## Why
`selectedCapabilityRoots` is durable thread intent: “use this capability
root from environment `worker`.”
The important product assumption is:
> One environment ID always names the same logical executor and stable
contents.
`worker` does not silently change from executor A to an unrelated
executor B. The process-local connection handle for `worker` can still
be replaced while Codex is running, though, for example when
`environment/add` registers a fresh handle for the same logical
environment.
The thread should persist only the stable selection. Each model step
should pair that selection with the exact ready handle captured for that
step.
## The boundary
```text
persisted thread intent
plugin@1 -> environment "worker"
|
| capture the current step
v
model-step view
unavailable, or
plugin@1 + worker's exact captured ready handle
```
The environment ID is the stable identity and cache key. The
`Arc<Environment>` is only a process-local handle retained so consumers
of one model step use the same captured environment. It is never
persisted and it does not imply different environment contents.
## What changes
### Persist the stable selection
Selected roots are written into `SessionMeta` and restored with the
thread. Forked subagents inherit the same selections, including
bounded-history forks.
Only stable data is persisted: root ID, environment ID, and root path.
### Capture readiness together with the exact handle
The environment snapshot records:
```rust
environment_id -> Some(Arc<Environment>) // ready in this step
environment_id -> None // still starting in this step
```
This prevents readiness and execution from coming from different
registry snapshots.
For example:
```text
step snapshot: worker -> handle A, ready
environment/add: worker -> fresh handle B for the same logical environment
current step: plugin@1 still uses captured handle A
```
Without carrying handle A in the snapshot, the resolver could combine “A
was ready” with handle B and treat B as ready before it had finished
starting.
This does not change cache invalidation. Stable capability metadata
remains identified by environment ID and capability root. Replacing a
process-local handle under the same stable environment ID does not
invalidate or rediscover that metadata.
### Resolve availability per model step
- A ready captured environment produces resolved roots using its
captured handle.
- A starting, missing, or failed environment is omitted from that step.
- A selected lazy environment that is outside the turn's captured
environment set is asked to start, and a later step can observe it as
ready.
- No capability files are scanned here.
Transient transport disconnects remain the remote client's reconnect
concern. This PR models initial attachment/readiness; it does not add
live socket-connectivity state.
## Example
```text
thread selection: plugin@1 -> environment "worker"
step 1: worker is starting -> plugin@1 unavailable
step 2: worker is ready -> plugin@1 resolves through worker's captured handle
step 3: fresh local handle -> current step remains pinned; a later step captures its own view
```
Temporary unavailability does not discard the durable selection. Later
PRs can retain stable metadata caches while projecting only currently
available capabilities into model-visible World State.
## Compatibility
The app-server request shape does not change. Older rollouts without
`selected_capability_roots` deserialize to an empty list.
## Stack
1. **This PR:** persist stable selected roots and resolve them through
an exact model-step handle.
2. #29960: cache stable skill metadata and project available skills into
World State.
3. #29946: cache stable plugin declarations and manage the separate live
MCP runtime.
## Why
With `DeferredExecutor`, a sampling request can begin while an
environment is still starting. The model can see that pending state, but
needs a way to wait for the environment within the same turn before
continuing.
Environment startup is owned by Core, so the wait tool should use the
same request-frozen `StepContext` that advertised the starting
environment. This keeps tool registration and execution tied to the
exact startup operation the model saw, even if live thread state later
changes.
Supersedes #29735.
## What
- register `wait_for_environment` when the current `StepContext`
contains starting environments
- wait on the selected `StartingTurnEnvironment` shared resolution and
return a bounded ready or failed result
- rebuild the next request normally, removing the wait tool and exposing
ready environment tools, or reporting the environment as unavailable
after failure
## Testing
- `just test -p codex-core deferred_executor_`
- verifies the wait tool is replaced by environment-backed tools after
startup
- verifies startup failure removes both the wait tool and unavailable
environment tools while notifying the model
## Why
Remote environments registered through `environment/add` currently use
the fixed 10-second WebSocket connection timeout. Slow-starting
executors need a caller-selected connection window, but this should not
add retry policy or couple exec-server behavior to Core’s
`deferred_executor` feature.
