core-agent-ide/codex-rs/shell-escalation
Michael Bolin 3ca0e7673b
feat: run zsh fork shell tool via shell-escalation (#12649)
## Why

This PR switches the `shell_command` zsh-fork path over to
`codex-shell-escalation` so the new shell tool can use the shared
exec-wrapper/escalation protocol instead of the `zsh_exec_bridge`
implementation that was introduced in
https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/12052. `zsh_exec_bridge` relied on
UNIX domain sockets, which is not as tamper-proof as the FD-based
approach in `codex-shell-escalation`.

## What Changed

- Added a Unix zsh-fork runtime adapter in `core`
(`core/src/tools/runtimes/shell/unix_escalation.rs`) that:
- runs zsh-fork commands through
`codex_shell_escalation::run_escalate_server`
  - bridges exec-policy / approval decisions into `ShellActionProvider`
- executes escalated commands via a `ShellCommandExecutor` that calls
`process_exec_tool_call`
- Updated `ShellRuntime` / `ShellCommandHandler` / tool spec wiring to
select a `shell_command` backend (`classic` vs `zsh-fork`) while leaving
the generic `shell` tool path unchanged.
- Removed the `zsh_exec_bridge`-based session service and deleted
`core/src/zsh_exec_bridge/mod.rs`.
- Moved exec-wrapper entrypoint dispatch to `arg0` by handling the
`codex-execve-wrapper` arg0 alias there, and removed the old
`codex_core::maybe_run_zsh_exec_wrapper_mode()` hooks from `cli` and
`app-server` mains.
- Added the needed `codex-shell-escalation` dependencies for `core` and
`arg0`.

## Tests

- `cargo test -p codex-core
shell_zsh_fork_prefers_shell_command_over_unified_exec`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server turn_start_shell_zsh_fork --
--nocapture`
- verifies zsh-fork command execution and approval flows through the new
backend
- includes subcommand approve/decline coverage using the shared zsh
DotSlash fixture in `app-server/tests/suite/zsh`
- To test manually, I added the following to `~/.codex/config.toml`:

```toml
zsh_path = "/Users/mbolin/code/codex3/codex-rs/app-server/tests/suite/zsh"

[features]
shell_zsh_fork = true
```

Then I ran `just c` to run the dev build of Codex with these changes and
sent it the message:

```
run `echo $0`
```

And it replied with:

```
  echo $0 printed:

  /Users/mbolin/code/codex3/codex-rs/app-server/tests/suite/zsh

  In this tool context, $0 reflects the script path used to invoke the shell, not just zsh.
```

so the tool appears to be wired up correctly.

## Notes

- The zsh subcommand-decline integration test now uses `rm` under a
`WorkspaceWrite` sandbox. The previous `/usr/bin/true` scenario is
auto-allowed by the new `shell-escalation` policy path, which no longer
produces subcommand approval prompts.
2026-02-24 10:31:08 -08:00
..
src feat: run zsh fork shell tool via shell-escalation (#12649) 2026-02-24 10:31:08 -08:00
BUILD.bazel refactor: normalize unix module layout for exec-server and shell-escalation (#12556) 2026-02-23 09:28:17 -08:00
Cargo.toml refactor: decouple shell-escalation from codex-core (#12638) 2026-02-23 20:58:24 -08:00
README.md refactor: delete exec-server and move execve wrapper into shell-escalation (#12632) 2026-02-23 20:10:22 -08:00

codex-shell-escalation

This crate contains the Unix shell-escalation protocol implementation and the codex-execve-wrapper executable.

codex-execve-wrapper receives the arguments to an intercepted execve(2) call and delegates the decision to the shell-escalation protocol over a shared file descriptor (specified by the CODEX_ESCALATE_SOCKET environment variable). The server on the other side replies with one of:

  • Run: codex-execve-wrapper should invoke execve(2) on itself to run the original command within the sandboxed shell.
  • Escalate: forward the file descriptors of the current process so the command can be run faithfully outside the sandbox. When the process completes, the server forwards the exit code back to codex-execve-wrapper.
  • Deny: the server has declared the proposed command to be forbidden, so codex-execve-wrapper prints an error to stderr and exits with 1.

Patched Bash

We carry a small patch to execute_cmd.c (see patches/bash-exec-wrapper.patch) that adds support for EXEC_WRAPPER. The original commit message is “add support for BASH_EXEC_WRAPPER” and the patch applies cleanly to a8a1c2fac029404d3f42cd39f5a20f24b6e4fe4b from https://github.com/bminor/bash. To rebuild manually:

git clone https://github.com/bminor/bash
git checkout a8a1c2fac029404d3f42cd39f5a20f24b6e4fe4b
git apply /path/to/patches/bash-exec-wrapper.patch
./configure --without-bash-malloc
make -j"$(nproc)"