Add dynamic tools to rollout file for persistence & read from rollout on
resume. Ran a real example and spotted the following in the rollout
file:
```
{"timestamp":"2026-01-29T01:27:57.468Z","type":"session_meta","payload":{"id":"019c075d-3f0b-77e3-894e-c1c159b04b1e","timestamp":"2026-01-29T01:27:57.451Z","...."dynamic_tools":[{"name":"demo_tool","description":"Demo dynamic tool","inputSchema":{"additionalProperties":false,"properties":{"city":{"type":"string"}},"required":["city"],"type":"object"}}],"git":{"commit_hash":"ebc573f15c01b8af158e060cfedd401f043e9dfa","branch":"dev/cc/dynamic-tools","repository_url":"https://github.com/openai/codex.git"}}}
```
## Summary
This PR consolidates base_instructions onto SessionMeta /
SessionConfiguration, so we ensure `base_instructions` is set once per
session and should be (mostly) immutable, unless:
- overridden by config on resume / fork
- sub-agent tasks, like review or collab
In a future PR, we should convert all references to `base_instructions`
to consistently used the typed struct, so it's less likely that we put
other strings there. See #9423. However, this PR is already quite
complex, so I'm deferring that to a follow-up.
## Testing
- [x] Added a resume test to assert that instructions are preserved. In
particular, `resume_switches_models_preserves_base_instructions` fails
against main.
Existing test coverage thats assert base instructions are preserved
across multiple requests in a session:
- Manual compact keeps baseline instructions:
core/tests/suite/compact.rs:199
- Auto-compact keeps baseline instructions:
core/tests/suite/compact.rs:1142
- Prompt caching reuses the same instructions across two requests:
core/tests/suite/prompt_caching.rs:150 and
core/tests/suite/prompt_caching.rs:157
- Prompt caching with explicit expected string across two requests:
core/tests/suite/prompt_caching.rs:213 and
core/tests/suite/prompt_caching.rs:222
- Resume with model switch keeps original instructions:
core/tests/suite/resume.rs:136
- Compact/resume/fork uses request 0 instructions for later expected
payloads: core/tests/suite/compact_resume_fork.rs:215
### Description
- Remove the now-unused `instructions` field from the session metadata
to simplify SessionMeta and stop propagating transient instruction text
through the rollout recorder API. This was only saving
user_instructions, and was never being read.
- Stop passing user instructions into the rollout writer at session
creation so the rollout header only contains canonical session metadata.
### Testing
- Ran `just fmt` which completed successfully.
- Ran `just fix -p codex-protocol`, `just fix -p codex-core`, `just fix
-p codex-app-server`, `just fix -p codex-tui`, and `just fix -p
codex-tui2` which completed (Clippy fixes applied) as part of
verification.
- Ran `cargo test -p codex-protocol` which passed (28 tests).
- Ran `cargo test -p codex-core` which showed failures in a small set of
tests (not caused by the protocol type change directly):
`default_client::tests::test_create_client_sets_default_headers`,
several `models_manager::manager::tests::refresh_available_models_*`,
and `shell_snapshot::tests::linux_sh_snapshot_includes_sections` (these
tests failed in this CI run).
- Ran `cargo test -p codex-app-server` which reported several failing
integration tests (including
`suite::codex_message_processor_flow::test_codex_jsonrpc_conversation_flow`,
`suite::output_schema::send_user_turn_*`, and
`suite::user_agent::get_user_agent_returns_current_codex_user_agent`).
- `cargo test -p codex-tui` and `cargo test -p codex-tui2` were
attempted but aborted due to disk space exhaustion (`No space left on
device`).
------
[Codex
Task](https://chatgpt.com/codex/tasks/task_i_696bd8ce632483228d298cf07c7eb41c)
Summary:
- Add forked_from to SessionMeta/SessionConfiguredEvent and persist it
for forked sessions.
- Surface forked_from in /status for tui + tui2 and add snapshots.
Add support for returning threads by either `created_at` OR `updated_at`
descending. Previously core always returned threads ordered by
`created_at`.
This PR:
- updates core to be able to list threads by `updated_at` OR
`created_at` descending based on what the caller wants
- also update `thread/list` in app-server to expose this (default to
`created_at` if not specified)
All existing codepaths (app-server, TUI) still default to `created_at`,
so no behavior change is expected with this PR.
**Implementation**
To sort by `updated_at` is a bit nontrivial (whereas `created_at` is
easy due to the way we structure the folders and filenames on disk,
which are all based on `created_at`).
The most naive way to do this without introducing a cache file or sqlite
DB (which we have to implement/maintain) is to scan files in reverse
`created_at` order on disk, and look at the file's mtime (last modified
timestamp according to the filesystem) until we reach `MAX_SCAN_FILES`
(currently set to 10,000). Then, we can return the most recent N
threads.
Based on some quick and dirty benchmarking on my machine with ~1000
rollout files, calling `thread/list` with limit 50, the `updated_at`
path is slower as expected due to all the I/O:
- updated-at: average 103.10 ms
- created-at: average 41.10 ms
Those absolute numbers aren't a big deal IMO, but we can certainly
optimize this in a followup if needed by introducing more state stored
on disk.
**Caveat**
There's also a limitation in that any files older than `MAX_SCAN_FILES`
will be excluded, which means if a user continues a REALLY old thread,
it's possible to not be included. In practice that should not be too big
of an issue.
If a user makes...
- 1000 rollouts/day → threads older than 10 days won't show up
- 100 rollouts/day → ~100 days
If this becomes a problem for some reason, even more motivation to
implement an updated_at cache.
The second part of breaking up PR
https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/9116
Summary:
- Add `TextElement` / `ByteRange` to protocol user inputs and user
message events with defaults.
- Thread `text_elements` through app-server v1/v2 request handling and
history rebuild.
- Preserve UI metadata only in user input/events (not `ContentItem`)
while keeping local image attachments in user events for rehydration.
Details:
- Protocol: `UserInput::Text` carries `text_elements`;
`UserMessageEvent` carries `text_elements` + `local_images`.
Serialization includes empty vectors for backward compatibility.
- app-server-protocol: v1 defines `V1TextElement` / `V1ByteRange` in
camelCase with conversions; v2 uses its own camelCase wrapper.
- app-server: v1/v2 input mapping includes `text_elements`; thread
history rebuilds include them.
- Core: user event emission preserves UI metadata while model history
stays clean; history replay round-trips the metadata.
Implements:
```
thread/list
thread/start
thread/resume
thread/archive
```
along with their integration tests. These are relatively light wrappers
around the existing core logic, and changes to core logic are minimal.
However, an improvement made for developer ergonomics:
- `thread/start` and `thread/resume` automatically attaches a
conversation listener internally, so clients don't have to make a
separate `AddConversationListener` call like they do today.
For consistency, also updated `model/list` and `feedback/upload` (naming
conventions, list API params).