Make the timeout an optional part of the existing experimental request.
Existing clients continue using the current default, while callers that
know an executor may take longer can request a larger window explicitly.
Depends on #28683.
## What changed
- Add optional `connectTimeoutMs` to `EnvironmentAddParams` and document
it in the app-server README.
- Pass the optional timeout through `EnvironmentRequestProcessor` into
one `EnvironmentManager::upsert_environment()` path; the manager applies
the existing default when it is omitted.
- Preserve the existing single-attempt lifecycle. The configured value
controls WebSocket connection and handshake time for both initial
connection and later reconnects; initialization retains its separate
timeout.
- Add an app-server integration test that sends the real JSON-RPC
request and verifies a stalled handshake observes the requested timeout.
## Test plan
- `just test -p codex-app-server-protocol`
- `just test -p codex-exec-server`
- `just test -p codex-app-server
environment_add_applies_connect_timeout`
## Rollout
This is additive and does not enable `deferred_executor`. Callers should
send a non-default timeout only after a compatible app-server is
deployed; omitted or `null` values retain the existing 10-second
default.
## Why
Remote environments may still be resolving when Codex creates a session
or turn. Waiting for the existing all-or-nothing environment snapshot
can hold startup until the selected environment is usable.
Behind the default-off `deferred_executor` feature, let callers take a
useful snapshot immediately: completed environments remain available
normally, while unfinished environments are reported without blocking
startup. With the feature disabled, snapshots preserve the existing
blocking behavior.
Depends on #28674.
## What changed
- Store one ordered list of selected environments in
`ThreadEnvironments`. Each selection owns one shared resolution that
produces its complete `TurnEnvironment`.
- Start new resolutions in the background with `remote_handle()`,
allowing snapshots and the future wait tool to share the same result
while cancellation follows the retained handles.
- Make `snapshot()` a read-only operation: nonblocking snapshots collect
completed resolutions and retain handles for unfinished ones, while
blocking snapshots await every resolution.
- Replace completed failed resolutions from the current manager entry
and log when failed environments are omitted.
- Return attached and starting environments as a point-in-time view, and
count starting environments when deciding whether a snapshot is
local-only.
- Keep existing consumers attached-only. `to_selections()` derives from
attached environments, so child threads do not inherit an environment
that is still starting.
## Test plan
- `just test -p codex-core environment_selection`
- `just test -p codex-core
deferred_executor_reaches_model_before_remote_environment_is_ready`
## Landing note
Keep `deferred_executor` disabled for slow-starting executors until
configurable `environment/add` connection timeouts and caller support
land. When enabled, an environment that attaches after session startup
may remain absent from environment-derived model context, tools,
instructions, skills, and related state until follow-up refresh work
lands.
## Why
app-server may run on a different OS from the selected exec-server
environment. Parsing that environment’s cwd with the Codex host’s path
rules prevents thread startup.
## What
Carry environment cwd values as `LegacyAppPathString` at the app-server
boundary and `PathUri` internally. Existing tool-call schemas and
relative-path behavior stay host-native; remaining local-only consumers
convert explicitly and leave follow-up TODOs.
The Wine integration test verifies app-server can start a thread and
complete an ordinary turn with a Windows environment cwd from Linux.
## Validation
- `bazel test //codex-rs/core/tests/remote_env_windows:smoke-test
--test_output=errors`
- focused app-server environment-selection and protocol schema tests
- scoped Clippy for `codex-core` and `codex-app-server-protocol`
## Why
User shell commands still read the legacy turn cwd and session shell
even though execution context is now owned by selected turn
environments. App-server also defines `thread/shellCommand` as a
local-host escape hatch, so it must use an available local environment
even when a remote environment is primary.
## What changed
- Add `ResolvedTurnEnvironments::local()` to find the selected local
environment.
- Resolve the user shell command cwd and shell from that local
`TurnEnvironment`.
