This PR threads execpolicy2 into codex-core.
activated via feature flag: exec_policy (on by default)
reads and parses all .codexpolicy files in `codex_home/codex`
refactored tool runtime API to integrate execpolicy logic
---------
Co-authored-by: Michael Bolin <mbolin@openai.com>
Instead of returning structured out and then re-formatting it into
freeform, return the freeform output from shell_command tool.
Keep `shell` as the default tool for GPT-5.
- Local-shell tool responses were always tagged as
`ExecCommandSource::UserShell` because handler would call
`run_exec_like` with `is_user_shell_cmd` set to true.
- Treat `ToolPayload::LocalShell` the same as other model generated
shell tool calls by deleting `is_user_shell_cmd` from `run_exec_like`
(since actual user shell commands follow a separate code path)
This adds support for a new variant of the shell tool behind a flag. To
test, run `codex` with `--enable shell_command_tool`, which will
register the tool with Codex under the name `shell_command` that accepts
the following shape:
```python
{
command: str
workdir: str | None,
timeout_ms: int | None,
with_escalated_permissions: bool | None,
justification: str | None,
}
```
This is comparable to the existing tool registered under
`shell`/`container.exec`. The primary difference is that it accepts
`command` as a `str` instead of a `str[]`. The `shell_command` tool
executes by running `execvp(["bash", "-lc", command])`, though the exact
arguments to `execvp(3)` depend on the user's default shell.
The hypothesis is that this will simplify things for the model. For
example, on Windows, instead of generating:
```json
{"command": ["pwsh.exe", "-NoLogo", "-Command", "ls -Name"]}
```
The model could simply generate:
```json
{"command": "ls -Name"}
```
As part of this change, I extracted some logic out of `user_shell.rs` as
`Shell::derive_exec_args()` so that it can be reused in
`codex-rs/core/src/tools/handlers/shell.rs`. Note the original code
generated exec arg lists like:
```javascript
["bash", "-lc", command]
["zsh", "-lc", command]
["pwsh.exe", "-NoProfile", "-Command", command]
```
Using `-l` for Bash and Zsh, but then specifying `-NoProfile` for
PowerShell seemed inconsistent to me, so I changed this in the new
implementation while also adding a `use_login_shell: bool` option to
make this explicit. If we decide to add a `login: bool` to
`ShellCommandToolCallParams` like we have for unified exec:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/807e2c27f0a9f2e85c50e7e6df5533f0d9b853c7/codex-rs/core/src/tools/handlers/unified_exec.rs#L33-L34
Then this should make it straightforward to support.
feature: Add "!cmd" user shell execution
This change lets users run local shell commands directly from the TUI by
prefixing their input with ! (e.g. !ls). Output is truncated to keep the
exec cell usable, and Ctrl-C cleanly
interrupts long-running commands (e.g. !sleep 10000).
**Summary of changes**
- Route Op::RunUserShellCommand through a dedicated UserShellCommandTask
(core/src/tasks/user_shell.rs), keeping the task logic out of codex.rs.
- Reuse the existing tool router: the task constructs a ToolCall for the
local_shell tool and relies on ShellHandler, so no manual MCP tool
lookup is required.
- Emit exec lifecycle events (ExecCommandBegin/ExecCommandEnd) so the
TUI can show command metadata, live output, and exit status.
**End-to-end flow**
**TUI handling**
1. ChatWidget::submit_user_message (TUI) intercepts messages starting
with !.
2. Non-empty commands dispatch Op::RunUserShellCommand { command };
empty commands surface a help hint.
3. No UserInput items are created, so nothing is enqueued for the model.
**Core submission loop**
4. The submission loop routes the op to handlers::run_user_shell_command
(core/src/codex.rs).
5. A fresh TurnContext is created and Session::spawn_user_shell_command
enqueues UserShellCommandTask.
**Task execution**
6. UserShellCommandTask::run emits TaskStartedEvent, formats the
command, and prepares a ToolCall targeting local_shell.
7. ToolCallRuntime::handle_tool_call dispatches to ShellHandler.
**Shell tool runtime**
8. ShellHandler::run_exec_like launches the process via the unified exec
runtime, honoring sandbox and shell policies, and emits
ExecCommandBegin/End.
9. Stdout/stderr are captured for the UI, but the task does not turn the
resulting ToolOutput into a model response.
**Completion**
10. After ExecCommandEnd, the task finishes without an assistant
message; the session marks it complete and the exec cell displays the
final output.
**Conversation context**
- The command and its output never enter the conversation history or the
model prompt; the flow is local-only.
- Only exec/task events are emitted for UI rendering.
**Demo video**
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fcd114b0-4304-4448-a367-a04c43e0b996
It's pretty amazing we have gotten here without the ability for the
model to see image content from MCP tool calls.
This PR builds off of 4391 and fixes#4819. I would like @KKcorps to get
adequete credit here but I also want to get this fix in ASAP so I gave
him a week to update it and haven't gotten a response so I'm going to
take it across the finish line.
This test highlights how absured the current situation is. I asked the
model to read this image using the Chrome MCP
<img width="2378" height="674" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9ef52608-72a2-4423-9f5e-7ae36b2b56e0"
/>
After this change, it correctly outputs:
> Captured the page: image dhows a dark terminal-style UI labeled
`OpenAI Codex (v0.0.0)` with prompt `model: gpt-5-codex medium` and
working directory `/codex/codex-rs`
(and more)
Before this change, it said:
> Took the full-page screenshot you asked for. It shows a long,
horizontally repeating pattern of stylized people in orange, light-blue,
and mustard clothing, holding hands in alternating poses against a white
background. No text or other graphics-just rows of flat illustration
stretching off to the right.
Without this change, the Figma, Playwright, Chrome, and other visual MCP
servers are pretty much entirely useless.
I tested this change with the openai respones api as well as a third
party completions api
Today `sub_id` is an ID of a single incoming Codex Op submition. We then
associate all events triggered by this operation using the same
`sub_id`.
At the same time we are also creating a TurnContext per submission and
we'd like to start associating some events (item added/item completed)
with an entire turn instead of just the operation that started it.
Using turn context when sending events give us flexibility to change
notification scheme.
# Tool System Refactor
- Centralizes tool definitions and execution in `core/src/tools/*`:
specs (`spec.rs`), handlers (`handlers/*`), router (`router.rs`),
registry/dispatch (`registry.rs`), and shared context (`context.rs`).
One registry now builds the model-visible tool list and binds handlers.
- Router converts model responses to tool calls; Registry dispatches
with consistent telemetry via `codex-rs/otel` and unified error
handling. Function, Local Shell, MCP, and experimental `unified_exec`
all flow through this path; legacy shell aliases still work.
- Rationale: reduce per‑tool boilerplate, keep spec/handler in sync, and
make adding tools predictable and testable.
Example: `read_file`
- Spec: `core/src/tools/spec.rs` (see `create_read_file_tool`,
registered by `build_specs`).
- Handler: `core/src/tools/handlers/read_file.rs` (absolute `file_path`,
1‑indexed `offset`, `limit`, `L#: ` prefixes, safe truncation).
- E2E test: `core/tests/suite/read_file.rs` validates the tool returns
the requested lines.
## Next steps:
- Decompose `handle_container_exec_with_params`
- Add parallel tool calls
kevin zhao