Relative instruction file (#1722)

Passing in an instruction file with a bad path led to silent failures,
also instruction relative paths were handled in an unintuitive fashion.

codex-rs/core/src/config.rs

@@ -465,9 +465,14 @@ impl Config {
 
         let experimental_resume = cfg.experimental_resume;
 
-        let base_instructions = base_instructions.or(Self::get_base_instructions(
+        // Load base instructions override from a file if specified. If the
+        // path is relative, resolve it against the effective cwd so the
+        // behaviour matches other path-like config values.
+        let file_base_instructions = Self::get_base_instructions(
             cfg.experimental_instructions_file.as_ref(),
-        ));
+            &resolved_cwd,
+        )?;
+        let base_instructions = base_instructions.or(file_base_instructions);
 
         let config = Self {
             model,
@@ -539,13 +544,46 @@ impl Config {
         })
     }
 
-    fn get_base_instructions(path: Option<&PathBuf>) -> Option<String> {
-        let path = path.as_ref()?;
+    fn get_base_instructions(
+        path: Option<&PathBuf>,
+        cwd: &Path,
+    ) -> std::io::Result<Option<String>> {
+        let p = match path.as_ref() {
+            None => return Ok(None),
+            Some(p) => p,
+        };
 
-        std::fs::read_to_string(path)
-            .ok()
-            .map(|s| s.trim().to_string())
-            .filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
+        // Resolve relative paths against the provided cwd to make CLI
+        // overrides consistent regardless of where the process was launched
+        // from.
+        let full_path = if p.is_relative() {
+            cwd.join(p)
+        } else {
+            p.to_path_buf()
+        };
+
+        let contents = std::fs::read_to_string(&full_path).map_err(|e| {
+            std::io::Error::new(
+                e.kind(),
+                format!(
+                    "failed to read experimental instructions file {}: {e}",
+                    full_path.display()
+                ),
+            )
+        })?;
+
+        let s = contents.trim().to_string();
+        if s.is_empty() {
+            Err(std::io::Error::new(
+                std::io::ErrorKind::InvalidData,
+                format!(
+                    "experimental instructions file is empty: {}",
+                    full_path.display()
+                ),
+            ))
+        } else {
+            Ok(Some(s))
+        }
     }
 }
 

codex-rs/core/tests/cli_stream.rs

@@ -81,6 +81,96 @@ async fn chat_mode_stream_cli() {
     server.verify().await;
 }
 
