MCPInstall

codex-cli-delegation

Delegate complex code analysis, refactoring, and editing tasks to OpenAI Codex CLI from within Claude Code

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/reason-machines/codex-skills --skill codex-cli-delegation
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads codex-cli-delegation automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Codex CLI Delegation

Skill by ara.so — Codex Skills collection.

Overview

The Codex CLI (codex) is a command-line tool that enables automated code analysis, refactoring, editing, and agentic workflows using OpenAI's GPT models with specialized code-understanding capabilities. This skill enables AI coding agents to delegate tasks to Codex for multi-file operations, complex refactoring, and autonomous code editing.

Key capabilities:

  • Execute one-off prompts with codex exec
  • Resume interactive sessions with context persistence
  • Multi-file code analysis and editing
  • Automated git integration and safety checks
  • Configurable sandbox modes (read-only, edit, full)
  • Model selection and reasoning effort tuning

Prerequisites

Verify Codex is installed and configured:

codex --version

If not installed, follow Codex installation instructions and configure credentials:

# Set OpenAI API key
export OPENAI_API_KEY="${OPENAI_API_KEY}"

# Verify configuration
codex config show

Installation

This skill is typically installed via Claude Code's plugin system:

/plugin marketplace add skills-directory/skill-codex
/plugin install skill-codex@skill-codex

Or as a standalone skill:

git clone --depth 1 git@github.com:skills-directory/skill-codex.git /tmp/skills-temp && \
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && \
cp -r /tmp/skills-temp/plugins/skill-codex/skills/codex ~/.claude/skills/codex && \
rm -rf /tmp/skills-temp

Core Commands

codex exec

Execute a one-off prompt with full configuration control:

# Basic execution
codex exec "Analyze error handling patterns in this codebase"

# With model selection
codex exec -m gpt-5.3-codex-spark "Refactor authentication module"

# With reasoning effort
codex exec --config model_reasoning_effort="high" "Find performance bottlenecks"

# With sandbox mode
codex exec --sandbox read-only "Review code quality"
codex exec --sandbox edit "Add type hints to Python files"
codex exec --sandbox full "Refactor and run tests"

# Full automation mode
codex exec --full-auto --skip-git-repo-check "Analyze this repository"

# Suppress thinking tokens (recommended for Claude Code context)
codex exec "Your prompt" 2>/dev/null

Session Resume

Continue previous Codex sessions with context:

# List available sessions
codex sessions list

# Resume a specific session
codex resume <session-id>

# Resume with additional prompt
codex resume <session-id> "Continue with the refactoring we discussed"

Model Selection

Choose the appropriate model for your task:

ModelBest ForReasoning
gpt-5.5Most complex tasks, architectural decisionsHighest
gpt-5.4Advanced refactoring, multi-file analysisHigh
gpt-5.4-miniFaster analysis, simpler editsMedium
gpt-5.3-codex-sparkQuick code review, rapid prototypingLow-Medium
gpt-5.3-codexStandard code operationsLow

Example:

# For complex architectural analysis
codex exec -m gpt-5.5 --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  "Design a plugin system for this application"

# For quick code review
codex exec -m gpt-5.3-codex-spark --config model_reasoning_effort="low" \
  "Check for security issues in authentication"

Reasoning Effort Levels

Control computational depth:

  • low: Fast, surface-level analysis
  • medium: Balanced speed and depth
  • high: Deep reasoning, comprehensive analysis
codex exec --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  "Analyze concurrency patterns and race conditions"

Sandbox Modes

Control Codex's file system access:

  • read-only: Analysis only, no modifications
  • edit: Can modify files but limited execution
  • full: Full file system and execution access
# Safe analysis
codex exec --sandbox read-only "Audit this codebase"

# Controlled editing
codex exec --sandbox edit "Add error handling to all API calls"

# Full automation (use with caution)
codex exec --sandbox full --full-auto "Implement feature X with tests"

Common Workflows

Code Analysis

# Comprehensive repository analysis
codex exec -m gpt-5.4 \
  --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  --sandbox read-only \
  --full-auto \
  "Analyze this repository comprehensively: architecture, patterns, code quality, potential improvements" \
  2>/dev/null

# Security audit
codex exec -m gpt-5.5 \
  --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  --sandbox read-only \
  "Perform security audit focusing on authentication, authorization, and data validation" \
  2>/dev/null

Refactoring

# Extract reusable components
codex exec -m gpt-5.4 \
  --sandbox edit \
  "Identify duplicated code and extract into reusable functions" \
  2>/dev/null

# Type safety improvements
codex exec -m gpt-5.3-codex-spark \
  --sandbox edit \
  "Add TypeScript type annotations to all exported functions" \
  2>/dev/null

Feature Implementation

# Implement with tests
codex exec -m gpt-5.5 \
  --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  --sandbox full \
  --full-auto \
  "Implement user authentication with JWT tokens, including unit tests and integration tests" \
  2>/dev/null

Documentation

# Generate comprehensive docs
codex exec -m gpt-5.4 \
  --sandbox edit \
  "Add JSDoc comments to all public APIs and update README with usage examples" \
  2>/dev/null

Configuration

Environment Variables

# OpenAI API key (required)
export OPENAI_API_KEY="${OPENAI_API_KEY}"

# Codex configuration directory (optional)
export CODEX_CONFIG_DIR="${HOME}/.config/codex"

Global Config File

Located at ~/.config/codex/config.yaml:

default_model: gpt-5.4
default_reasoning_effort: medium
default_sandbox: edit
auto_git_check: true
thinking_tokens: false

