This is a very large PR with some non-backwards-compatible changes.
Historically, `codex mcp` (or `codex mcp serve`) started a JSON-RPC-ish
server that had two overlapping responsibilities:
- Running an MCP server, providing some basic tool calls.
- Running the app server used to power experiences such as the VS Code
extension.
This PR aims to separate these into distinct concepts:
- `codex mcp-server` for the MCP server
- `codex app-server` for the "application server"
Note `codex mcp` still exists because it already has its own subcommands
for MCP management (`list`, `add`, etc.)
The MCP logic continues to live in `codex-rs/mcp-server` whereas the
refactored app server logic is in the new `codex-rs/app-server` folder.
Note that most of the existing integration tests in
`codex-rs/mcp-server/tests/suite` were actually for the app server, so
all the tests have been moved with the exception of
`codex-rs/mcp-server/tests/suite/mod.rs`.
Because this is already a large diff, I tried not to change more than I
had to, so `codex-rs/app-server/tests/common/mcp_process.rs` still uses
the name `McpProcess` for now, but I will do some mechanical renamings
to things like `AppServer` in subsequent PRs.
While `mcp-server` and `app-server` share some overlapping functionality
(like reading streams of JSONL and dispatching based on message types)
and some differences (completely different message types), I ended up
doing a bit of copypasta between the two crates, as both have somewhat
similar `message_processor.rs` and `outgoing_message.rs` files for now,
though I expect them to diverge more in the near future.
One material change is that of the initialize handshake for `codex
app-server`, as we no longer use the MCP types for that handshake.
Instead, we update `codex-rs/protocol/src/mcp_protocol.rs` to add an
`Initialize` variant to `ClientRequest`, which takes the `ClientInfo`
object we need to update the `USER_AGENT_SUFFIX` in
`codex-rs/app-server/src/message_processor.rs`.
One other material change is in
`codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs` where I eliminated
a use of the `send_event_as_notification()` method I am generally trying
to deprecate (because it blindly maps an `EventMsg` into a
`JSONNotification`) in favor of `send_server_notification()`, which
takes a `ServerNotification`, as that is intended to be a custom enum of
all notification types supported by the app server. So to make this
update, I had to introduce a new variant of `ServerNotification`,
`SessionConfigured`, which is a non-backwards compatible change with the
old `codex mcp`, and clients will have to be updated after the next
release that contains this PR. Note that
`codex-rs/app-server/tests/suite/list_resume.rs` also had to be update
to reflect this change.
I introduced `codex-rs/utils/json-to-toml/src/lib.rs` as a small utility
crate to avoid some of the copying between `mcp-server` and
`app-server`.
This changes the reqwest client used in tests to be sandbox-friendly,
and skips a bunch of other tests that don't work inside the
sandbox/without network.
This PR addresses an edge-case bug that appears in the VS Code extension
in the following situation:
1. Log in using ChatGPT (using either the CLI or extension). This will
create an `auth.json` file.
2. Manually modify `config.toml` to specify a custom provider.
3. Start a fresh copy of the VS Code extension.
The profile menu in the VS Code extension will indicate that you are
logged in using ChatGPT even though you're not.
This is caused by the `get_auth_status` method returning an
`auth_method: 'chatgpt'` when a custom provider is configured and it
doesn't use OpenAI auth (i.e. `requires_openai_auth` is false). The
method should always return `auth_method: None` if
`requires_openai_auth` is false.
The same bug also causes the NUX (new user experience) screen to be
displayed in the VSCE in this situation.
It turns out that we want slightly different behavior for the
`SetDefaultModel` RPC because some models do not work with reasoning
(like GPT-4.1), so we should be able to explicitly clear this value.
Verified in `codex-rs/mcp-server/tests/suite/set_default_model.rs`.
This adds `SetDefaultModel`, which takes `model` and `reasoning_effort`
as optional fields. If set, the field will overwrite what is in the
user's `config.toml`.
This reuses logic that was added to support the `/model` command in the
TUI: https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/2799.
`ClientRequest::NewConversation` picks up the reasoning level from the user's defaults in `config.toml`, so it should be reported in `NewConversationResponse`.
This PR does the following:
* Adds the ability to paste or type an API key.
* Removes the `preferred_auth_method` config option. The last login
method is always persisted in auth.json, so this isn't needed.
* If OPENAI_API_KEY env variable is defined, the value is used to
prepopulate the new UI. The env variable is otherwise ignored by the
CLI.
* Adds a new MCP server entry point "login_api_key" so we can implement
this same API key behavior for the VS Code extension.
<img width="473" height="140" alt="Screenshot 2025-09-04 at 3 51 04 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c11bbd5b-8a4d-4d71-90fd-34130460f9d9"
/>
<img width="726" height="254" alt="Screenshot 2025-09-04 at 3 51 32 PM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6cc76b34-309a-4387-acbc-15ee5c756db9"
/>
This adds a simple endpoint that provides the email address encoded in
`$CODEX_HOME/auth.json`.