- Emit the standard `shell is unavailable in this session` error when no
selected local environment or resolved local shell is available.
- Add an integration test covering `/shell` without a local environment.
## Test plan
- `just test -p codex-core
user_shell_command_without_local_environment_emits_error`
## Why
Shell snapshots are currently session-scoped even though shell and cwd
are properties of a selected turn environment. That makes snapshot
refresh depend on separate session-cwd plumbing, prevents retained
environments from retaining their snapshot work, and can make snapshot
construction use a different shell than command execution.
This follows #27955 by making the retained thread-environment service
own environment snapshot lifecycles. Session configuration remains the
requested selection state, while `ThreadEnvironments` remains the source
of successfully resolved environments.
## What changed
- Configure the shell-snapshot builder before initial environment
resolution.
- Start each local environment snapshot task when its `TurnEnvironment`
is built and retain that shared task while environment ID and cwd still
match.
- Inherit retained environment snapshots into spawned child threads.
- Carry the selected `TurnEnvironment` through shell runtimes so
snapshot construction and command execution use the same
environment-specific shell and cwd.
- Load project instructions and warm plugins/skills after initial
environment resolution.
- Continue decoding invalid UTF-8 instruction files lossily without
emitting a startup warning.
- Keep requested selections in `SessionConfiguration`; failed or
duplicate resolutions only affect the resolved environment snapshot.
## Validation
- `cargo check -p codex-core --tests`
- `just test -p codex-home instructions` (6 passed)
- Focused environment, instruction, shell-snapshot, and user-shell tests
(84 passed)
- Focused shell-snapshot, user-shell, and unified-exec tests (126
passed; two event-timing tests passed on retry)
## Why
Selected execution environments are thread-scoped resources, but startup
and turn construction repeatedly resolved their IDs and working
directories. That discarded existing environment handles and shell
metadata even when a selection had not changed.
Session configuration updates also need to affect future turns without
changing the resolved environment set already captured by a running
turn.
## What changed
- Create a `ThreadEnvironments` service inside `Codex` from the spawned
`EnvironmentManager` and raw environment selections, then store it on
`SessionServices`.
- Split service construction from `update_selections`, allowing session
configuration updates to mutate the resolved set in place.
- Retain an existing `TurnEnvironment` when its environment ID and
working directory match; resolve only added or changed selections and
remove selections that are no longer present.
- Normalize duplicate IDs by keeping the first selection and skip
individual selections that fail to resolve instead of rejecting the
entire update.
- Give each `TurnContext` a cloned `TurnEnvironmentSnapshot`, so later
session configuration updates affect future turns without rewriting an
active turn.
- Reuse the service-owned environment manager and resolved snapshot for
startup work, MCP initialization, and child-thread spawning instead of
flowing resolved environments through spawn arguments.
## Test plan
- `cargo check -p codex-core --tests`
- `just test -p codex-core environment_selection`
- `just test -p codex-core turn_environments`
- `just test -p codex-core
session_update_settings_does_not_rewrite_sticky_environment_cwds`
- `just test -p codex-core
default_turn_does_not_overlay_legacy_fallback_cwd_onto_stored_thread_environments`
## Why
Next slice needed to make progress on the `remote_env_windows` test is
to support passing a Windows cwd for the remote environment and using
that environment's native shell. This lets the test run a real Windows
process instead of only recording an early path or shell mismatch.
## What
- change `TurnEnvironmentSelection.cwd` from `AbsolutePathBuf` to
`PathUri`
- convert local cwd values to URIs when constructing selections
- preserve a remote primary cwd instead of replacing it with the local
legacy fallback
- prefer the selected environment's discovered shell for unified exec,
falling back to the session shell when unavailable
- convert back to a host-native absolute path at current native-only
consumer boundaries
- reject or deny unsupported foreign cwd values at the existing
request-permissions boundary, with TODOs for its future migration
- extend the hermetic Wine test to execute Windows PowerShell in
`C:\windows` and verify successful process completion
- record the current app-server rejection against the same Wine-backed
remote Windows fixture when its cwd is supplied as a native Windows path
## Why
`PathUri::from_abs_path` can fail for absolute paths that do not have a
normal `file:` URI representation, forcing filesystem call sites to
handle a conversion error even though the original path can be preserved
losslessly.
