## Problem
The TUI had shell-style Up/Down history recall, but `Ctrl+R` did not
provide the reverse incremental search workflow users expect from
shells. Users needed a way to search older prompts without immediately
replacing the current draft, and the interaction needed to handle async
persistent history, repeated navigation keys, duplicate prompt text,
footer hints, and preview highlighting without making the main composer
file even harder to review.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5165affd-4c9a-46e9-adbd-89088f5f7b6b
<img width="1227" height="722" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8bc83289-eeca-47c7-b0c3-8975101901af"
/>
## Mental model
`Ctrl+R` opens a temporary search session owned by the composer. The
footer line becomes the search input, the composer body previews the
current match only after the query has text, and `Enter` accepts that
preview as an editable draft while `Esc` restores the draft that existed
before search started. The history layer provides a combined offset
space over persistent and local history, but search navigation exposes
unique prompt text rather than every physical history row.
## Non-goals
This change does not rewrite stored history, change normal Up/Down
browsing semantics, add fuzzy matching, or add persistent metadata for
attachments in cross-session history. Search deduplication is
deliberately scoped to the active Ctrl+R search session and uses exact
prompt text, so case, whitespace, punctuation, and attachment-only
differences are not normalized.
## Tradeoffs
The implementation keeps search state in the existing composer and
history state machines instead of adding a new cross-module controller.
That keeps ownership local and testable, but it means the composer still
coordinates visible search status, draft restoration, footer rendering,
cursor placement, and match highlighting while `ChatComposerHistory`
owns traversal, async fetch continuation, boundary clamping, and
unique-result caching. Unique-result caching stores cloned
`HistoryEntry` values so known matches can be revisited without cache
lookups; this is simple and robust for interactive search sizes, but it
is not a global history index.
## Architecture
`ChatComposer` detects `Ctrl+R`, snapshots the current draft, switches
the footer to `FooterMode::HistorySearch`, and routes search-mode keys
before normal editing. Query edits call `ChatComposerHistory::search`
with `restart = true`, which starts from the newest combined-history
offset. Repeated `Ctrl+R` or Up searches older; Down searches newer
through already discovered unique matches or continues the scan.
Persistent history entries still arrive asynchronously through
`on_entry_response`, where a pending search either accepts the response,
skips a duplicate, or requests the next offset.
The composer-facing pieces now live in
`codex-rs/tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer/history_search.rs`, leaving
`chat_composer.rs` responsible for routing and rendering integration
instead of owning every search helper inline.
`codex-rs/tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer_history.rs` remains the
owner of stored history, combined offsets, async fetch state, boundary
semantics, and duplicate suppression. Match highlighting is computed
from the current composer text while search is active and disappears
when the match is accepted.
## Observability
There are no new logs or telemetry. The practical debug path is state
inspection: `ChatComposer.history_search` tells whether the footer query
is idle, searching, matched, or unmatched; `ChatComposerHistory.search`
tracks selected raw offsets, pending persistent fetches, exhausted
directions, and unique match cache state. If a user reports skipped or
repeated results, first inspect the exact stored prompt text, the
selected offset, whether an async persistent response is still pending,
and whether a query edit restarted the search session.
## Tests
The change is covered by focused `codex-tui` unit tests for opening
search without previewing the latest entry, accepting and canceling
search, no-match restoration, boundary clamping, footer hints,
case-insensitive highlighting, local duplicate skipping, and persistent
duplicate skipping through async responses. Snapshot coverage captures
the footer-mode visual changes. Local verification used `just fmt`,
`cargo test -p codex-tui history_search`, `cargo test -p codex-tui`, and
`just fix -p codex-tui`.
## Summary
- remove protocol and core support for discovering and listing custom
prompts
- simplify the TUI slash-command flow and command popup to built-in
commands only
- delete obsolete custom prompt tests, helpers, and docs references
- clean up downstream event handling for the removed protocol events
This is a follow-up to https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/15922. That
previous PR deleted the old `tui` directory and left the new
`tui_app_server` directory in place. This PR renames `tui_app_server` to
`tui` and fixes up all references.
This is the part 1 of 2 PRs that will delete the `tui` /
`tui_app_server` split. This part simply deletes the existing `tui`
directory and marks the `tui_app_server` feature flag as removed. I left
the `tui_app_server` feature flag in place for now so its presence
doesn't result in an error. It is simply ignored.
Part 2 will rename the `tui_app_server` directory `tui`. I did this as
two parts to reduce visible code churn.
