Josh McKinneyandGitHub
d876f3b94f
## Problem When a turn streamed a preamble line before any tool activity, `ChatWidget` hid the status row while committing streamed lines and did not restore it until a later event (commonly `ExecCommandBegin`). During that idle gap, the UI looked finished even though the turn was still active. ## Mental model The bottom status row and transcript stream are separate progress affordances: - transcript stream shows committed output - status row (spinner/shimmer + header) shows liveness of an active turn While stream output is actively committing, hiding the status row is acceptable to avoid redundant visual noise. Once stream controllers go idle, an active turn must restore the status row immediately so liveness remains visible across preamble-to-tool gaps. ## Non-goals - No changes to streaming chunking policy or pacing. - No changes to final completion behavior (status still hides when task actually ends). - No refactor of status lifecycle ownership between `ChatWidget` and `BottomPane`. ## Tradeoffs - We keep the existing behavior of hiding the status row during active stream commits. - We add explicit restoration on the idle boundary when the task is still running. - This introduces one extra status update on idle transitions, which is small overhead but makes liveness semantics consistent. ## Architecture `run_commit_tick_with_scope` in `chatwidget.rs` now documents and enforces a two-phase contract: 1. For each committed streamed cell, hide status and append transcript output. 2. If controllers are present and all idle, restore status iff task is still running, preserving the current header. This keeps status ownership in `ChatWidget` while relying on `BottomPane` helpers: - `hide_status_indicator()` during active stream commits - `ensure_status_indicator()` + `set_status_header(current_status_header)` at stream-idle boundary Documentation pass additions: - Clarified the function-level contract and lifecycle intent in `run_commit_tick_with_scope`. - Added an explicit regression snapshot test comment describing the failing sequence. ## Observability Signal that the fix is present: - In the preamble-idle state, rendered output still includes `• Working (… esc to interrupt)`. - New snapshot: `codex_tui__chatwidget__tests__preamble_keeps_working_status.snap`. Debug path for future regressions: - Start at `run_commit_tick_with_scope` for hide/restore transitions. - Verify `bottom_pane.is_task_running()` at idle transition. - Confirm `current_status_header` continuity when status is recreated. - Use the new snapshot and targeted test sequence to reproduce deterministic preamble-idle behavior. ## Tests - Updated regression assertion: - `streaming_final_answer_keeps_task_running_state` now expects status widget to remain present while turn is running. - Renamed/updated behavioral regression: - `preamble_keeps_status_indicator_visible_until_exec_begin`. - Added snapshot regression coverage: - `preamble_keeps_working_status_snapshot`. - Snapshot file: `tui/src/chatwidget/snapshots/codex_tui__chatwidget__tests__preamble_keeps_working_status.snap`. Commands run: - `just fmt` - `cargo test -p codex-tui preamble_keeps_status_indicator_visible_until_exec_begin` - `cargo test -p codex-tui preamble_keeps_working_status_snapshot` ## Risks / Inconsistencies - Status visibility policy is still split across multiple event paths (`commit tick`, `turn complete`, `exec begin`), so future regressions can reintroduce ordering gaps. - Restoration depends on `is_task_running()` correctness; if task lifecycle flags drift, status behavior will drift too. - Snapshot proves rendered state, not animation cadence; cadence still relies on frame scheduling behavior elsewhere.
Codex CLI (Rust Implementation)
We provide Codex CLI as a standalone, native executable to ensure a zero-dependency install.
Installing Codex
Today, the easiest way to install Codex is via npm:
npm i -g @openai/codex
codex
You can also install via Homebrew (brew install --cask codex) or download a platform-specific release directly from our GitHub Releases.
Documentation quickstart
- First run with Codex? Start with
docs/getting-started.md(links to the walkthrough for prompts, keyboard shortcuts, and session management). - Want deeper control? See
docs/config.mdanddocs/install.md.
What's new in the Rust CLI
The Rust implementation is now the maintained Codex CLI and serves as the default experience. It includes a number of features that the legacy TypeScript CLI never supported.
Config
Codex supports a rich set of configuration options. Note that the Rust CLI uses config.toml instead of config.json. See docs/config.md for details.
Model Context Protocol Support
MCP client
Codex CLI functions as an MCP client that allows the Codex CLI and IDE extension to connect to MCP servers on startup. See the configuration documentation for details.
MCP server (experimental)
Codex can be launched as an MCP server by running codex mcp-server. This allows other MCP clients to use Codex as a tool for another agent.
Use the @modelcontextprotocol/inspector to try it out:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector codex mcp-server
Use codex mcp to add/list/get/remove MCP server launchers defined in config.toml, and codex mcp-server to run the MCP server directly.
Notifications
You can enable notifications by configuring a script that is run whenever the agent finishes a turn. The notify documentation includes a detailed example that explains how to get desktop notifications via terminal-notifier on macOS. When Codex detects that it is running under WSL 2 inside Windows Terminal (WT_SESSION is set), the TUI automatically falls back to native Windows toast notifications so approval prompts and completed turns surface even though Windows Terminal does not implement OSC 9.
codex exec to run Codex programmatically/non-interactively
To run Codex non-interactively, run codex exec PROMPT (you can also pass the prompt via stdin) and Codex will work on your task until it decides that it is done and exits. Output is printed to the terminal directly. You can set the RUST_LOG environment variable to see more about what's going on.
Experimenting with the Codex Sandbox
To test to see what happens when a command is run under the sandbox provided by Codex, we provide the following subcommands in Codex CLI:
# macOS
codex sandbox macos [--full-auto] [--log-denials] [COMMAND]...
# Linux
codex sandbox linux [--full-auto] [COMMAND]...
# Windows
codex sandbox windows [--full-auto] [COMMAND]...
# Legacy aliases
codex debug seatbelt [--full-auto] [--log-denials] [COMMAND]...
codex debug landlock [--full-auto] [COMMAND]...
Selecting a sandbox policy via --sandbox
The Rust CLI exposes a dedicated --sandbox (-s) flag that lets you pick the sandbox policy without having to reach for the generic -c/--config option:
# Run Codex with the default, read-only sandbox
codex --sandbox read-only
# Allow the agent to write within the current workspace while still blocking network access
codex --sandbox workspace-write
# Danger! Disable sandboxing entirely (only do this if you are already running in a container or other isolated env)
codex --sandbox danger-full-access
The same setting can be persisted in ~/.codex/config.toml via the top-level sandbox_mode = "MODE" key, e.g. sandbox_mode = "workspace-write".
Code Organization
This folder is the root of a Cargo workspace. It contains quite a bit of experimental code, but here are the key crates:
core/contains the business logic for Codex. Ultimately, we hope this to be a library crate that is generally useful for building other Rust/native applications that use Codex.exec/"headless" CLI for use in automation.tui/CLI that launches a fullscreen TUI built with Ratatui.cli/CLI multitool that provides the aforementioned CLIs via subcommands.