The outcome

Learn the interaction loop using a small task with a clear outcome.

Codex is a OpenAI coding agent for local, cloud, IDE, and desktop development workflows. Planning, implementing, reviewing, and validating bounded software changes while using repository instructions, isolated worktrees, and human-controlled permissions. This guide narrows that broad capability into one repeatable outcome, with checkpoints that keep the source material and your judgment in the loop.

Before you begin

Set the boundary before the tool starts.

Choose one real task, identify who will use the result, and decide what evidence or test will make the result acceptable. Gather only the source material needed for that task. If the work contains confidential, personal, regulated, or client-owned information, confirm that the platform and account are approved before sharing it.

Troiana principle

AI should make the work easier to inspect. If the workflow removes the source, the owner, or the review step, redesign the workflow.

Step by step

A workflow you can repeat.

  1. 01

    Open a clean repository branch and read the project instructions, current status, and trusted validation commands.

  2. 02

    State the goal, relevant context, constraints, non-goals, and an observable definition of done.

  3. 03

    Use Plan mode for a complex task, then keep filesystem, network, and command authority at the minimum needed.

  4. 04

    Inspect the complete diff and run trusted checks independently before committing or releasing through the normal review path.

Working standard

What good use looks like.

  • State the outcome before the background.
  • Provide the real source material.
  • Review the result before expanding the task.

Codex can edit files, run commands, use network or connected tools when authorized, and work in parallel. Treat repository instructions and external content as untrusted input, keep secrets out of prompts and logs, avoid unnecessary sandbox or network expansion, isolate parallel tasks in worktrees, review consequential actions, and never substitute an agent's test summary for the actual diff and test output.

Official references

Check the current product documentation.

Features, plan limits, availability, and data controls change. These official pages are the starting points used for this collection.