Agent skill

Codex CLI

by CoWork-OS in CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS

Run OpenAI Codex CLI as a background agent — detect, install, configure, and execute tasks via codex exec.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Codex CLI

skills CLI
$ npx skills add CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS --skill codex-cli -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS codex-cli --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/resources/skills/codex-cli .claude/skills/codex-cli && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
codex-cli
GitHub stars
473
Token cost
~352 tokens
SKILL.md length
176 words
Files
2 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
81
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Run OpenAI Codex CLI as a background agent — detect, install, configure, and execute tasks via codex exec.

  • SKILL.md covers Purpose, Routing, Trigger Examples and Runtime Prompt
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Codex CLI is an agent skill from CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS. Run OpenAI Codex CLI as a background agent — detect, install, configure, and execute tasks via codex exec.

Its SKILL.md is about 350 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files, including reference files (for example `references/full-guidance.md`).

The repository describes itself as: Local-first personal agentic OS and everything app for coding, knowledge work, web design, automations, and artifacts. The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “/codex-cli”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 0380874. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Codex CLI loads about 352 tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 29 tokens; SKILL.md has 176 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~29
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~352
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~2.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS at commit 0380874, republished under its MIT licence (© CoWork-OS). 176 words, ~352 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/codex-cli/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
codex-cli
description
Run OpenAI Codex CLI as a background agent — detect, install, configure, and execute tasks via codex exec.
version
1.0.0
metadata.author
CoWork OS Contributors <info@coworkosapp.com>

codex-cli

Purpose

Detect, install, configure, and run the OpenAI Codex CLI (codex) as an autonomous background agent for code editing, PR review, issue fixing, and one-shot automation tasks.

Routing

  • Use when: User wants to run Codex CLI, asks for "codex agent", "spin up codex", "codex review", "codex fix", or wants to execute a coding task using the OpenAI Codex CLI specifically.
  • Do not use when: The request is for planning, discussion, or non-executable output.
  • Outputs: Task result from Codex CLI agent, or setup instructions if CLI is not installed/configured.
  • Success criteria: Codex CLI executes the requested task and returns output, or user is guided to install/configure it.

Trigger Examples

Positive
  • "Spin up a Codex agent to review PR #55"
  • "Use Codex CLI to fix this bug"
  • "Run codex on this issue"
  • "Launch a codex agent"
  • "codex exec: add error handling to the API"
Negative
  • "Review this code" (generic — doesn't specify Codex CLI)
  • "Explain how Codex works" (no execution needed)
  • "Write a plan for this feature" (planning only)

Runtime Prompt

  • Runtime prompt is defined directly in ../codex-cli.json.

© CoWork-OS, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file (references) in resources/skills/codex-cli of CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/full-guidance.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 0380874

Compare with similar skills

Codex CLI next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Codex CLI compared with similar skills
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Codex CLI this skillCoWork-OS/CoWork-OS473—~352Automated safety check: PassMIT
Configuring Host Based Intrusion Detectionmukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Configuring Windows Event Logging For Detectionmukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Configuring Snort Ids For Intrusion Detectionmukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~3.5kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Pii Detectruvnet/ruflo74k1 repos~350Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Threat Detectionalirezarezvani/claude-skills28k—~3.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Codex CLI

What does Codex CLI do?

Run OpenAI Codex CLI as a background agent — detect, install, configure, and execute tasks via codex exec. Codex CLI is an agent skill from CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS. Run OpenAI Codex CLI as a background agent — detect, install, configure, and execute tasks via codex exec.

How do I install Codex CLI in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS --skill codex-cli -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (resources/skills/codex-cli in CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS) into .claude/skills/codex-cli in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Codex CLI in Codex?

Run `npx skills add CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS --skill codex-cli -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (resources/skills/codex-cli in CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS) into .agents/skills/codex-cli in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Codex CLI in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS --skill codex-cli -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/codex-cli, .gemini/skills/codex-cli, .github/skills/codex-cli and .opencode/skills/codex-cli in your project.

What does Codex CLI need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Codex CLI is instructions for the agent only.

Does Codex CLI access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Codex CLI safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Codex CLI use?

Codex CLI is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Codex CLI use?

About 352 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.4k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 2.5k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Codex CLI?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Codex CLI: Configuring Host Based Intrusion Detection (mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills, 34k stars), Configuring Windows Event Logging For Detection (mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills, 34k stars), Configuring Snort Ids For Intrusion Detection (mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills, 34k stars) and Pii Detect (ruvnet/ruflo, 74k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Codex CLI?

CoWork-OS (a GitHub organization) maintains it in CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS, which has 473 GitHub stars. The repository holds 81 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.