## Problem
Before this change, composer paths that cleared the textarea after
submit or slash-command dispatch
also cleared the textarea kill buffer. That meant a user could `Ctrl+K`
part of a draft, trigger a
composer action that cleared the visible draft, and then lose the
ability to `Ctrl+Y` the killed
text back.
This was especially awkward for workflows where the user wants to
temporarily remove text, run a
composer action such as changing reasoning level or dispatching a slash
command, and then restore
the killed text into the now-empty draft.
## Mental model
This change separates visible draft state from editing-history state.
The visible draft includes the current textarea contents and text
elements that should be cleared
when the composer submits or dispatches a command. The kill buffer is
different: it represents the
most recent killed text and should survive those composer-driven clears
so the user can still yank
it back afterward.
After this change, submit and slash-command dispatch still clear the
visible textarea contents, but
they no longer erase the most recent kill.
## Non-goals
This does not implement a multi-entry kill ring or change the semantics
of `Ctrl+K` and `Ctrl+Y`
beyond preserving the existing yank target across these clears.
It also does not change how submit, slash-command parsing, prompt
expansion, or attachment handling
work, except that those flows no longer discard the textarea kill buffer
as a side effect of
clearing the draft.
## Tradeoffs
The main tradeoff is that clearing the visible textarea is no longer
equivalent to fully resetting
all editing state. That is intentional here, because submit and
slash-command dispatch are composer
actions, not requests to forget the user's most recent kill.
The benefit is better editing continuity. The cost is that callers must
understand that full-buffer
replacement resets visible draft state but not the kill buffer.
## Architecture
The behavioral change is in `TextArea`: full-buffer replacement now
rebuilds text and elements
without clearing `kill_buffer`.
`ChatComposer` already clears the textarea after successful submit and
slash-command dispatch by
calling into those textarea replacement paths. With this change, those
existing composer flows
inherit the new behavior automatically: the visible draft is cleared,
but the last killed text
remains available for `Ctrl+Y`.
The tests cover both layers:
- `TextArea` verifies that the kill buffer survives full-buffer
replacement.
- `ChatComposer` verifies that it survives submit.
- `ChatComposer` also verifies that it survives slash-command dispatch.
## Observability
There is no dedicated logging for kill-buffer preservation. The most
direct way to reason about the
behavior is to inspect textarea-wide replacement paths and confirm
whether they treat the kill
buffer as visible-buffer state or as editing-history state.
If this regresses in the future, the likely failure mode is simple and
user-visible: `Ctrl+Y` stops
restoring text after submit or slash-command clears even though ordinary
kill/yank still works
within a single uninterrupted draft.
## Tests
Added focused regression coverage for the new contract:
- `kill_buffer_persists_across_set_text`
- `kill_buffer_persists_after_submit`
- `kill_buffer_persists_after_slash_command_dispatch`
Local verification:
- `just fmt`
- `cargo test -p codex-tui`
---------
Co-authored-by: Josh McKinney <joshka@openai.com>
## Summary
This PR makes app-server-provided image URLs first-class attachments in
TUI, so they survive resume/backtrack/history recall and are resubmitted
correctly.
<img width="715" height="491" alt="Screenshot 2026-02-12 at 8 27 08 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/226cbd35-8f0c-4e51-a13e-459ef5dd1927"
/>
Can delete the attached image upon backtracking:
<img width="716" height="301" alt="Screenshot 2026-02-12 at 8 27 31 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4558d230-f1bd-4eed-a093-8e1ab9c6db27"
/>
In both history and composer, remote images are rendered as normal
`[Image #N]` placeholders, with numbering unified with local images.
## What changed
- Plumb remote image URLs through TUI message state:
- `UserHistoryCell`
- `BacktrackSelection`
- `ChatComposerHistory::HistoryEntry`
- `ChatWidget::UserMessage`
- Show remote images as placeholder rows inside the composer box (above
textarea), and in history cells.
- Support keyboard selection/deletion for remote image rows in composer
(`Up`/`Down`, `Delete`/`Backspace`).
- Preserve remote-image-only turns in local composer history (Up/Down
recall), including restore after backtrack.
- Ensure submit/queue/backtrack resubmit include remote images in model
input (`UserInput::Image`), and keep request shape stable for
remote-image-only turns.
- Keep image numbering contiguous across remote + local images:
- remote images occupy `[Image #1]..[Image #M]`
- local images start at `[Image #M+1]`
- deletion renumbers consistently.
