## Summary
This PR updates the goal continuation prompt to address feedback from
early adopters. There are two primary changes:
1. Goal continuation and budget-limit steering prompts now use hidden
user-context messages instead of hidden developer messages.
2. The goal continuation prompt is refined to improve the model's
ability to fully complete the active goal rather than stop at a smaller
or merely passing subset.
The user-message transition is important for two reasons. First, it
eliminates an issue where older steering messages could be responded to
again after a new turn. Second, it works better with compaction because
user messages are treated differently from developer messages during
compaction.
The prompt refinements make persistence explicit, ground work in current
evidence, encourage `update_plan` for multi-step progress visibility,
and require stronger completion audits before calling `update_goal`. It
also removes the elapsed-time reporting in the prompt; I saw evidence
that this was causing the model to shortcut work as it became nervous
about time.
These changes were tested with evals. Chriss4123 has also been running
independent evals in
[#19910](https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/19910), and many of the
improvements in this PR were suggested by him.
## Verification
- Tested with evals.
- Added and updated focused `codex-core` coverage for hidden goal user
context, continuation and budget-limit request shape, prompt rendering,
and objective delimiter escaping.
## Why
The model-visible `<network>` context currently repeats indentation and
a pair of XML tags for every allowed or denied domain. Large domain sets
spend a surprising amount of prompt budget on that scaffolding instead
of the actual policy values.
## What changed
- Render allowed domains as one comma-separated `<allowed>` value
instead of one element per domain.
- Render denied domains the same way.
- Keep the full allow/deny domain sets model-visible while updating the
serialization and settings-update coverage for the denser shape.
## Example
Before:
```xml
<network enabled="true">
<allowed>api.example.test</allowed>
<allowed>cdn.example.test</allowed>
<denied>blocked.example.test</denied>
</network>
```
After:
```xml
<network enabled="true"><allowed>api.example.test,cdn.example.test</allowed><denied>blocked.example.test</denied></network>
```
## Validation
- `cargo test -p codex-core environment_context`
- `cargo test -p codex-core
build_settings_update_items_emits_environment_item_for_network_changes`
- Ran a local `codex` session with a real network context containing 121
allowed domains and 42 denied domains, then inspected the raw prompt
with `raw_token_viewer_cli.py`. With the same domain set, the rendered
`<network>` section shrank from 7,175 characters across 161 lines to
3,666 characters on one line, and the containing environment-context
block fell from 6,428 tokens to 5,379 tokens.
## Summary
- make resolved turn environment shell metadata optional instead of
hard-coding bash
- render environment context shells from explicit environment metadata
when present, falling back to the existing session shell
- update environment context tests for inherited PowerShell-style
fallback and explicit per-environment shell override
## Testing
- Not run (not requested; formatted with `just fmt`).
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Why
This is a prep PR in the multi-environment process-tool stack. It
separates ownership/config cleanup from the behavior change that teaches
process tools to route by selected environment, so the follow-up PR can
focus on model-facing `environment_id` behavior.
## Stack
1. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20646 - `EnvironmentContext`
rendering for selected environments
2. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20669 - selected-environment
ownership and tool config prep (this PR)
3. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20647 - process-tool
`environment_id` routing
## What Changed
- keep the resolved turn environment list wrapped in
`ResolvedTurnEnvironments` through `TurnContext` instead of unwrapping
it back to a raw `Vec`
- add `TurnContext::resolve_path_against` so cwd-relative path
resolution has one shared helper
- replace the old tool config boolean with `ToolEnvironmentMode::{None,
Single, Multiple}`
## Testing
- Tests not run locally; this prep refactor is covered by GitHub CI for
the stack.
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Why
The model needs a way to see which environments are available during a
multi-environment turn without changing the legacy single-environment
prompt surface or pulling replay/persistence changes into the same
review.
## Stack
1. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20646 - `EnvironmentContext`
rendering for selected environments (this PR)
2. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20669 - selected-environment
ownership and tool config prep
3. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20647 - process-tool
`environment_id` routing
## What Changed
- extend `environment_context` so multi-environment turns render an
`<environments>` block with the selected environment ids and cwd values
- keep zero- and single-environment turns on the existing cwd-only
render path
- keep replay and persistence paths on the legacy surface for now so
this PR stays scoped to live prompt rendering
- add focused coverage in
`codex-rs/core/src/context/environment_context_tests.rs`
## Testing
- CI
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
Keep extracting memories out of core and moving the write trigger in the
app-server
This is temporary and it should move at the client level as a follow-up
This makes core fully independant from `codex-memories-write`
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Why
This supersedes #19391. During stack repair, GitHub marked #19391 as
merged into a temporary stack branch rather than into `main`, so the
runtime-config change needed a fresh PR.
`PermissionProfile` is now the canonical permissions shape after #19231
because it can distinguish `Managed`, `Disabled`, and `External`
enforcement while also carrying filesystem rules that legacy
`SandboxPolicy` cannot represent cleanly. Core config and session state
still needed to accept profile-backed permissions without forcing every
profile through the strict legacy bridge, which rejected valid runtime
profiles such as direct write roots.
The unrelated CI/test hardening that previously rode along with this PR
has been split into #19683 so this PR stays focused on the permissions
model migration.
## What Changed
- Adds `Permissions.permission_profile` and
`SessionConfiguration.permission_profile` as constrained runtime state,
while keeping `sandbox_policy` as a legacy compatibility projection.
- Introduces profile setters that keep `PermissionProfile`, split
filesystem/network policies, and legacy `SandboxPolicy` projections
synchronized.
- Uses a compatibility projection for requirement checks and legacy
consumers instead of rejecting profiles that cannot round-trip through
`SandboxPolicy` exactly.
