description: "The one-shot Codex subagent provider for users and maintainers choosing a product backend, installing a Profile bundle, or configuring an unattended Codex delegation."
kind: "package-bundle"
@deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-codex
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Summary
Install @deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-codex into a Profile when delegated work should run in a genuine, unattended Codex session in the parent Session's workspace. Each delegation uses a fresh isolated Codex thread for one self-contained text task and returns only its final answer or a safe failure diagnostic. Native Codex configuration and authentication remain authoritative, while permissionMode selects the non-interactive approval and sandbox behavior. The Bundle supplies a compatible native Codex payload, but it exposes no model capability until a delegation tool is configured.
Table of Contents
Use this package
Mount this provider when a delegation should run as a real Codex session in the parent's workspace. The common path is explicit: install the Bundle into a Profile, optionally configure the provider row, and expose it to the model through a delegation tool row.
Installing the Bundle
Install the package into the target Profile, then restart that Profile. The installation brings the official wrapper and one compatible native platform payload into the Profile; the declared patch layer registers only the dormant provider and starts no Codex process.
dsh plugin --profile <name> add @deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-codex
dsh plugin --profile <name> remove @deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-codex
dsh --profile <name>
Removing the package withdraws the provider and its private runtime closure on the next Profile start. Installation controls Host availability, not model permission: the model can only reach the provider through a delegation tool row you compose.
Configuration
| Field | Default | Meaning |
|---|
providerName | codex | Non-empty registry name on ctx.subagents; each mounted instance needs a unique value |
model | native Codex settings | Optional non-empty model name fixed for every thread from this provider instance; omission sends no app-server override |
env | {} | Explicit child environment layered over the credential-scrubbed parent environment |
permissionMode | never | Native non-interactive approval and sandbox mode fixed for every thread from this provider instance |
disposeGraceMs | 3000 | Grace between the shared managed-range owner's termination tiers |
permissionMode value | thread/start fields | Native behavior |
|---|
never | approvalPolicy: never; sandbox omitted | Never ask for approval; execution failures return to the model under the native sandbox |
approve-for-me | approvalPolicy: on-request, approvalsReviewer: auto_review, sandbox: workspace-write | Route permission requests through Codex automatic review without a human |
dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox | approvalPolicy: never, sandbox: danger-full-access | Skip approval and sandbox enforcement; this value must be selected explicitly |
The generated configuration catalog is the exhaustive source for every accepted field and its JSDoc. A configured model passes unchanged on each ephemeral thread/start; omission leaves native model selection in force. The provider does not discover models, rewrite aliases, select modelProvider or serviceTier, or set a fallback. Credential-shaped ambient variables are removed before the explicit env overlay, so an API key intended for the child must be supplied there.
Exposing the tool
Each delegation tool row names one provider and needs its own toolName, so the model sees static tools rather than a dynamic provider selector. Full Agent Presets carry a matching default tool row with disabled: true; copy a preset and remove that field to expose subagent_codex only to agents composed from the copy.
- id: jobs
name: '@deepseek-ai/dsh-jobs-local'
- id: tool-jobs
name: '@deepseek-ai/dsh-tool-jobs'
- id: tool-subagent-codex
name: '@deepseek-ai/dsh-tool-subagent'
config:
provider: codex
toolName: subagent_codex
backgroundMode: one-shot
maxDepth: provider-managed
The one-shot policy keeps omitted or false run_in_background calls in the foreground, while explicit true returns a parent-owned Job id for job_output or job_kill; the base host and full presets already provide the generic Job registry and controls.
What you get
A foreground call gives the model the selected final Codex answer, or an error with the stop reason and optional safe diagnostic for a failed run. A background call first returns a Job id; the generic job controls later deliver a completion notice and expose the same final answer or failed status through job_output. Codex commentary, reasoning, tool activity, raw stderr, and workspace diffs never enter the parent session.
Failure and recovery
An install that omits optional dependencies, uses an unsupported platform, or loses the selected payload leaves the provider dormant and fails the first delegation at initialize with a safe unknown category and any observed process outcome; there is no host-CLI fallback. Raw wrapper text stays on Host stderr. A cancelled run settles as aborted.
Understand the implementation
Implementation internals — click to expand
This section explains how the provider drives a real Codex app-server and where the observable behavior comes from; the full contract lives in Use this package.
Design concept
- One fresh process, thread, and turn per run. Every run spawns a fresh app-server, creates one ephemeral thread, and executes exactly one turn; there is no continuation, resume, or pooling.
- Native configuration is authoritative. Codex configuration and authentication stay native through the parent cwd,
HOME, and CODEX_HOME; the provider overrides only the optional model and the thread's approval, reviewer, and sandbox fields.
- Unattended by design. Approval, user-input, and MCP requests are answered or declined without a human; unknown server requests fail the run.