- In protocol conversion, increment shared image index for remote images
too, so mixed remote/local image tags stay in a single sequence.
- Simplify restore logic to trust in-memory attachment order (no
placeholder-number parsing path).
- Backtrack/replay rollback handling now queues trims through
`AppEvent::ApplyThreadRollback` and syncs transcript overlay/deferred
lines after trims, so overlay/transcript state stays consistent.
- Trim trailing blank rendered lines from user history rendering to
avoid oversized blank padding.
## Docs + tests
- Updated: `docs/tui-chat-composer.md` (remote image flow,
selection/deletion, numbering offsets)
- Added/updated tests across `tui/src/chatwidget/tests.rs`,
`tui/src/app.rs`, `tui/src/app_backtrack.rs`, `tui/src/history_cell.rs`,
and `tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer.rs`
- Added snapshot coverage for remote image composer states, including
deleting the first of two remote images.
## Validation
- `just fmt`
- `cargo test -p codex-tui`
## Codex author
`codex fork 019c2636-1571-74a1-8471-15a3b1c3f49d`
## Summary
- keep cursor at end-of-line after Up/Down history recall
- allow continued history navigation when recalled text cursor is at
start or end boundary
- add regression tests and document the history cursor contract in
composer docs
## Testing
- just fmt
- cargo test -p codex-tui --lib
history_navigation_leaves_cursor_at_end_of_line
- cargo test -p codex-tui --lib
should_handle_navigation_when_cursor_is_at_line_boundaries
- cargo test -p codex-tui *(fails in existing integration test
`suite::no_panic_on_startup::malformed_rules_should_not_panic` because
`target/debug/codex` is not present in this environment)*
When steer mode is enabled, Tab used to only queue while a task was
running and otherwise did nothing. Treat Tab as an immediate submit when
no task is running so input isn't dropped when the inflight turn ends
mid-typing.
Adds a regression test and updates docs/tooltips.
Fixes#9050
When a draft is stashed with Ctrl+C, we now persist the full draft state
(text elements, local image paths, and pending paste payloads) in local
history. Up/Down recall rehydrates placeholder elements and attachments
so styling remains correct and large pastes still expand on submit.
Persistent (cross‑session) history remains text‑only.
Backtrack prefills now reuse the selected user message’s text elements
and local image paths, so image placeholders/attachments rehydrate when
rolling back.
External editor replacements keep only attachments whose placeholders
remain and then normalize image placeholders to `[Image #1]..[Image #N]`
to keep the attachment mapping consistent.
Docs:
- docs/tui-chat-composer.md
Testing:
- just fix -p codex-tui
- cargo test -p codex-tui
Co-authored-by: Eric Traut <etraut@openai.com>
###### Summary
- Add input_modalities to model metadata so clients can determine
supported input types.
- Gate image paste/attach in TUI when the selected model does not
support images.
- Block submits that include images for unsupported models and show a
clear warning.
- Propagate modality metadata through app-server protocol/model-list
responses.
- Update related tests/fixtures.
###### Rationale
- Models support different input modalities.
- Clients need an explicit capability signal to prevent unsupported
requests.
- Backward-compatible defaults preserve existing behavior when modality
metadata is absent.
###### Scope
- codex-rs/protocol, codex-rs/core, codex-rs/tui
- codex-rs/app-server-protocol, codex-rs/app-server
- Generated app-server types / schema fixtures
###### Trade-offs
- Default behavior assumes text + image when field is absent for
compatibility.
- Server-side validation remains the source of truth.
###### Follow-up
- Non-TUI clients should consume input_modalities to disable unsupported
attachments.
- Model catalogs should explicitly set input_modalities for text-only
models.
###### Testing
- cargo fmt --all
- cargo test -p codex-tui
- env -u GITHUB_APP_KEY cargo test -p codex-core --lib
- just write-app-server-schema
- cargo run -p codex-cli --bin codex -- app-server generate-ts --out
app-server-types
- test against local backend
<img width="695" height="199" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d22dd04f-5eba-4db9-a7c5-a2506f60ec44"
/>
---------
Co-authored-by: Josh McKinney <joshka@openai.com>
## Summary
- Make typed slash commands become text elements when the user hits
space, including paste‑burst spaces.
- Enable `/plan` to accept inline args and submit them in plan mode,
mirroring `/review` behavior and blocking submission while a task is
running.
- Preserve text elements/attachments for slash commands that take args.
