What
-----
- Fix the Ctrl+T transcript overlay so that very long exec output lines
are soft‑wrapped to the viewport width instead of being rendered as a
single truncated row.
- Add a regression test to `TranscriptOverlay` to ensure long exec
outputs are rendered on multiple lines in the overlay.
Why
----
- Previously, the transcript overlay rendered extremely long single exec
lines as one on‑screen row and simply cut them off at the right edge,
with no horizontal scrolling.
- This made it impossible to inspect the full content of long tool/exec
outputs in the transcript view, even though the main TUI view already
wrapped those lines.
- Fixes#7454.
How
----
- Update `ExecCell::transcript_lines` to wrap exec output lines using
the existing `RtOptions`/`word_wrap_line` helpers so that transcript
rendering is width‑aware.
- Reuse the existing line utilities to expand the wrapped `Line` values
into the transcript overlay, preserving styling while respecting the
current viewport width.
- Add `transcript_overlay_wraps_long_exec_output_lines` test in
`pager_overlay.rs` that constructs a long single‑line exec output,
renders the transcript overlay into a small buffer, and asserts that the
long marker string spans multiple rendered lines.
What
- Limit the TUI "user shell" output panel by the number of visible
screen lines rather than by the number of logical lines.
- Apply middle truncation after wrapping, so a few extremely long lines
cannot expand into hundreds of visible lines.
- Add a regression test to guard this behavior.
Why
When the `ExecCommandSource::UserShell` tool returns a small number of
very long logical lines, the TUI wraps those lines into many visual
lines. The existing truncation logic applied
`USER_SHELL_TOOL_CALL_MAX_LINES` to the number of logical lines *before*
wrapping.
As a result, a command like:
- `Ran bash -lc "grep -R --line-number 'maskAssetId' ."`
or a synthetic command that prints a single ~50,000‑character line, can
produce hundreds of screen lines and effectively flood the viewport. The
intended middle truncation for user shell output does not take effect in
this scenario.
How
- In `codex-rs/tui/src/exec_cell/render.rs`, change the `ExecCell`
rendering path for `ExecCommandSource::UserShell` so that:
- Each logical line from `CommandOutput::aggregated_output` is first
wrapped via `word_wrap_line` into multiple screen lines using the
appropriate `RtOptions` and width from the `EXEC_DISPLAY_LAYOUT`
configuration.
- `truncate_lines_middle` is then applied to the wrapped screen lines,
with `USER_SHELL_TOOL_CALL_MAX_LINES` as the limit. This means the limit
is enforced on visible screen lines, not logical lines.
- The existing layout struct (`ExecDisplayLayout`) continues to provide
`output_max_lines`, so user shell output is subject to both
`USER_SHELL_TOOL_CALL_MAX_LINES` and the layout-specific
`output_max_lines` constraint.
- Keep using `USER_SHELL_TOOL_CALL_MAX_LINES` as the cap, but interpret
it as a per‑tool‑call limit on screen lines.
- Add a regression test `user_shell_output_is_limited_by_screen_lines`
in `codex-rs/tui/src/exec_cell/render.rs` that:
- Constructs two extremely long logical lines containing a short marker
(`"Z"`), so each wrapped screen line still contains the marker.
- Wraps them at a narrow width to generate many screen lines.
- Asserts that the unbounded wrapped output would exceed
`USER_SHELL_TOOL_CALL_MAX_LINES` screen lines.
- Renders an `ExecCell` for `ExecCommandSource::UserShell` at the same
width and counts rendered lines containing the marker.
- Asserts `output_screen_lines <= USER_SHELL_TOOL_CALL_MAX_LINES`,
guarding against regressions where truncation happens before wrapping.
This change keeps user shell output readable while ensuring it cannot
flood the TUI, even when the tool emits a few extremely long lines.
Tests
- `cargo test -p codex-tui`
Issue
- Fixes#7447
This PR adds support for a new feature flag `tui.animations`. By
default, the TUI uses animations in its welcome screen, "working"
spinners, and "shimmer" effects. This animations can interfere with
screen readers, so it's good to provide a way to disable them.