Source map
| File | Role |
|---|
src/index.ts | Plugin entry: config schema, provider registration |
src/run.ts | The run lifecycle, turn execution, result selection, and diagnostics |
src/wire.ts | The minimal app-server JSON-RPC wire implementation |
cordis.patch.yml | The Profile patch layer that registers the dormant provider |
Run flow
A start accepts only a non-empty sequence of text blocks and derives the child cwd from the parent session. It spawns the fixed command through the subprocess seam, performs the initialize → initialized handshake, maps the Profile-selected mode and optional model into official thread/start fields beside { cwd, ephemeral: true }, and publishes the run only after Codex returns a valid ephemeral thread. The published result starts exactly one turn, accepts only notifications for that run's thread and turn, and waits for the authoritative terminal. The latest with wins; when Codex emits no explicit final phase, the latest message with is the compatibility fallback. A successful turn with no nonblank answer settles as an error. Failed turns use the coarse categories , , , , , , or ; an early app-server exit uses , and applicable connection and stream failures retain a numeric .
Further Exploration
Read these pages when the package-level contract is not enough. They move from this provider to the seam it plugs into and the sibling product provider.
Model Experience
Child request
What the model sees
The Codex child receives the standalone text blocks as one turn in a fresh ephemeral thread. Its workspace is the parent Session cwd; the selected Provider instance fixes any configured model, environment, non-interactive approval policy, and sandbox mode, while an omitted model and every other product setting come from native Codex configuration. The executable version comes from the Bundle's pinned platform payload.
Token effect
The child pays for an independent Codex context and turn. Child tokens do not enter the parent's context.
KV Cache effect
Independent of the parent request cache. Reuse depends only on Codex's own provider, model, instructions, tools, and ephemeral-thread request.
Parent scheduling and results, indirectly
What the model sees
Through dsh-tool-subagent, a foreground call gives the parent the selected final Codex answer or an error containing the stop reason and optional safe diagnostic for a non-completed result. The diagnostic can distinguish a coarse action category, protocol stage, applicable numeric HTTP status, and observed process outcome without copying product prose or stderr. A background call first returns a Job id; the generic job controls later deliver a completion notice, expose the same final answer or failed status detail through job_output, and let job_kill request cancellation. Codex commentary, reasoning, tool activity, raw stderr, workspace diffs, usage, product ids, commands, paths, and protocol payloads are not copied into the parent Session.
Token effect
Foreground input grows by the retained final answer or error. Background input also includes the start acknowledgement, completion notice, and any job_output, job_kill, or later status results; child tokens still do not enter the parent context. This provider adds no parent tool schema by itself.
KV Cache effect
Append-only: foreground adds one result after the reusable parent prefix, while background appends the Job acknowledgement, notice, and later control or collection results. Background scheduling can add a notice-driven turn, but none of these messages rewrites the earlier prefix.
Known Limitations and Deferred Work
These limits define when this provider is a poor fit or needs special operational care. They are current package constraints, not a general Codex comparison or a task backlog.
- One fresh process, thread, and turn per run — there is no continuation, resume, pooling, progress stream, or product-session persistence.
- Static instance selection — Profile rows fix provider names, optional models, and tool bindings; calls cannot choose or change either a provider or model dynamically, and every exposed tool needs a unique
toolName.
- Authentication and account state remain native — the Bundle supplies the CLI but does not create an account, log in, trust a project, or rewrite Codex settings; configuration and authentication failures surface with their lifecycle stage and the safe
unknown fallback rather than a separate public taxonomy.
- The native platform payload is required at delegation time — installs that omit optional dependencies, unsupported platforms, and missing or damaged payloads fail at the first run; there is no host-CLI fallback.
- Compatibility is pinned by development evidence — upgrading from the verified 0.153.4 protocol baseline requires regenerating upstream schema evidence and rerunning handshake, answer-selection, approval, cancellation, keyless real-product, and credentialed DeepSeek nonce tests.
- No human approval path — known unattended approval requests are denied and unknown server requests fail closed; the three Profile modes never create a DSH interaction channel or per-call allow policy.
- Assistant payload is final text only — a failed run may additionally expose the separate safe diagnostic; reasoning, commentary, intermediate messages, tool traffic, usage, raw stderr, and workspace diffs remain outside the parent Session, while generic Job ids, notices, and status come from the shared job runtime.
- No optional shared capabilities —
agentOptions, output schemas, child personas, tool filtering, and harness depth enforcement are rejected by the shared service for this provider.
- No wall-clock timeout or side-effect rollback — the caller cancels long work, and files or external systems changed before cancellation are not restored.
Dev Note
Working context for maintainers — click to expand
This Dev Note is working context for maintainers: open questions and undecided directions. It is explicitly non-authoritative — shipped behavior and limits live in the sections above and in the package code.
- Payload size disclosure — the current darwin-arm64 platform payload packs to about 114 MB and unpacks to about 282 MB; these are disclosure numbers, not installation thresholds.
- Version-pinned protocol — the runtime dependency is pinned to
@openai/codex@0.153.4; upgrading requires regenerating the upstream schema evidence and rerunning the credentialed nonce tests.
Runtime invariant: No companion is published. Lifecycle pairing belongs to the shared subagent service, and managed-range ownership belongs to the subprocess service.