As noted, for now, we do not hit the server to verify this is the user's
true email address.
This PR improves two existing auth-related tests. They were failing when
run in an environment where an `OPENAI_API_KEY` env variable was
defined. The change makes them more resilient.
The previous config approach had a few issues:
1. It is part of the config but not designed to be used externally
2. It had to be wired through many places (look at the +/- on this PR
3. It wasn't guaranteed to be set consistently everywhere because we
don't have a super well defined way that configs stack. For example, the
extension would configure during newConversation but anything that
happened outside of that (like login) wouldn't get it.
This env var approach is cleaner and also creates one less thing we have
to deal with when coming up with a better holistic story around configs.
One downside is that I removed the unit test testing for the override
because I don't want to deal with setting the global env or spawning
child processes and figuring out how to introspect their originator
header. The new code is sufficiently simple and I tested it e2e that I
feel as if this is still worth it.
Adds support for `ArchiveConversation` in the JSON-RPC server that takes
a `(ConversationId, PathBuf)` pair and:
- verifies the `ConversationId` corresponds to the rollout id at the
`PathBuf`
- if so, invokes
`ConversationManager.remove_conversation(ConversationId)`
- if the `CodexConversation` was in memory, send `Shutdown` and wait for
`ShutdownComplete` with a timeout
- moves the `.jsonl` file to `$CODEX_HOME/archived_sessions`
---------
Co-authored-by: Gabriel Peal <gabriel@openai.com>
Adding the `rollout_path` to the `NewConversationResponse` makes it so a
client can perform subsequent operations on a `(ConversationId,
PathBuf)` pair. #3353 will introduce support for `ArchiveConversation`.
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/3352).
* #3353
* __->__ #3352
This PR does multiple things that are necessary for conversation resume
to work from the extension. I wanted to make sure everything worked so
these changes wound up in one PR:
1. Generate more ts types
2. Resume rollout history files rather than create a new one every time
it is resumed so you don't see a duplicate conversation in history for
every resume. Chatted with @aibrahim-oai to verify this
3. Return conversation_id in conversation summaries
4. [Cleanup] Use serde and strong types for a lot of the rollout file
parsing
We're trying to migrate from `session_id: Uuid` to `conversation_id:
ConversationId`. Not only does this give us more type safety but it
unifies our terminology across Codex and with the implementation of
session resuming, a conversation (which can span multiple sessions) is
more appropriate.
I started this impl on https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/3219 as part
of getting resume working in the extension but it's big enough that it
should be broken out.
When item ids are sent to Responses API it will load them from the
database ignoring the provided values. This adds extra latency.
Not having the mode to store requests also allows us to simplify the
code.
## Breaking change
The `disable_response_storage` configuration option is removed.
# External (non-OpenAI) Pull Request Requirements
Before opening this Pull Request, please read the dedicated
"Contributing" markdown file or your PR may be closed:
https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/contributing.md
If your PR conforms to our contribution guidelines, replace this text
with a detailed and high quality description of your changes.
## Summary
Follow-up to #3056
This PR updates the mcp-server interface for reading the config settings
saved by the user. At risk of introducing _another_ Config struct, I
think it makes sense to avoid tying our protocol to ConfigToml, as its
become a bit unwieldy. GetConfigTomlResponse was a de-facto struct for
this already - better to make it explicit, in my opinion.
This is technically a breaking change of the mcp-server protocol, but
given the previous interface was introduced so recently in #2725, and we
have not yet even started to call it, I propose proceeding with the
breaking change - but am open to preserving the old endpoint.
## Testing
- [x] Added additional integration test coverage
`test_shell_command_approval_triggers_elicitation()` is one of a number
of integration tests that we have observed to be flaky on GitHub CI, so
this PR tries to reduce the flakiness _and_ to provide us with more
information when it flakes. Specifically:
- Changed the command that we use to trigger the elicitation from `git
init` to `python3 -c 'import pathlib; pathlib.Path(r"{}").touch()'`
because running `git` seems more likely to invite variance.
- Increased the timeout to wait for the task response from 10s to 20s.
- Added more logging.
## Summary
Adds a GetConfig request to the MCP Protocol, so MCP clients can
evaluate the resolved config.toml settings which the harness is using.
## Testing
- [x] Added an end to end test of the endpoint
this dramatically improves time to run `cargo test -p codex-core` (~25x
speedup).
before:
```
cargo test -p codex-core 35.96s user 68.63s system 19% cpu 8:49.80 total
```
after:
```
cargo test -p codex-core 5.51s user 8.16s system 63% cpu 21.407 total
```
both tests measured "hot", i.e. on a 2nd run with no filesystem changes,
to exclude compile times.
approach inspired by [Delete Cargo Integration
Tests](https://matklad.github.io/2021/02/27/delete-cargo-integration-tests.html),
we move all test cases in tests/ into a single suite in order to have a
single binary, as there is significant overhead for each test binary
executed, and because test execution is only parallelized with a single
binary.
