othmanadi--planning-with-files/docs/codex.md

Codex Setup

Using planning-with-files with OpenAI Codex.

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Overview

Codex discovers skills from .codex/skills/ and hooks from .codex/hooks.json or ~/.codex/hooks.json.

This integration includes both:

• .codex/skills/planning-with-files/ for the skill itself
• .codex/hooks.json plus .codex/hooks/ for lifecycle automation

The hook behavior reuses the same mature shell scripts as the Cursor integration, with a thin Codex adapter layer for the differences in hook protocol. On Windows those same scripts run through an auto-resolved Git Bash (see Windows Support).

Important: Codex hooks require hooks = true in ~/.codex/config.toml. The older codex_hooks = true still works as a deprecated alias.

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Installation

Method 1: Workspace Installation (Recommended)

Share the skill and hooks with your whole team by committing .codex/ to your repository:

# In your project repository
git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files.git /tmp/planning-with-files

# Copy the Codex integration to your repo
cp -r /tmp/planning-with-files/.codex .

# Commit to share with team
git add .codex/
git commit -m "Add planning-with-files skill for Codex"
git push

# Clean up
rm -rf /tmp/planning-with-files

Method 2: Personal Installation

Install just for yourself:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files.git /tmp/planning-with-files

# Copy the skill
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills
cp -r /tmp/planning-with-files/.codex/skills/planning-with-files ~/.codex/skills/

# Copy the hook scripts
mkdir -p ~/.codex/hooks
cp -r /tmp/planning-with-files/.codex/hooks/* ~/.codex/hooks/

# Copy hooks.json
# If you already have ~/.codex/hooks.json, merge the planning-with-files entries manually
cp /tmp/planning-with-files/.codex/hooks.json ~/.codex/hooks.json

# Clean up
rm -rf /tmp/planning-with-files

Note: If you already have a ~/.codex/hooks.json, do not overwrite it blindly. Merge the SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, and Stop entries into your existing file.

Enable Hooks in config.toml

Ensure your ~/.codex/config.toml contains:

[features]
hooks = true

If you already have a [features] section, add hooks = true under it instead of creating a duplicate section. codex_hooks = true is still accepted as a deprecated alias for users on older configs.

Verification

codex --version
codex features list | rg '^(hooks|codex_hooks)\s'
ls -la ~/.codex/skills/planning-with-files/SKILL.md
ls -la ~/.codex/hooks.json ~/.codex/hooks/

If neither hooks nor the deprecated alias codex_hooks appears in codex features list, upgrade Codex before troubleshooting the skill.

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How It Works

Hooks

Codex reads hooks from:

1. .codex/hooks.json in your project root
2. ~/.codex/hooks.json for your global install

This integration includes the Codex lifecycle hooks used by the adapter:

Hook	What It Does
SessionStart	Runs session-catchup.py, then injects active plan context
UserPromptSubmit	Re-injects plan and recent progress on every user message
PreToolUse	Re-reads the first 30 lines of task_plan.md before Bash
PostToolUse	Reminds the agent to update progress.md after Bash activity
PreCompact	Reminds the agent to flush progress.md and task_plan.md before compaction
Stop	Emits an advisory progress-sync reminder when phases are incomplete (non-blocking since v3.1.0)

The Three Files

Once activated, the skill creates and maintains:

File	Purpose	Location
task_plan.md	Phases, progress, decisions	Your project root
findings.md	Research, discoveries	Your project root
progress.md	Session log, test results	Your project root

Opting out for one-shot runs (CI, codex exec)

A one-shot session that shares a working directory with an active plan gets the plan context injected even though it never opted in: a CI review bot, a read-only research agent, or a nested orchestrator can end up "reconciling the plan" instead of doing its own job, and may mutate task_plan.md and progress.md that belong to another session (issue #195).

Set PLANNING_DISABLED=1 to disable all planning-with-files hooks for that invocation only:

PLANNING_DISABLED=1 codex exec -o review.md '$code-review review this branch'
PLANNING_DISABLED=1 codex exec -C <repo> -s read-only '<research prompt>'

With the variable set, every hook (SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, PreCompact, Stop) exits before reading the plan: no context injection, no follow-up messages, no plan-file writes. PreToolUse still emits its allow decision so tool calls proceed normally. Interactive sessions in the same directory are unaffected. The same variable is honored by the canonical Claude Code dispatchers (inject-plan.sh, gate-stop.sh, check-complete.sh/.ps1), so it works for CI automation on any platform whose hooks route through those scripts.

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Team Workflow

Workspace Installation

With workspace installation (.codex/ committed to your repo):

• Everyone on the team gets the same skill and hooks
• The Codex setup is version controlled with the project
• Updates ship through normal git review

Personal Installation

With personal installation (~/.codex/):

• You can use the skill across all projects
• You keep your setup even if you change repositories
• Existing global hooks may need manual merging

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Troubleshooting

Hooks Not Running?

1. Check that hooks = true (or the deprecated alias codex_hooks = true) is present in ~/.codex/config.toml
2. Verify .codex/hooks.json or ~/.codex/hooks.json exists
3. Restart Codex after adding or changing hooks
4. Run codex features list | rg '^(hooks|codex_hooks)\s'

Already Using Other Global Hooks?

That is fine, but do not overwrite your existing ~/.codex/hooks.json. Merge the planning-with-files entries instead.

Seeing Duplicate Hook Messages?

Avoid installing the same planning-with-files hooks in both places at once:

• workspace .codex/hooks.json
• global ~/.codex/hooks.json

If you enable both, Codex may run both sets of hooks and duplicate the reminders.

Windows Support

Hooks run on Windows. Codex reads a per-hook commandWindows override from .codex/hooks.json on Windows and the POSIX command everywhere else, so macOS and Linux are unchanged.

On Windows every hook routes through .codex\hooks\pwf-hook.cmd, which finds a real Python (py -3, falling back to python) and never the Microsoft Store python3 alias. The four Python hooks run their .py entry point directly. The three shell hooks (SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreCompact) route through run_sh.py, which locates the Git for Windows sh.exe and runs the same shell scripts the macOS/Linux hooks use.

Requirements on Windows:

• hooks = true in ~/.codex/config.toml (same as every platform).
• Python reachable through the py launcher (installed by the python.org installer) or on PATH as python. If you only have python, the launcher falls back to it automatically. The Microsoft Store python3 alias is skipped on purpose.
• Git for Windows installed, for the three shell-backed hooks. The launcher finds sh.exe even when Git's usr\bin is not on your PATH, which is the default install layout. Without Git for Windows those three hooks stay silent and the four Python hooks still work.

Use the workspace install (Method 1) on Windows: the commandWindows entries use relative .codex\... paths resolved against your project directory. A global ~/.codex install needs absolute paths in commandWindows.

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Learn More

• Installation Guide
• Quick Start
• Workflow Diagram

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Support

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/OthmanAdi/planning-with-files/issues
• OpenAI Codex Hooks Docs: https://developers.openai.com/codex/hooks
• OpenAI Codex Skills Docs: https://developers.openai.com/codex/skills