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It introduces a dedicated `installer/` folder for non-Rust install/update assets, a `CODEX_HOME`-aware on-disk layout, and a wrapper that makes helper CLIs available to Codex without globally polluting the user’s shell. ## Why Today the recommended install path is `npm i -g @openai/codex`, but the npm package bundles native binaries for all platforms (and `rg`), leading to very large installs (hundreds of MB unpacked) even though a single platform binary is much smaller. Homebrew avoids this on macOS by downloading only the matching artifact. This PR brings that same property to a cross-platform one-liner: ```sh curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/codex/main/installer/install.sh | bash ``` Key goals: - Download only the user’s platform artifacts. - Keep curl-managed installs isolated under `CODEX_HOME`. - Preserve compatibility with npm/brew installs (shadowing is fine, breaking is not). - Provide a clean place to add helper CLIs that should be available when Codex runs. ## How It Works ### Install root and layout All curl-managed artifacts live under `CODEX_HOME` (default: `~/.codex`). The layout is: - `CODEX_HOME/bin/` - `CODEX_HOME/versions/<version>/bin/` - `CODEX_HOME/versions/current` (symlink) - `CODEX_HOME/tools/bin/` This design supports atomic version switches and helper CLIs: - The user’s global `PATH` only needs `CODEX_HOME/bin`. - The runtime `PATH` is extended inside the wrapper to include helper CLIs. See `installer/README.md:1`. ### Installer scripts #### `installer/install.sh` `installer/install.sh:1` is the public entrypoint: - Requires Bash explicitly (we use Bash features like `mapfile`). - Loads `installer/lib.sh` locally when run from a checkout, or downloads it when piped from curl. - Detects `arch`/`os`, resolves the version (via `CODEX_VERSION` or GitHub Releases), downloads the correct tarball, installs it, activates it, and updates the user’s rc file. #### `installer/lib.sh` `installer/lib.sh:10` centralizes the mechanics: - Resolves `CODEX_HOME` with a fallback to `~/.codex`. - Detects OS/arch and builds release URLs. - Idempotently updates the user rc file via a marker block that respects non-default `CODEX_HOME` values: `installer/lib.sh:106`. - Installs a wrapper at `CODEX_HOME/bin/codex` that: - Sets `CODEX_MANAGED_BY_CURL=1`. - Extends `PATH` at runtime to include: - `CODEX_HOME/bin` - `CODEX_HOME/tools/bin` - `CODEX_HOME/versions/current/bin` - Execs the active versioned binary: `installer/lib.sh:154`. - Installs the tarball into a versioned `bin/` directory and preserves any additional CLIs present in the tarball (not just `codex`): `installer/lib.sh:181`. - Keeps the last two installed versions and avoids deleting the `current` symlink: `installer/lib.sh:239`. #### `installer/update.sh` `installer/update.sh:1` mirrors the installer flow but always targets the latest release. ### Update UX integration in the CLI Codex’s update prompt already knows how to run a package-manager-specific update command after the TUI exits. This PR adds a curl-managed update action in `codex-rs/tui/src/update_action.rs:3`: - Adds `UpdateAction::CurlInstallerUpdate`. - Detects curl-managed installs via `CODEX_MANAGED_BY_CURL` (set by the wrapper): `codex-rs/tui/src/update_action.rs:40`. - Uses the curl updater one-liner for the update command: `codex-rs/tui/src/update_action.rs:21`. This keeps update behavior consistent with npm/brew while avoiding fragile path heuristics. ## Docs updates - The curl installer is now the first recommended install path in `README.md:1` and `README.md:18`. - `docs/install.md:11` adds a curl install section and points to `installer/README.md` for the detailed mechanics. ## Compatibility and safety notes - This does not modify npm or Homebrew installs. - The rc-file change only adds `CODEX_HOME/bin` to `PATH`. - Additional helper CLIs are available to Codex via the wrapper’s runtime `PATH`, rather than being forced into the user’s global shell. - The installer honors `CODEX_HOME` everywhere, falling back to `~/.codex`. ## Testing Commands run: ```sh cd codex-rs just fmt cargo test -p codex-tui ``` Notes: - In this environment, `cargo test -p codex-tui` required running outside the sandbox due to a macOS `SystemConfiguration` panic; it passed once run with escalated permissions. - No new VS Code diagnostics were reported. ## Follow-ups (explicitly not in this PR) - Ensure the release tarballs include any helper CLIs we expect to be available at runtime (for example, Windows sandbox helpers). - Add an explicit `codex self-update` command that delegates to `installer/update.sh`. - Decide how we want to manage third-party tools like `rg` under `CODEX_HOME/tools/` and whether the CLI should probe a managed fallback path.
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.