+/// Verify that passing `-c experimental_instructions_file=...` to the CLI
+/// overrides the built-in base instructions by inspecting the request body
+/// received by a mock OpenAI Responses endpoint.
+#[tokio::test(flavor = "multi_thread", worker_threads = 2)]
+async fn exec_cli_applies_experimental_instructions_file() {
+    if std::env::var(CODEX_SANDBOX_NETWORK_DISABLED_ENV_VAR).is_ok() {
+        println!(
+            "Skipping test because it cannot execute when network is disabled in a Codex sandbox."
+        );
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // Start mock server which will capture the request and return a minimal
+    // SSE stream for a single turn.
+    let server = MockServer::start().await;
+    let sse = concat!(
+        "data: {\"type\":\"response.created\",\"response\":{}}\n\n",
+        "data: {\"type\":\"response.completed\",\"response\":{\"id\":\"r1\"}}\n\n"
+    );
+    Mock::given(method("POST"))
+        .and(path("/v1/responses"))
+        .respond_with(
+            ResponseTemplate::new(200)
+                .insert_header("content-type", "text/event-stream")
+                .set_body_raw(sse, "text/event-stream"),
+        )
+        .expect(1)
+        .mount(&server)
+        .await;
+
+    // Create a temporary instructions file with a unique marker we can assert
+    // appears in the outbound request payload.
+    let custom = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let marker = "cli-experimental-instructions-marker";
+    let custom_path = custom.path().join("instr.md");
+    std::fs::write(&custom_path, marker).unwrap();
+    let custom_path_str = custom_path.to_string_lossy().replace('\\', "/");
+
+    // Build a provider override that points at the mock server and instructs
+    // Codex to use the Responses API with the dummy env var.
+    let provider_override = format!(
+        "model_providers.mock={{ name = \"mock\", base_url = \"{}/v1\", env_key = \"PATH\", wire_api = \"responses\" }}",
+        server.uri()
+    );
+
+    let home = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let mut cmd = AssertCommand::new("cargo");
+    cmd.arg("run")
+        .arg("-p")
+        .arg("codex-cli")
+        .arg("--quiet")
+        .arg("--")
+        .arg("exec")
+        .arg("--skip-git-repo-check")
+        .arg("-c")
+        .arg(&provider_override)
+        .arg("-c")
+        .arg("model_provider=\"mock\"")
+        .arg("-c")
+        .arg(format!(
+            "experimental_instructions_file=\"{custom_path_str}\""
+        ))
+        .arg("-C")
+        .arg(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
+        .arg("hello?\n");
+    cmd.env("CODEX_HOME", home.path())
+        .env("OPENAI_API_KEY", "dummy")
+        .env("OPENAI_BASE_URL", format!("{}/v1", server.uri()));
+
+    let output = cmd.output().unwrap();
+    println!("Status: {}", output.status);
+    println!("Stdout:\n{}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout));
+    println!("Stderr:\n{}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr));
+    assert!(output.status.success());
+
+    // Inspect the captured request and verify our custom base instructions were
+    // included in the `instructions` field.
+    let request = &server.received_requests().await.unwrap()[0];
+    let body = request.body_json::<serde_json::Value>().unwrap();
+    let instructions = body
+        .get("instructions")
+        .and_then(|v| v.as_str())
+        .unwrap_or_default()
+        .to_string();
+    assert!(
+        instructions.contains(marker),
+        "instructions did not contain custom marker; got: {instructions}"
+    );
+}
+
 /// Tests streaming responses through the CLI using a local SSE fixture file.
 /// This test:
 /// 1. Uses a pre-recorded SSE response fixture instead of a live server

codex-rs/exec/src/lib.rs

@@ -92,6 +92,20 @@ pub async fn run_main(cli: Cli, codex_linux_sandbox_exe: Option<PathBuf>) -> any
         ),
     };
 
+    // TODO(mbolin): Take a more thoughtful approach to logging.
+    let default_level = "error";
+    let _ = tracing_subscriber::fmt()
+        // Fallback to the `default_level` log filter if the environment
+        // variable is not set _or_ contains an invalid value
+        .with_env_filter(
+            EnvFilter::try_from_default_env()
+                .or_else(|_| EnvFilter::try_new(default_level))
+                .unwrap_or_else(|_| EnvFilter::new(default_level)),
+        )
+        .with_ansi(stderr_with_ansi)
+        .with_writer(std::io::stderr)
+        .try_init();
+
     let sandbox_mode = if full_auto {
         Some(SandboxMode::WorkspaceWrite)
     } else if dangerously_bypass_approvals_and_sandbox {
@@ -142,20 +156,6 @@ pub async fn run_main(cli: Cli, codex_linux_sandbox_exe: Option<PathBuf>) -> any
         std::process::exit(1);
     }
 
-    // TODO(mbolin): Take a more thoughtful approach to logging.
-    let default_level = "error";
-    let _ = tracing_subscriber::fmt()
-        // Fallback to the `default_level` log filter if the environment
-        // variable is not set _or_ contains an invalid value
-        .with_env_filter(
-            EnvFilter::try_from_default_env()
-                .or_else(|_| EnvFilter::try_new(default_level))
-                .unwrap_or_else(|_| EnvFilter::new(default_level)),
-        )
-        .with_ansi(stderr_with_ansi)
-        .with_writer(std::io::stderr)
-        .try_init();
-
     let CodexConversation {
         codex: codex_wrapper,
         session_configured,