Files
codex/codex-rs/core
T
jif 1b24ba912a core: surface terminal subagent errors to parent agents (#28375)
## Why

When a subagent exhausts its retries, it emits an `Error`, but the
generic task lifecycle then emits `TurnComplete(None)`. That completion
used to overwrite the subagent's `Errored` status with
`Completed(None)`, so the parent received an empty completion
notification.

This made a failed child look indistinguishable from a child that
completed without an answer. In unattended or long-running multi-agent
work, the root could silently continue without knowing that delegated
work failed or how to restart it.

## Behavior

Before, a terminal stream failure was reduced to an empty completion:

```text
<subagent_notification>
{"agent_path":"/root/worker","status":{"completed":null}}
</subagent_notification>
```

Now the parent receives the actual terminal error, bounded to 1,000
tokens, together with an actionable recovery hint:

```text
<subagent_notification>
{
  "agent_path": "/root/worker",
  "status": {
    "errored": "stream disconnected before completion: stream closed before response.completed"
  },
  "next_action": "This agent's turn failed. If you still need this agent, use `followup_task` to give it another task."
}
</subagent_notification>
```

The notification remains queue-only: it does not wake the root or replay
the failed request. The root sees it at the next sampling boundary and
can use `followup_task` to start a new turn for that agent.

## What changed

- Added terminal-error precedence to the [agent status
reducer](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/e95fcfe2bb6a02f1a75650afa20048859f556511/codex-rs/core/src/agent/status.rs#L23-L34),
so a closing `TurnComplete` cannot erase an immediately preceding
`Errored` status.
- Made MultiAgentV2 completion forwarding use the retained session
status instead of re-deriving `Completed(None)` from the final event.
- Extended the [subagent notification
fragment](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/e95fcfe2bb6a02f1a75650afa20048859f556511/codex-rs/core/src/context/subagent_notification.rs#L6-L60)
with a `next_action` for terminal errors and a hard cap on model-visible
error text.
- Kept successful completions and interrupted turns unchanged.

## Verification

- Added a status-reducer test proving that `Errored` survives the
trailing `TurnComplete`.
- Added an integration test that exhausts a subagent's stream retries
and verifies the exact `agent_message` delivered to the parent,
including the error and `followup_task` guidance.
- Re-ran the existing successful-completion and interrupted-turn
notification tests.
1b24ba912a · 2026-06-16 14:34:54 +02:00
History
..

codex-core

This crate implements the business logic for Codex. It is designed to be used by the various Codex UIs written in Rust.

Wine-exec integration tests

On x86-64 Linux, run the shared suite against the Windows exec server with bazel test //codex-rs/core:core-all-wine-exec-test. Temporary blockers use a source-local skip_if_wine_exec! call and reason.

Dependencies

Note that codex-core makes some assumptions about certain helper utilities being available in the environment. Currently, this support matrix is:

macOS

Expects /usr/bin/sandbox-exec to be present.

When using the workspace-write sandbox policy, the Seatbelt profile allows writes under the configured writable roots while keeping .git (directory or pointer file), the resolved gitdir: target, and .codex read-only.

Network access and filesystem read/write roots are controlled by SandboxPolicy. Seatbelt consumes the resolved policy and enforces it.

Seatbelt also keeps the legacy default preferences read access (user-preference-read) needed for cfprefs-backed macOS behavior.

Linux

Expects the binary containing codex-core to run the equivalent of codex sandbox when arg0 is codex-linux-sandbox. See the codex-arg0 crate for details.

Legacy SandboxPolicy / sandbox_mode configs are still supported on Linux. They can continue to use the legacy Landlock path when the split filesystem policy is sandbox-equivalent to the legacy model after cwd resolution. Split filesystem policies that need direct FileSystemSandboxPolicy enforcement, such as read-only or denied carveouts under a broader writable root, automatically route through bubblewrap. The legacy Landlock path is used only when the split filesystem policy round-trips through the legacy SandboxPolicy model without changing semantics. That includes overlapping cases like /repo = write, /repo/a = none, /repo/a/b = write, where the more specific writable child must reopen under a denied parent.

The Linux sandbox helper prefers the first bwrap found on PATH outside the current working directory whenever it is available. If bwrap is present but too old to support --argv0, the helper keeps using system bubblewrap and switches to a no---argv0 compatibility path for the inner re-exec. If bwrap is missing, it falls back to the bundled codex-resources/bwrap binary shipped with Codex and Codex surfaces a startup warning through its normal notification path instead of printing directly from the sandbox helper. Codex also surfaces a startup warning when bubblewrap cannot create user namespaces. WSL2 uses the normal Linux bubblewrap path. WSL1 is not supported for bubblewrap sandboxing because it cannot create the required user namespaces, so Codex rejects sandboxed shell commands that would enter the bubblewrap path before invoking bwrap.

Windows

Legacy SandboxPolicy / sandbox_mode configs are still supported on Windows. Legacy read-only and workspace-write policies imply full filesystem read access; exact readable roots are represented by split filesystem policies instead.

The elevated Windows sandbox also supports:

  • legacy ReadOnly and WorkspaceWrite behavior
  • split filesystem policies that need exact readable roots, exact writable roots, or extra read-only carveouts under writable roots
  • backend-managed system read roots required for basic execution, such as C:\Windows, C:\Program Files, C:\Program Files (x86), and C:\ProgramData, when a split filesystem policy requests platform defaults

The unelevated restricted-token backend still supports the legacy full-read Windows model for legacy ReadOnly and WorkspaceWrite behavior. It also supports a narrow split-filesystem subset: full-read split policies whose writable roots still match the legacy WorkspaceWrite root set, but add extra read-only carveouts under those writable roots.

New [permissions] / split filesystem policies remain supported on Windows only when they can be enforced directly by the selected Windows backend or round-trip through the legacy SandboxPolicy model without changing semantics. Policies that would require direct explicit unreadable carveouts (none) or reopened writable descendants under read-only carveouts still fail closed instead of running with weaker enforcement.

All Platforms

Expects the binary containing codex-core to simulate the virtual apply_patch CLI when arg1 is --codex-run-as-apply-patch. See the codex-arg0 crate for details.