- Updates config loading, config overrides, session updates, turn
context plumbing, prompt permission text, sandbox tags, and exec request
construction to carry profile-backed runtime permissions.
- Preserves configured deny-read entries and `glob_scan_max_depth` when
command/session profiles are narrowed.
- Adds `PermissionProfile::read_only()` and
`PermissionProfile::workspace_write()` presets that match legacy
defaults.
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-core direct_write_roots`
- `cargo test -p codex-core runtime_roots_to_legacy_projection`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server
requested_permissions_trust_project_uses_permission_profile_intent`
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/19606).
* #19395
* #19394
* #19393
* #19392
* __->__ #19606
## Why
`ReadOnlyAccess` was a transitional legacy shape on `SandboxPolicy`:
`FullAccess` meant the historical read-only/workspace-write modes could
read the full filesystem, while `Restricted` tried to carry partial
readable roots. The partial-read model now belongs in
`FileSystemSandboxPolicy` and `PermissionProfile`, so keeping it on
`SandboxPolicy` makes every legacy projection reintroduce lossy
read-root bookkeeping and creates unnecessary noise in the rest of the
permissions migration.
This PR makes the legacy policy model narrower and explicit:
`SandboxPolicy::ReadOnly` and `SandboxPolicy::WorkspaceWrite` represent
the old full-read sandbox modes only. Split readable roots, deny-read
globs, and platform-default/minimal read behavior stay in the runtime
permissions model.
## What changed
- Removes `ReadOnlyAccess` from
`codex_protocol::protocol::SandboxPolicy`, including the generated
`access` and `readOnlyAccess` API fields.
- Updates legacy policy/profile conversions so restricted filesystem
reads are represented only by `FileSystemSandboxPolicy` /
`PermissionProfile` entries.
- Keeps app-server v2 compatible with legacy `fullAccess` read-access
payloads by accepting and ignoring that no-op shape, while rejecting
legacy `restricted` read-access payloads instead of silently widening
them to full-read legacy policies.
- Carries Windows sandbox platform-default read behavior with an
explicit override flag instead of depending on
`ReadOnlyAccess::Restricted`.
- Refreshes generated app-server schema/types and updates tests/docs for
the simplified legacy policy shape.
## Verification
- `cargo check -p codex-app-server-protocol --tests`
- `cargo check -p codex-windows-sandbox --tests`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server-protocol sandbox_policy_`
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/19449).
* #19395
* #19394
* #19393
* #19392
* #19391
* __->__ #19449
## Why
`MultiAgentV2` follow-up messages are delivered to agents as
assistant-authored `InterAgentCommunication` envelopes. When
`followup_task` used `interrupt: true`, the interrupted-turn guidance
was still persisted as a contextual user message, so model-visible
history made a system-generated interruption boundary look
user-authored.
This keeps interruption guidance consistent with the rest of the v2
inter-agent message stream while preserving the legacy marker shape for
non-v2 sessions.
## What changed
- Make `interrupted_turn_history_marker` feature-aware.
- Record the interrupted-turn marker as an assistant `OutputText`
message when `Feature::MultiAgentV2` is enabled.
- Keep the existing user contextual fragment for non-v2 sessions.
- Apply the same feature-aware marker to interrupted fork snapshots.
- Add coverage for the live `followup_task` interrupt path and the
helper-level v2 marker shape.
## Testing
- `cargo test -p codex-core
multi_agent_v2_followup_task_interrupts_busy_child_without_losing_message
-- --nocapture`
- `cargo test -p codex-core
multi_agent_v2_interrupted_marker_uses_assistant_output_message --
--nocapture`
- `cargo test -p codex-core interrupted_fork_snapshot -- --nocapture`
## Why
MultiAgentV2 children should not receive an extra model-visible
developer fragment just because they were spawned. The parent/configured
developer instructions should carry through normally, but the dedicated
`<spawned_agent_context>` block is no longer desired.
## What changed
- Removed the `SpawnAgentInstructions` context fragment and its
`<spawned_agent_context>` wrapper.
- Stopped appending spawned-agent instructions in
`codex-rs/core/src/tools/handlers/multi_agents_v2/spawn.rs`.
- Updated subagent notification coverage to assert inherited parent
developer instructions without expecting the spawned-agent wrapper.
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all
spawned_multi_agent_v2_child_inherits_parent_developer_context --
--nocapture`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all
skills_toggle_skips_instructions_for_parent_and_spawned_child --
--nocapture`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all subagent_notifications --
--nocapture`
## Why
`approvals_reviewer` now uses `auto_review` as the canonical config/API
value after #18504, but the Rust enum variant and nearby helper/test
names still used `GuardianSubagent` / guardian approval wording. That
made follow-up code and reviews confusing even though the external value
had already moved to Auto-review.
## What changed
- Renamed `ApprovalsReviewer::GuardianSubagent` to
`ApprovalsReviewer::AutoReview`.
- Updated protocol, app-server, config, core, TUI, exec, and analytics
test callsites.
- Renamed nearby helper/test names from guardian approval wording to
Auto-review wording where they refer to the approvals reviewer mode.
- Preserved wire compatibility:
- `auto_review` remains the canonical serialized value.
- `guardian_subagent` remains accepted as a legacy alias.
This intentionally does not rename the `[features].guardian_approval`
key, `Feature::GuardianApproval`, `core/src/guardian`, analytics event
names, or app-server Guardian review event types.
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-protocol
approvals_reviewer_serializes_auto_review_and_accepts_legacy_guardian_subagent`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server-protocol
approvals_reviewer_serializes_auto_review_and_accepts_legacy_guardian_subagent`
- `cargo test -p codex-config approvals_reviewer`
- `cargo test -p codex-tui update_feature_flags`
- `cargo test -p codex-core permissions_instructions`
- `cargo test -p codex-tui permissions_selection`
