From 8e2760e83d50c7bdd2b234728090a0777e65b31b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Robbie Hammond <robbiehammond3@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:55:24 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Add fallback text for missing images (#397)
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# What?
* When a prompt references an image path that doesn’t exist, replace it
with
  ```[missing image: <path>]``` instead of throwing an ENOENT.
* Adds a few unit tests for input-utils as there weren't any beforehand.

# Why?
Right now if you enter an invalid image path (e.g. it doesn't exist),
codex immediately crashes with a ENOENT error like so:
```
Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'test.png'
   ...
 {
  errno: -2,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'open',
  path: 'test.png'
}
```
This aborts the entire session. A soft fallback lets the rest of the
input continue.

# How?
Wraps the image encoding + inputItem content pushing in a try-catch.

This is a minimal patch to avoid completely crashing — future work could
surface a warning to the user when this happens, or something to that
effect.

---------

Co-authored-by: Thibault Sottiaux <tibo@openai.com>
---
 codex-cli/src/utils/input-utils.ts  | 30 ++++++++++++--------
 codex-cli/tests/input-utils.test.ts | 43 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 62 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 codex-cli/tests/input-utils.test.ts

diff --git a/codex-cli/src/utils/input-utils.ts b/codex-cli/src/utils/input-utils.ts
index 80a238ba..449f27cb 100644
--- a/codex-cli/src/utils/input-utils.ts
+++ b/codex-cli/src/utils/input-utils.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { ResponseInputItem } from "openai/resources/responses/responses";
 
 import { fileTypeFromBuffer } from "file-type";
 import fs from "fs/promises";
+import path from "path";
 
 export async function createInputItem(
   text: string,
@@ -14,17 +15,24 @@ export async function createInputItem(
   };
 
   for (const filePath of images) {
-    /* eslint-disable no-await-in-loop */
-    const binary = await fs.readFile(filePath);
-    const kind = await fileTypeFromBuffer(binary);
-    /* eslint-enable no-await-in-loop */
-    const encoded = binary.toString("base64");
-    const mime = kind?.mime ?? "application/octet-stream";
-    inputItem.content.push({
-      type: "input_image",
-      detail: "auto",
-      image_url: `data:${mime};base64,${encoded}`,
-    });
+    try {
+      /* eslint-disable no-await-in-loop */
+      const binary = await fs.readFile(filePath);
+      const kind = await fileTypeFromBuffer(binary);
+      /* eslint-enable no-await-in-loop */
+      const encoded = binary.toString("base64");
+      const mime = kind?.mime ?? "application/octet-stream";
+      inputItem.content.push({
+        type: "input_image",
+        detail: "auto",
+        image_url: `data:${mime};base64,${encoded}`,
+      });
+    } catch (err) {
+      inputItem.content.push({
+        type: "input_text",
+        text: `[missing image: ${path.basename(filePath)}]`,
+      });
+    }
   }
 
   return inputItem;
diff --git a/codex-cli/tests/input-utils.test.ts b/codex-cli/tests/input-utils.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5290e554
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codex-cli/tests/input-utils.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
+import fs from "fs/promises";
+import { createInputItem } from "../src/utils/input-utils.js";
+
+describe("createInputItem", () => {
+  it("returns only text when no images provided", async () => {
+    const result = await createInputItem("hello", []);
+    expect(result).toEqual({
+      role: "user",
+      type: "message",
+      content: [{ type: "input_text", text: "hello" }],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("includes image content for existing file", async () => {
+    const fakeBuffer = Buffer.from("fake image content");
+    const readSpy = vi.spyOn(fs, "readFile").mockResolvedValue(fakeBuffer as any);
+    const result = await createInputItem("hello", ["dummy-path"]);
+    const expectedUrl = `data:application/octet-stream;base64,${fakeBuffer.toString("base64")}`;
+    expect(result.role).toBe("user");
+    expect(result.type).toBe("message");
+    expect(result.content.length).toBe(2);
+    const [textItem, imageItem] = result.content;
+    expect(textItem).toEqual({ type: "input_text", text: "hello" });
+    expect(imageItem).toEqual({
+      type: "input_image",
+      detail: "auto",
+      image_url: expectedUrl,
+    });
+    readSpy.mockRestore();
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to missing image text for non-existent file", async () => {
+    const filePath = "tests/__fixtures__/does-not-exist.png";
+    const result = await createInputItem("hello", [filePath]);
+    expect(result.content.length).toBe(2);
+    const fallbackItem = result.content[1];
+    expect(fallbackItem).toEqual({
+      type: "input_text",
+      text: "[missing image: does-not-exist.png]",
+    });
+  });
+});
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