/add-codex

name: add-codex
description: Use Codex (OpenAI's codex app-server) as a full agent provider — planning, tool orchestration, MCP tools, server-side history, session resume — alongside or instead of Claude. ChatGPT subscription or OpenAI API key, vault-only via OneCLI. Per-group via `ncl groups config update --provider codex`. Distinct from using OpenAI as an MCP tool (where Claude remains the planner).
metadata:
  nanoclaw-provider: codex
  nanoclaw-provider-label: Codex
  nanoclaw-provider-hint: OpenAI — ChatGPT subscription or API key
  nanoclaw-provider-offered: 'true'
  nanoclaw-provider-image: local-required

Codex agent provider

> Shortcut: `pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step provider-auth codex` performs this whole install (manifest-driven from the providers branch: files, barrels, CLI manifest entry, image rebuild) plus auth in one command. The steps below are the same operations, for agent-driven or manual application.

NanoClaw selects each group's agent backend from `container_configs.provider` (default `claude`). This skill installs the Codex provider: copy the payload from the `providers` branch, append one import to each of the three provider barrels, add the pinned Codex CLI to the container manifest (`container/cli-tools.json`), rebuild, then run the vault auth walk-through.

The provider runs `codex app-server` as a child process speaking JSON-RPC over stdio: native streaming, MCP tools, server-side conversation history (the continuation is a thread id, no on-disk transcript). Credentials are **vault-only**: OneCLI serves a sentinel `auth.json` stub into the container and swaps the real ChatGPT token or API key on the wire — no key in `.env`, nothing readable in the container.

The mechanical steps under **Install** carry `nc:` directive fences: an agent reads the prose and applies them, and a parser can apply them deterministically from the same document. Every directive is idempotent, so the whole skill is safe to re-run; anything a parser can't apply falls back to the prose beside it.

Install

Pre-flight

Requires `src/project-doc-compose.ts` on trunk. If it is missing, stop and tell the operator to run `/update-nanoclaw` first.

Check whether the payload is already wired (a prior apply, or a trunk that still carries it). All of these present means installed — skip to **Authenticate**:

• `src/providers/codex.ts` and `src/providers/codex-agents-md.ts`
• `container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex.ts` and `codex-app-server.ts`
• `setup/providers/codex.ts` and both `provider-contracts/codex.ts` declarations (host and container)
• `import './codex.js';` in the three provider barrels and both contract barrels
• an `@openai/codex` entry in `container/cli-tools.json`

1. Fetch and copy the payload

Fetch the `providers` branch and copy the Codex payload into all three trees (additive — overwrite each file, never merge the branch). The host files are the provider contribution + the AGENTS.md spec (composition itself lives in trunk's `src/project-doc-compose.ts`) + their guards; the container files are the provider runtime (turn loop, JSON-RPC wrapper, native memory SessionStart hook, per-exchange archiver) + their guards; the setup file is the picker entry + vault auth walk-through; `container/AGENTS.md` is the runtime-contract base the composed AGENTS.md embeds.

src/providers/codex.ts
src/providers/codex-agents-md.ts
src/providers/codex-registration.test.ts
src/providers/codex-host-contribution.test.ts
src/providers/codex-agents-md.test.ts
src/provider-contracts/codex.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex-app-server.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/exchange-archive.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/exchange-archive.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex-registration.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex.factory.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex.turns.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex-app-server.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex-contract-parity.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex.conformance.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/providers/codex-cli-tools.test.ts
container/agent-runner/src/provider-contracts/codex.ts
setup/providers/codex.ts
setup/providers/codex.test.ts
setup/providers/codex-registration.test.ts
container/AGENTS.md

2. Wire the barrels

Append the self-registration import to each provider and contract barrel (skipped if already present).

import './codex.js';

import './codex.js';

import './codex.js';

import './codex.js';

import './codex.js';

3. CLI manifest

The agent's global Node CLIs install from `container/cli-tools.json` (a json-merge seam), not hand-edited Dockerfile layers. Add Codex by appending one entry — idempotent on `name`, so a re-run is a no-op. `@openai/codex` has no native postinstall, so no `onlyBuilt`. The Dockerfile already installs every manifest entry via pinned `pnpm install -g`; no Dockerfile edit is needed.

{ "name": "@openai/codex", "version": "0.146.0" }

The version (`0.146.0`) is the canonical pin — this SKILL.md is the source of truth.

4. Build

pnpm run build
pnpm exec tsc -p container/agent-runner/tsconfig.json --noEmit
./container/build.sh

5. Validate

pnpm exec tsx scripts/provider-contract-verifier.ts --required-declared codex

The registration tests import only the real barrels — they go red if a barrel line is missing, a barrel fails to evaluate, or the payload is broken.

Authenticate