## Why
We already have the machinery to support multiple environments on a
single thread, but we only show the model the contents of `AGENTS.md`
files in the primary environment.
We should show the model all of the relevant project instructions when
we know there's more than one environment.
## Known Gaps
As discussed in the RFC, this implementation:
1. doesn't handle environments being added/removed to/from the thread
after its creation
2. it doesn't enforce an aggregate context budget across environments,
and instead applies the configured project maximum independently to each
environment
## Implementation
- Discover project instructions in environment order with an independent
byte budget per environment and preserve source provenance/order.
- Keep the legacy fragment byte-for-byte when exactly one environment
contributes project instructions; use environment-labeled sections when
two or more environments contribute.
- Freeze the complete rendered fragment in `LoadedAgentsMd`, insert it
directly into requests, and recognize both layouts in contextual and
memory filtering.
- Add exact rendering, independent-budget, source-order,
creation-snapshot, and consumer coverage without changing app-server
schemas.
## Why
We want to remove implicit use of `$CODEX_HOME` from `codex-core` and
make embedders responsible for supplying user-level instructions. This
also ensures user instructions load when no primary environment is
selected.
## What changed
Stacked on #27415, which makes `codex exec` surface thread-scoped
runtime warnings.
- Added `UserInstructionsProvider` to `codex-extension-api`, with
absolute source attribution and recoverable loading warnings.
- Added `codex-home` with the filesystem-backed provider for
`AGENTS.override.md` and `AGENTS.md`, preserving precedence, fallback,
trimming, lossy UTF-8 handling, and the existing uncapped global
instruction size.
- Removed global instruction loading from `Config` and require
`ThreadManager` callers to inject a provider.
- Load provider instructions once for each fresh root runtime, including
runtimes without a primary environment. Running sessions retain their
snapshot, while child agents inherit the parent snapshot without
invoking the provider.
- Keep provider instructions separate while loading project `AGENTS.md`,
then assemble the model-visible instructions with the existing ordering,
source attribution, warning, and turn-context behavior.
- Wired the Codex home provider through the CLI, app server, MCP server,
core facade, and thread-manager sample.
## Validation
- `just test -p codex-home -p codex-extension-api`
- `just test -p codex-core agents_md`
- `just test -p codex-core guardian`
- `just test -p codex-app-server
thread_start_without_selected_environment_includes_only_global_instruction_source`
- `just test -p codex-exec warning`
- `just bazel-lock-check`
## Why
We're moving exec-server to use PathUri for its internal path
representations.
## What
Move `ExecutorFileSystem` APIs to use `PathUri` instead of
`AbsolutePathBuf`. Future changes will convert higher-level parts of
exec-server.
## Why
Global instruction behavior spans thread creation, resume, forks,
subagents, and compaction. Characterization coverage is needed before
changing those semantics so preserved history can be distinguished from
newly loaded configuration.
## What changed
- Extends the existing `agents_md` suite with fresh-thread, warning,
resume, fork, and subagent lifecycle coverage.
- Extends the existing `compact` suite with manual, mid-turn, and
remote-v2 compaction coverage.
- Asserts rendered instruction fragments, reported source paths, and
structured request history before and after instruction-file mutations.
## Intent
Follow up on #26205 by avoiding unnecessary filesystem canonicalization
during `AGENTS.md` discovery. The configured working directory is
already absolute, and canonicalization incorrectly switches symlinked
workspaces from their logical parent hierarchy to the target's
hierarchy.
## User-facing behavior
For a symlinked working directory such as:
```text
test-root/
|-- logical-repo/
| |-- AGENTS.md ("logical parent doc")
| `-- workspace ------------> physical-repo/workspace/
`-- physical-repo/
|-- AGENTS.md ("physical parent doc")
`-- workspace/
`-- AGENTS.md ("workspace doc")
```
Before this change, Codex canonicalized `logical-repo/workspace` to
`physical-repo/workspace` before discovery. It therefore loaded
`physical-repo/AGENTS.md` and `physical-repo/workspace/AGENTS.md`,
ignoring the instructions from the repository through which the user
entered the workspace.