## What
Make `from_abs_path` infallible and migrate its callers. Unrepresentable
paths use `file:///%00/bad/path/<base64>`, encoding Unix bytes or
Windows UTF-16LE; `to_abs_path` validates and decodes that fallback. The
leading encoded null reserves a namespace that cannot collide with a
real Unix or Windows path, and fallback URIs remain opaque to lexical
path operations.
## Validation
Added path-URI coverage for Unix null and non-UTF-8 paths, Windows
device/verbatim and non-Unicode paths, serialization, malformed
fallbacks, opaque lexical operations, invalid native payloads, and
literal `/bad/path` collision resistance.
## Why
Sandbox cwd values can cross app-server and exec-server host boundaries.
They should retain URI semantics until the receiving host validates them
instead of being interpreted early as native paths.
## What
- Carry `PathUri` through filesystem sandbox contexts, sandbox commands,
and transform inputs.
- Convert command and policy cwd once in `SandboxManager::transform`,
then keep launch requests native.
- Preserve sandbox cwd over remote filesystem transport and reject
non-native URIs without fallback.
- Cache paired native/URI turn-environment cwd values during migration,
with immutable access to keep them synchronized.
- Extend existing protocol, forwarding, transform, and core runtime
tests.
## Why
We already have the machinery to support multiple environments on a
single thread, but we only show the model the contents of `AGENTS.md`
files in the primary environment.
We should show the model all of the relevant project instructions when
we know there's more than one environment.
## Known Gaps
As discussed in the RFC, this implementation:
1. doesn't handle environments being added/removed to/from the thread
after its creation
2. it doesn't enforce an aggregate context budget across environments,
and instead applies the configured project maximum independently to each
environment
## Implementation
- Discover project instructions in environment order with an independent
byte budget per environment and preserve source provenance/order.
- Keep the legacy fragment byte-for-byte when exactly one environment
contributes project instructions; use environment-labeled sections when
two or more environments contribute.
- Freeze the complete rendered fragment in `LoadedAgentsMd`, insert it
directly into requests, and recognize both layouts in contextual and
memory filtering.
- Add exact rendering, independent-budget, source-order,
creation-snapshot, and consumer coverage without changing app-server
schemas.
## Why
Turn construction passed resolved environments through several layers
while leaving the environment shell unresolved. As a result,
model-visible environment context could fall back to the session shell
instead of reporting the selected remote environment's shell.
Resolve environment metadata at the turn-context boundary so each turn
carries the shell that belongs to its selected environment. Keep request
validation in app-server, where invalid selections can be returned as
straightforward JSON-RPC errors without coupling core turn construction
to that policy.
## What changed
- resolve environment selections eagerly in
`new_turn_context_from_configuration`
- store the full resolved `Shell` on each `TurnEnvironment`
- simplify the now-redundant resolved-environment constructor plumbing
- keep duplicate and unknown-environment validation as a small
app-server preflight
- add a remote-environment integration test that runs a full
`test_codex` turn and verifies the model-visible environment message
reports `bash`
## Testing
- `cargo check -p codex-core --test all -p codex-app-server`
- `remote_test_env_exposes_bash_shell_to_model` on the Linux
remote-executor harness
Skip turn git metadata enrichment when a turn has remote or multiple
executors, so we do not report the orchestrator checkout as executor
workspace metadata.
Test: `just test -p codex-core` (blocked by existing
`Session::conversation_id` compile error in `close_agent.rs`).
