codex-subagent
Launch Codex CLI as an isolated subagent for bounded coding, review, or verification tasks.
AI & Automationcodexdelegationsubagents
Codex CLI as a Subagent
When to Use
- Use when a bounded coding, review, or verification task can run in a separate Codex CLI session.
- Use when parallel work needs explicit file ownership and a clear definition of done.
Codex CLI is OpenAI's terminal coding agent. codex exec runs it non-interactively: it works autonomously in a sandbox, streams progress to stderr, and prints only the final message to stdout. Auth reuses the user's ChatGPT subscription — never an API key.
When to delegate
- Self-contained coding task with clear success criteria (fix, feature, refactor, review).
- Parallel work: several independent tasks at once (see Parallel runs).
- Second opinion / independent verification of your own changes.
Do NOT delegate tasks that need conversation context you can't fully write into the prompt.
Preflight
codex --version # missing? npm i -g @openai/codex (or: brew install --cask codex)
codex login status # exit 0 + "Logged in using ChatGPT" = readyNot logged in → stop and tell the user to run codex login (one-time browser OAuth). Never read, print, or copy credentials (~/.codex/auth.json).
Launch
OUT=$(mktemp /tmp/codex-out.XXXXXX)
codex exec \
--cd /path/to/repo \
--sandbox workspace-write \
--output-last-message "$OUT" \
"Full task prompt: goal, constraints, files to touch, definition of done." \
Subscribers only
The full skill, its 1 bundled files and every download is included with every paid Complete AI plan.
Details
| Source | davidondrej/skills |
|---|---|
| License | MIT |
| Risk label | critical ("critical" means the skill may run commands or touch files — read before use) |
| Files | SKILL.md |
| Added | 2026-07-07 |
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