## 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
`codex exec` drops thread-scoped warning notifications. Warnings
discovered while a thread starts, including unreadable or invalid UTF-8
project `AGENTS.md` files, therefore become silent.
## What changed
- Process global and primary-thread warning notifications while
continuing to ignore warnings from unrelated threads.
- Render runtime warnings in human output and expose them through the
existing non-fatal error item in JSONL output.
- Add focused routing, rendering, and malformed project-instruction
coverage.
## 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`
Adam Perry @ OpenAI ·