core-agent-ide/codex-rs/execpolicy
Michael Bolin e0d7ac51d3
fix: policy/*.codexpolicy -> rules/*.rules (#7888)
We decided that `*.rules` is a more fitting (and concise) file extension
than `*.codexpolicy`, so we are changing the file extension for the
"execpolicy" effort. We are also changing the subfolder of `$CODEX_HOME`
from `policy` to `rules` to match.

This PR updates the in-repo docs and we will update the public docs once
the next CLI release goes out.

Locally, I created `~/.codex/rules/default.rules` with the following
contents:

```
prefix_rule(pattern=["gh", "pr", "view"])
```

And then I asked Codex to run:

```
gh pr view 7888 --json title,body,comments
```

and it was able to!
2025-12-11 14:46:00 -08:00
..
examples migrating execpolicy -> execpolicy-legacy and execpolicy2 -> execpolicy (#6956) 2025-11-19 19:14:10 -08:00
src fix: policy/*.codexpolicy -> rules/*.rules (#7888) 2025-12-11 14:46:00 -08:00
tests fix: policy/*.codexpolicy -> rules/*.rules (#7888) 2025-12-11 14:46:00 -08:00
Cargo.toml execpolicy helpers (#7032) 2025-12-02 15:05:27 -05:00
README.md fix: policy/*.codexpolicy -> rules/*.rules (#7888) 2025-12-11 14:46:00 -08:00

codex-execpolicy

Overview

  • Policy engine and CLI built around prefix_rule(pattern=[...], decision?, match?, not_match?).
  • This release covers the prefix-rule subset of the execpolicy language; a richer language will follow.
  • Tokens are matched in order; any pattern element may be a list to denote alternatives. decision defaults to allow; valid values: allow, prompt, forbidden.
  • match / not_match supply example invocations that are validated at load time (think of them as unit tests); examples can be token arrays or strings (strings are tokenized with shlex).
  • The CLI always prints the JSON serialization of the evaluation result.
  • The legacy rule matcher lives in codex-execpolicy-legacy.

Policy shapes

  • Prefix rules use Starlark syntax:
prefix_rule(
    pattern = ["cmd", ["alt1", "alt2"]], # ordered tokens; list entries denote alternatives
    decision = "prompt",                 # allow | prompt | forbidden; defaults to allow
    match = [["cmd", "alt1"], "cmd alt2"],           # examples that must match this rule
    not_match = [["cmd", "oops"], "cmd alt3"],       # examples that must not match this rule
)

CLI

  • From the Codex CLI, run codex execpolicy check subcommand with one or more policy files (for example src/default.rules) to check a command:
codex execpolicy check --rules path/to/policy.rules git status
  • Pass multiple --rules flags to merge rules, evaluated in the order provided, and use --pretty for formatted JSON.
  • You can also run the standalone dev binary directly during development:
cargo run -p codex-execpolicy -- check --rules path/to/policy.rules git status
  • Example outcomes:
    • Match: {"matchedRules":[{...}],"decision":"allow"}
    • No match: {"matchedRules":[]}

Response shape

{
  "matchedRules": [
    {
      "prefixRuleMatch": {
        "matchedPrefix": ["<token>", "..."],
        "decision": "allow|prompt|forbidden"
      }
    }
  ],
  "decision": "allow|prompt|forbidden"
}
  • When no rules match, matchedRules is an empty array and decision is omitted.
  • matchedRules lists every rule whose prefix matched the command; matchedPrefix is the exact prefix that matched.
  • The effective decision is the strictest severity across all matches (forbidden > prompt > allow).

Note: execpolicy commands are still in preview. The API may have breaking changes in the future.