This change is inspired by [a
PR](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/4014) contributed by @Orinks.
That PR has faltered a bit, but I think the core idea is sound. This
version incorporates feedback from @aibrahim-oai. In particular:
1. It uses a feature flag (`tui.animations`) rather than the unqualified
CLI key `no-animations`. Feature flags are the preferred way to expose
boolean switches. They are also exposed via CLI command switches.
2. It includes more complete documentation.
3. It disables a few animations that the other PR omitted.
- introduce RenderableItem to support both owned and borrowed children
in composite Renderables
- refactor some of our gnarlier manual layouts, BottomPane and
ChatWidget, to use ColumnRenderable
- Renderable and friends now handle cursor_pos()
feature: Add "!cmd" user shell execution
This change lets users run local shell commands directly from the TUI by
prefixing their input with ! (e.g. !ls). Output is truncated to keep the
exec cell usable, and Ctrl-C cleanly
interrupts long-running commands (e.g. !sleep 10000).
**Summary of changes**
- Route Op::RunUserShellCommand through a dedicated UserShellCommandTask
(core/src/tasks/user_shell.rs), keeping the task logic out of codex.rs.
- Reuse the existing tool router: the task constructs a ToolCall for the
local_shell tool and relies on ShellHandler, so no manual MCP tool
lookup is required.
- Emit exec lifecycle events (ExecCommandBegin/ExecCommandEnd) so the
TUI can show command metadata, live output, and exit status.
**End-to-end flow**
**TUI handling**
1. ChatWidget::submit_user_message (TUI) intercepts messages starting
with !.
2. Non-empty commands dispatch Op::RunUserShellCommand { command };
empty commands surface a help hint.
3. No UserInput items are created, so nothing is enqueued for the model.
**Core submission loop**
4. The submission loop routes the op to handlers::run_user_shell_command
(core/src/codex.rs).
5. A fresh TurnContext is created and Session::spawn_user_shell_command
enqueues UserShellCommandTask.
**Task execution**
6. UserShellCommandTask::run emits TaskStartedEvent, formats the
command, and prepares a ToolCall targeting local_shell.
7. ToolCallRuntime::handle_tool_call dispatches to ShellHandler.
**Shell tool runtime**
8. ShellHandler::run_exec_like launches the process via the unified exec
runtime, honoring sandbox and shell policies, and emits
ExecCommandBegin/End.
9. Stdout/stderr are captured for the UI, but the task does not turn the
resulting ToolOutput into a model response.
**Completion**
10. After ExecCommandEnd, the task finishes without an assistant
message; the session marks it complete and the exec cell displays the
final output.
**Conversation context**
- The command and its output never enter the conversation history or the
model prompt; the flow is local-only.
- Only exec/task events are emitted for UI rendering.
**Demo video**
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fcd114b0-4304-4448-a367-a04c43e0b996
This shows the aggregated (stdout + stderr) buffer regardless of exit
code.
Many commands output useful / relevant info on stdout when returning a
non-zero exit code, or the same on stderr when returning an exit code of
0. Often, useful info is present on both stdout AND stderr. Also, the
model sees both. So it is confusing to see commands listed as "(no
output)" that in fact do have output, just on the stream that doesn't
match the exit status, or to see some sort of trivial output like "Tests
failed" but lacking any information about the actual failure.
As such, always display the aggregated output in the display. Transcript
mode remains unchanged as it was already displaying the text that the
model sees, which seems correct for transcript mode.
## Summary
- show a dim “(no output)” placeholder when an executed command produces
no stdout or stderr so empty runs are visible
- update TUI snapshots to include the new placeholder in history
renderings
## Testing
- cargo test -p codex-tui
------
https://chatgpt.com/codex/tasks/task_i_68dc056c1d5883218fe8d9929e9b1657
- Refactor Exec Cell into its own module
- update exec command rendering to inline the first command line
- limit continuation lines
- always show trimmed output
