c127062b40
Update FAQ, improve general structure for config, add more links across the sections in the documentation, remove out of date and duplicate content and better explain certain concepts such as approvals and sandboxing.
76 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
76 lines
5.8 KiB
Markdown
## Advanced
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If you already lean on Codex every day and just need a little more control, this page collects the knobs you are most likely to reach for: tweak defaults in [Config](./config.md), add extra tools through [Model Context Protocol support](./advanced.md#model-context-protocol), and script full runs with [`codex exec`](./exec.md). Jump to the section you need and keep building.
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## Config quickstart {#config-quickstart}
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Most day-to-day tuning lives in `config.toml`: set approval + sandbox presets, pin model defaults, and add MCP server launchers. The [Config guide](./config.md) walks through every option and provides copy-paste examples for common setups.
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## Tracing / verbose logging {#tracing-verbose-logging}
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Because Codex is written in Rust, it honors the `RUST_LOG` environment variable to configure its logging behavior.
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The TUI defaults to `RUST_LOG=codex_core=info,codex_tui=info` and log messages are written to `~/.codex/log/codex-tui.log`, so you can leave the following running in a separate terminal to monitor log messages as they are written:
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```
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tail -F ~/.codex/log/codex-tui.log
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```
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By comparison, the non-interactive mode (`codex exec`) defaults to `RUST_LOG=error`, but messages are printed inline, so there is no need to monitor a separate file.
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See the Rust documentation on [`RUST_LOG`](https://docs.rs/env_logger/latest/env_logger/#enabling-logging) for more information on the configuration options.
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## Model Context Protocol (MCP) {#model-context-protocol}
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The Codex CLI and IDE extension is a MCP client which means that it can be configured to connect to MCP servers. For more information, refer to the [`config docs`](./config.md#connecting-to-mcp-servers).
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## Using Codex as an MCP Server {#mcp-server}
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The Codex CLI can also be run as an MCP _server_ via `codex mcp-server`. For example, you can use `codex mcp-server` to make Codex available as a tool inside of a multi-agent framework like the OpenAI [Agents SDK](https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/agents). Use `codex mcp` separately to add/list/get/remove MCP server launchers in your configuration.
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### Codex MCP Server Quickstart {#mcp-server-quickstart}
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You can launch a Codex MCP server with the [Model Context Protocol Inspector](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/legacy/tools/inspector):
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```bash
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npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector codex mcp-server
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```
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Send a `tools/list` request and you will see that there are two tools available:
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**`codex`** - Run a Codex session. Accepts configuration parameters matching the Codex Config struct. The `codex` tool takes the following properties:
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| Property | Type | Description |
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| ----------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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| **`prompt`** (required) | string | The initial user prompt to start the Codex conversation. |
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| `approval-policy` | string | Approval policy for shell commands generated by the model: `untrusted`, `on-failure`, `never`. |
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| `base-instructions` | string | The set of instructions to use instead of the default ones. |
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| `config` | object | Individual [config settings](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/config.md#config) that will override what is in `$CODEX_HOME/config.toml`. |
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| `cwd` | string | Working directory for the session. If relative, resolved against the server process's current directory. |
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| `include-plan-tool` | boolean | Whether to include the plan tool in the conversation. |
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| `model` | string | Optional override for the model name (e.g. `o3`, `o4-mini`). |
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| `profile` | string | Configuration profile from `config.toml` to specify default options. |
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| `sandbox` | string | Sandbox mode: `read-only`, `workspace-write`, or `danger-full-access`. |
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**`codex-reply`** - Continue a Codex session by providing the conversation id and prompt. The `codex-reply` tool takes the following properties:
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| Property | Type | Description |
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| ------------------------------- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
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| **`prompt`** (required) | string | The next user prompt to continue the Codex conversation. |
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| **`conversationId`** (required) | string | The id of the conversation to continue. |
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### Trying it Out {#mcp-server-trying-it-out}
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> [!TIP]
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> Codex often takes a few minutes to run. To accommodate this, adjust the MCP inspector's Request and Total timeouts to 600000ms (10 minutes) under ⛭ Configuration.
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Use the MCP inspector and `codex mcp-server` to build a simple tic-tac-toe game with the following settings:
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**approval-policy:** never
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**prompt:** Implement a simple tic-tac-toe game with HTML, Javascript, and CSS. Write the game in a single file called index.html.
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**sandbox:** workspace-write
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Click "Run Tool" and you should see a list of events emitted from the Codex MCP server as it builds the game.
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