<img width="1510" height="500" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/446024df-b69a-4249-85db-1a85110e07f1"
/>
## Changes
- Add safe helper to insert element ranges in the textarea.
- Extend command‑with‑args pipeline to carry text elements and reuse
submission prep.
- Update `/plan` dispatch to switch to plan mode then submit prompt +
elements.
- Document new composer behavior and add tests.
## Notes
- `/plan` is blocked during active tasks (same as `/review`).
- Slash‑command elementization recognizes built‑ins and `/prompts:`
custom commands only.
## Codex author
`codex fork 019c16d3-4520-7bb0-9b9d-48720d40a8ab`
**Summary**
- Up/Down input history now restores image attachments and text elements
for local entries.
- Composer history stores rich local entries (text + text elements +
local image paths) while persistent history remains text-only.
- Added tests to verify history recall rehydrates image placeholders and
attachments in both `tui` and `tui2`.
**Changes**
- `tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer_history.rs`: store `HistoryEntry`
(text + elements + image paths) for local history; adapt navigation +
tests.
- `tui2/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer_history.rs`: same as above.
- `tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer.rs`: record rich history entries
and restore them on Up/Down; update Ctrl+C history and tests.
- `tui2/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer.rs`: same as above.
## Summary
- Retire the experimental TUI2 implementation and its feature flag.
- Remove TUI2-only config/schema/docs so the CLI stays on the
terminal-native path.
- Keep docs aligned with the legacy TUI while we focus on redraw-based
improvements.
## Customer impact
- Retires the TUI2 experiment and keeps Codex on the proven
terminal-native UI while we invest in redraw-based improvements to the
existing experience.
## Migration / compatibility
- If you previously set tui2-related options in config.toml, they are
now ignored and Codex continues using the existing terminal-native TUI
(no action required).
## Context
- What worked: a transcript-owned viewport delivered excellent resize
rewrap and high-fidelity copy (especially for code).
- Why stop: making that experience feel fully native across the
environment matrix (terminal emulator, OS, input modality, multiplexer,
font/theme, alt-screen behavior) creates a combinatorial explosion of
edge cases.
- What next: we are focusing on redraw-based improvements to the
existing terminal-native TUI so scrolling, selection, and copy remain
native while resize/redraw correctness improves.
## Testing
- just write-config-schema
- just fmt
- cargo clippy --fix --all-features --tests --allow-dirty --allow-no-vcs
-p codex-core
- cargo clippy --fix --all-features --tests --allow-dirty --allow-no-vcs
-p codex-cli
- cargo check
- cargo test -p codex-core
- cargo test -p codex-cli
Summary
- Preserve `text_elements` through custom prompt argument parsing and
expansion (named and numeric placeholders).
- Translate text element ranges through Shlex parsing using sentinel
substitution, and rehydrate text + element ranges per arg.
- Drop image attachments when their placeholder does not survive prompt
expansion, keeping attachments consistent with rendered elements.
- Mirror changes in TUI2 and expand tests for prompt parsing/expansion
edge cases.
Tests
- placeholders with spaces as single tokens (positional + key=value,
quoted + unquoted),
- prompt expansion with image placeholders,
- large paste + image arg combinations,
- unused image arg dropped after expansion.
User-facing symptom: On terminals that deliver pastes as rapid
KeyCode::Char/Enter streams (notably Windows), paste-burst transient
state
can leak into the next input. Users can see Enter insert a newline when
they meant to submit, or see characters appear late / handled through
the
wrong path.
System problem: PasteBurst is time-based. Clearing only the
classification window (e.g. via clear_window_after_non_char()) can erase
last_plain_char_time without emitting buffered text. If a buffer is
still
non-empty after that, flush_if_due() no longer has a timeout clock to
flush against, so the buffer can get "stuck" until another plain char
arrives.
This was surfaced while adding deterministic regression tests for
paste-burst behavior.
Fix: when disabling burst detection, defuse any in-flight burst state:
flush held/buffered text through handle_paste() (so it follows normal
paste integration), then clear timing and Enter suppression.
Document the rationale inline and update docs/tui-chat-composer.md so
"disable_paste_burst" matches the actual behavior.
Add a narrative doc and inline rustdoc explaining how `ChatComposer`
and `PasteBurst` compose into a single state machine on terminals that
lack reliable bracketed paste (notably Windows).
This documents the key states, invariants, and integration points
(`handle_input_basic`, `handle_non_ascii_char`, tick-driven flush) so
future changes are easier to reason about.