After this change, ancestor discovery walks the configured logical path,
so Codex loads `logical-repo/AGENTS.md`. Opening
`logical-repo/workspace/AGENTS.md` still follows the symlink through the
host filesystem, so the workspace document is also loaded.
`physical-repo/AGENTS.md` is not loaded.
## Implementation
Use the logical absolute working directory when discovering project
instructions and reporting instruction sources. Filesystem reads still
follow the working-directory symlink, so an `AGENTS.md` in the target
workspace continues to load while ancestor discovery uses the symlink's
parents.
## Validation
Added integration coverage proving that discovery loads the logical
parent's instructions and the target workspace's instructions, but not
the target parent's instructions.
## Why
Workspace-specific `AGENTS.md` loading needs to use the selected
environment filesystem so remote workspaces and child agents read
instructions from their actual environment instead of the host
filesystem. The app-server should report the same instruction sources
the initialized thread actually loaded, rather than independently
rescanning configuration and filesystem state.
## What changed
- Introduce `LoadedAgentsMd` to retain ordered user, project, and
internal instructions with their provenance.
- Load and canonicalize workspace `AGENTS.md` paths through the primary
`EnvironmentManager` environment, then render the loaded instructions
when constructing turn context.
- Expose cached loaded instruction sources from initialized threads and
use them for app-server start, resume, and fork responses.
- Preserve global `CODEX_HOME` loading and separator behavior while
excluding empty project files that did not supply model-visible
instructions.
- Add integration coverage for CLI injection, selected-environment
provenance and rendering, empty environment selection, and cached
sources on loaded-thread resume.
## Validation
- `just test -p codex-core agents_md`
- `just test -p codex-core
selected_environment_sources_match_model_visible_instructions`
- `just test -p codex-exec agents_md`
- `just test -p codex-app-server instruction_sources`
- `just test -p codex-app-server --status-level fail`
## Why
The Docker remote-env coverage was failing before it reached the
behavior those tests are meant to exercise. The remote-aware test
fixture only registered the remote environment, so tests that
intentionally select both `local` and `remote` could not start a turn.
After that was fixed, two tests exposed stale fixtures: the approval
test was auto-approving under workspace-write, and the remote
`view_image` test was writing invalid PNG bytes.
## What Changed
- Added `EnvironmentManager::create_for_tests_with_local(...)` so tests
can keep the provider default while also selecting `local` explicitly.
- Updated `build_remote_aware()` to use that test-only manager when a
remote exec-server URL is present.
- Changed the remote apply-patch approval helper to use
`SandboxPolicy::new_read_only_policy()` so the test actually exercises
approval caching per environment.
- Replaced the hardcoded remote `view_image` PNG blob with the existing
`png_bytes(...)` helper so the test uses a valid image fixture.
## Validation
Ran these isolated Docker remote-env tests on the devbox with
`$remote-tests` setup:
-
`suite::remote_env::apply_patch_freeform_routes_to_selected_remote_environment`
-
`suite::remote_env::apply_patch_approvals_are_remembered_per_environment`
-
`suite::remote_env::apply_patch_intercepted_exec_command_routes_to_selected_remote_environment`
-
`suite::remote_env::exec_command_routes_to_selected_remote_environment`
- `suite::view_image::view_image_routes_to_selected_remote_environment`
All five pass.
## Summary
- make AGENTS.md discovery and loading fully FS-aware and remove the
non-FS discover helper
- migrate remote-aware codex-core tests to use TestEnv workspace setup
instead of syncing a local workspace copy
- add AGENTS.md corner-case coverage, including directory fallbacks and
remote-aware integration coverage
## Testing
- cargo test -p codex-core project_doc -- --nocapture
- cargo test -p codex-core hierarchical_agents -- --nocapture
- cargo test -p codex-core agents_md -- --nocapture
- cargo test -p codex-tui status -- --nocapture
- cargo test -p codex-tui-app-server status -- --nocapture
- just fix
- just fmt
- just bazel-lock-update
- just bazel-lock-check
- just argument-comment-lint
- remote Linux executor tests in progress via scripts/test-remote-env.sh
Adam Perry @ OpenAI ·
starr-openai ·
pakrym-oai ·