## Summary
We've experienced a bit of drift in system prompting for `apply_patch`:
- As pointed out in #2030 , our prettier formatting started altering
prompt.md in a few ways
- We introduced a separate markdown file for apply_patch instructions in
#993, but currently duplicate them in the prompt.md file
- We added a first-class apply_patch tool in #2303, which has yet
another definition
This PR starts to consolidate our logic in a few ways:
- We now only use
`apply_patch_tool_instructions.md](https://github.com/openai/codex/compare/dh--apply-patch-tool-definition?expand=1#diff-d4fffee5f85cb1975d3f66143a379e6c329de40c83ed5bf03ffd3829df985bea)
for system instructions
- We no longer include apply_patch system instructions if the tool is
specified
I'm leaving the definition in openai_tools.rs as duplicated text for now
because we're going to be iterated on the first-class tool soon.
## Testing
- [x] Added integration tests to verify prompt stability
- [x] Tested locally with several different models (gpt-5, gpt-oss,
o4-mini)
## Summary
In #1939 we overhauled a lot of our prompt. This was largely good, but
we're seeing some specific points of confusion from the model! This
prompt update attempts to address 3 of them:
- Enforcing the use of `ripgrep`, which is bundled as a dependency when
installed with homebrew. We should do the same on node (in progress)
- Explicit guidance on reading files in chunks.
- Slight adjustment to networking sandbox language. `enabled` /
`restricted` is anecdotally less confusing to the model and requires
less reasoning to escalate for approval.
We are going to continue iterating on shell usage and tools, but this
restores us to best practices for current model snapshots.
## Testing
- [x] evals
- [x] local testing
## Summary
Our recent change in #1737 can sometimes lead to the model confusing
AGENTS.md context as part of the message. But a little prompting and
formatting can help fix this!
## Testing
- Ran locally with a few different prompts to verify the model
behaves well.
- Updated unit tests
The existing prompt is really bad. As a low-hanging fruit, let's correct
the apply_patch instructions - this helps smaller models successfully
apply patches.
As stated in `codex-rs/README.md`:
Today, Codex CLI is written in TypeScript and requires Node.js 22+ to
run it. For a number of users, this runtime requirement inhibits
adoption: they would be better served by a standalone executable. As
maintainers, we want Codex to run efficiently in a wide range of
environments with minimal overhead. We also want to take advantage of
operating system-specific APIs to provide better sandboxing, where
possible.
To that end, we are moving forward with a Rust implementation of Codex
CLI contained in this folder, which has the following benefits:
- The CLI compiles to small, standalone, platform-specific binaries.
- Can make direct, native calls to
[seccomp](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/seccomp.2.html) and
[landlock](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/landlock.7.html) in
order to support sandboxing on Linux.
- No runtime garbage collection, resulting in lower memory consumption
and better, more predictable performance.
Currently, the Rust implementation is materially behind the TypeScript
implementation in functionality, so continue to use the TypeScript
implmentation for the time being. We will publish native executables via
GitHub Releases as soon as we feel the Rust version is usable.
