-243c-4006-b402-e3fa9e93c952"
/>
# 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.
# 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.
By default, show only sessions that shared a cwd with the current cwd.
`--all` shows all sessions in all cwds. Also, show the branch name from
the rollout metadata.
<img width="1091" height="638" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-04 at 3 30 47 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/aae90308-6115-455f-aff7-22da5f1d9681"
/>
- Introducing a screen to inform users of model changes.
- Config name is being passed to be able to reuse this component in the
future for future models
keep a 1 cell margin at the right edge of the screen in the composer
(and in the user message in history).
this lets us print clear-to-EOL 1 char before the end of the line in
history, so that resizing the terminal will keep the background color
(at least in iterm/terminal.app). it also stops the cursor in the
textarea from floating off the right edge.
---------
Co-authored-by: joshka-oai <joshka@openai.com>
## Summary
- show a dim “(no output)” placeholder when an executed command produces
no stdout or stderr so empty runs are visible
- update TUI snapshots to include the new placeholder in history
renderings
## Testing
- cargo test -p codex-tui
------
https://chatgpt.com/codex/tasks/task_i_68dc056c1d5883218fe8d9929e9b1657
- Render `send a message to load usage data` in the beginning of the
session
- Render `data not available yet` if received no rate limits
- nit case
- Deleted stall snapshots that were moved to
`codex-rs/tui/src/status/snapshots`
- Refactor Exec Cell into its own module
- update exec command rendering to inline the first command line
- limit continuation lines
- always show trimmed output
No (intended) functional change.
This refactors the transcript view to hold a list of HistoryCells
instead of a list of Lines. This simplifies and makes much of the logic
more robust, as well as laying the groundwork for future changes, e.g.
live-updating history cells in the transcript.
Similar to #2879 in goal. Fixes#2755.
Also, simplify the streaming behavior.
This fixes a number of display issues with streaming markdown, and paves
the way for better markdown features (e.g. customizable styles, syntax
highlighting, markdown-aware wrapping).
Not currently supported:
- footnotes
- tables
- reference-style links
i'm not yet convinced i have the best heuristics for what to highlight,
but this feels like a useful step towards something a bit easier to
read, esp. when the model is producing large commands.
<img width="669" height="589" alt="Screenshot 2025-09-03 at 8 21 56 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b9cbcc43-80e8-4d41-93c8-daa74b84b331"
/>
also a fairly significant refactor of our line wrapping logic.
#### Summary
- render the edit queued message shortcut with the ⌥ modifier on macOS
builds
- add a helper for status indicator snapshot suffixes
- record macOS-specific snapshots for the status indicator widget
This fixes a bug where if you ran /diff while at turn was running,
transcript lines would be added to the end of the diff view. Also,
refactor to make this kind of issue less likely in future.