| name | codex-exec |
| description | Delegate a task to Codex CLI via `codex exec`. Use for lightweight tasks (exploration, simple searches, file reads) that don't require heavy reasoning. Only available from Claude Code sessions. |
Delegate a task to codex exec for non-interactive execution.
When to use
- Lightweight exploration, file searches, simple code reads
- Tasks where reasoning effort is low
- Parallelizable subtasks that don't need Claude Code's full context
When NOT to use
- Tasks requiring edits to files already being worked on in this session
- Tasks needing heavy reasoning or multi-step planning
- Tasks requiring interactive user input
Execution
- Construct prompt from user's request. Be specific — include file paths, package names, or search terms when known.
- Run:
codex exec --sandbox workspace-write -c "sandbox_workspace_write.network_access=true" -o .tmp/codex-output.txt "<prompt>"
Flags:
--sandbox workspace-write (short -s workspace-write) → grant write access to the workspace. codex exec is already non-interactive, so no approval prompts. (Replaces the removed --full-auto.)-c "sandbox_workspace_write.network_access=true" → allow network access from within the workspace-write sandbox-o .tmp/codex-output.txt → capture final agent message-C <dir> → set working directory if different from current
- Read
.tmp/codex-output.txt for results.
- Present results to user concisely.
Rules
- NEVER pass destructive instructions (delete, force-push, reset) to codex exec.
- NEVER use
--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox.
- Always use
--sandbox workspace-write -c "sandbox_workspace_write.network_access=true" for sandboxed execution.
- Store output in
.tmp/ — NEVER /tmp/.
- If codex exec fails or times out, fall back to handling the task directly.