Per-Execution Config

# Override config for single execution
codex exec \
  --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  --config auto_git_check="false" \
  "Your prompt here"

Thinking Tokens

By default, this skill suppresses Codex's reasoning output (stderr) to avoid bloating context:

# Suppressed (default for Claude Code)
codex exec "Analyze code" 2>/dev/null

# Show thinking tokens for debugging
codex exec "Analyze code"

When to show thinking tokens:

  • Debugging Codex behavior
  • Understanding complex analysis decisions
  • Learning from Codex's reasoning process

Safety and Git Integration

Codex includes built-in safety checks:

# Requires clean git state (recommended)
codex exec --sandbox edit "Refactor module"

# Skip git check (use with caution)
codex exec --sandbox edit --skip-git-repo-check "Quick fix"

# Full automation without prompts
codex exec --full-auto --skip-git-repo-check "Automated task"

Best practices:

  1. Always work in a git repository with committed changes
  2. Use read-only sandbox for analysis
  3. Review changes before committing
  4. Use --full-auto only for well-defined, low-risk tasks

Error Handling

Common Issues

API Key Not Set:

Error: OPENAI_API_KEY not found

Solution:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="${OPENAI_API_KEY}"

Codex Not Found:

codex: command not found

Solution: Install Codex CLI and ensure it's in PATH

Git Repository Required:

Error: Not a git repository

Solution: Initialize git or use --skip-git-repo-check

Rate Limiting:

Error: Rate limit exceeded

Solution: Reduce reasoning effort or switch to a faster model

Integration with Claude Code

When delegating to Codex from Claude Code:

  1. Ask for clarification on model and reasoning effort if not specified
  2. Default to read-only sandbox for analysis tasks
  3. Suppress thinking tokens unless explicitly requested: 2>/dev/null
  4. Summarize Codex output rather than showing raw responses
  5. Offer follow-up actions based on Codex results

Example integration pattern:

# In Claude Code skill activation
def invoke_codex(prompt, model=None, reasoning=None, sandbox="read-only"):
    # Confirm model selection
    if model is None:
        # Ask user: "Which model? gpt-5.5, gpt-5.4, gpt-5.4-mini, gpt-5.3-codex-spark, gpt-5.3-codex"
        model = get_user_choice()
    
    # Confirm reasoning effort
    if reasoning is None:
        # Ask user: "Reasoning effort? low, medium, high"
        reasoning = get_user_choice()
    
    # Build command
    cmd = f'codex exec -m {model} --config model_reasoning_effort="{reasoning}" --sandbox {sandbox} --full-auto --skip-git-repo-check "{prompt}" 2>/dev/null'
    
    # Execute and return results
    return execute_command(cmd)

Advanced Patterns

Iterative Refinement

# Initial analysis
codex exec -m gpt-5.4 "Analyze authentication module" > analysis.txt

# Resume with refinements
SESSION_ID=$(codex sessions list | head -1 | awk '{print $1}')
codex resume $SESSION_ID "Focus on OAuth2 implementation details"

Multi-Stage Workflows

# Stage 1: Analysis (read-only)
codex exec --sandbox read-only \
  "Identify components that need refactoring" > refactor-plan.txt

# Stage 2: Refactoring (edit)
codex exec --sandbox edit \
  "Refactor components listed in refactor-plan.txt"

# Stage 3: Testing (full)
codex exec --sandbox full \
  "Run test suite and fix any failures"

Combining with Shell Scripts

#!/bin/bash
# automated-review.sh

echo "Starting Codex code review..."

# Security audit
codex exec -m gpt-5.5 \
  --config model_reasoning_effort="high" \
  --sandbox read-only \
  "Security audit focusing on OWASP Top 10" \
  2>/dev/null > security-report.md

# Code quality
codex exec -m gpt-5.4 \
  --sandbox read-only \
  "Code quality analysis: complexity, maintainability, test coverage" \
  2>/dev/null > quality-report.md

echo "Reports generated: security-report.md, quality-report.md"

Troubleshooting

Performance Issues

If Codex is slow:

  • Use lower reasoning effort: --config model_reasoning_effort="low"
  • Switch to faster model: -m gpt-5.3-codex-spark
  • Narrow the scope of your prompt

Context Window Limits

If hitting context limits:

  • Break large tasks into smaller prompts
  • Use --sandbox read-only to limit file scanning
  • Exclude large dependencies or build artifacts

Inconsistent Results

If results vary significantly:

  • Increase reasoning effort for more consistent analysis
  • Use gpt-5.5 or gpt-5.4 for complex tasks
  • Provide more specific, detailed prompts

Resources

FAQ

What does the codex-cli-delegation skill do?

Delegate complex code analysis, refactoring, and editing tasks to OpenAI Codex CLI from within Claude Code

How do I install codex-cli-delegation?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/reason-machines/codex-skills --skill codex-cli-delegation in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/codex-cli-delegation/ (personal) or .claude/skills/codex-cli-delegation/ (project).

Which AI agents can use codex-cli-delegation?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is codex-cli-delegation safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains codex-cli-delegation?

It is published by reason-machines in reason-machines/codex-skills. It has 241 recorded installs.

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