## Summary
- make EnvironmentProvider::snapshot path-free and keep providers
focused on provider-owned remote environments
- let provider snapshots request local inclusion via include_local, with
environments.toml including local and CODEX_EXEC_SERVER_URL excluding
local
- move reserved local environment construction into EnvironmentManager
using ExecServerRuntimePaths
Follow-up to https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20667
## Testing
- just fmt
- git diff --check
- devbox: bazel build --bes_backend= --bes_results_url=
//codex-rs/exec-server:exec-server
- devbox: bazel test --bes_backend= --bes_results_url=
//codex-rs/exec-server:exec-server-unit-tests
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Why
The earlier PRs add stdio transport support and the config-backed
environment provider, but the feature remains inert until normal Codex
entrypoints construct `EnvironmentManager` with enough context to
discover `CODEX_HOME/environments.toml`. This final stack PR activates
the provider while preserving the legacy `CODEX_EXEC_SERVER_URL`
fallback when no environments file exists.
**Stack position:** this is PR 5 of 5. It is the product wiring PR that
activates the configured environment provider added in PR 4.
## What Changed
- Thread `codex_home` into `EnvironmentManagerArgs`.
- Change `EnvironmentManager::new(...)` to load the provider from
`CODEX_HOME`.
- Preserve legacy behavior by falling back to
`DefaultEnvironmentProvider::from_env()` when `environments.toml` is
absent.
- Make `environments.toml`-backed managers start new threads with all
configured environments, default first, while keeping the legacy env-var
path single-default.
- Update the app-server, TUI, exec, MCP server, connector, prompt-debug,
and thread-manager-sample callsites to pass `codex_home` and handle
provider-loading errors.
## Self-Review Notes
- The multi-environment startup path is intentionally tied to the
`environments.toml` provider. Using `>1` configured environment as the
only signal would also expand the legacy `CODEX_EXEC_SERVER_URL`
provider because it keeps `local` addressable alongside `remote`.
- The startup environment list is still derived inside
`EnvironmentManager`; the provider only says whether its snapshot should
start new threads with all configured environments.
- The thread-manager sample was updated to pass the current
`ThreadManager::new(...)` installation id argument so the stack compiles
under Bazel.
## Stack
- 1. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20663 - Add stdio exec-server
listener
- 2. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20664 - Add stdio exec-server
client transport
- 3. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20665 - Make environment
providers own default selection
- 4. https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20666 - Add CODEX_HOME
environments TOML provider
- **5. This PR:** https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20667 - Load
configured environments from CODEX_HOME
Split from original draft: https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/20508
## Validation
- `just fmt`
- `git diff --check`
- `bazel build --config=remote --strategy=remote
--remote_download_toplevel
//codex-rs/thread-manager-sample:codex-thread-manager-sample`
- `bazel test --config=remote --strategy=remote
--remote_download_toplevel
//codex-rs/exec-server:exec-server-unit-tests`
- `bazel test --config=remote --strategy=remote
--remote_download_toplevel --test_sharding_strategy=disabled
--test_arg=default_thread_environment_selections_use_manager_default_id
//codex-rs/core:core-unit-tests`
- `bazel test --config=remote --strategy=remote
--remote_download_toplevel --test_sharding_strategy=disabled
--test_arg=start_thread_uses_all_default_environments_from_codex_home
//codex-rs/core:core-unit-tests`
## Documentation
This activates `CODEX_HOME/environments.toml`; user-facing documentation
should be added before this stack is treated as a documented public
workflow.
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## 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>
## Summary
- make selected turn environments the source of truth for session
runtime cwd and MCP runtime environment selection
- keep local/no-selection fallback behavior intact
- add coverage for duplicate selected environments, cwd resolution, and
MCP runtime environment selection
## Validation
- git diff --check
- rustfmt was run on touched Rust files during the implementation
workflow
CI should provide the full Bazel/test signal.
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
## Summary
- Change `EnvironmentProvider` to return concrete `Environment`
instances instead of `EnvironmentConfigurations`.
- Make `DefaultEnvironmentProvider` provide the provider-visible `local`
environment plus optional `remote` environment from
`CODEX_EXEC_SERVER_URL`.
- Keep `EnvironmentManager` as the concrete cache while exposing its own
explicit local environment for `local_environment()` fallback paths.
## Validation
- `just fmt`
- `git diff --check`
---------
Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
jif