Codex Thread Reader

What it does

When your agent uses it

• The user pastes a codex:// link
• Asks to understand the 前因后果 of a Codex session
• Wants a timeline of what a long-running main thread did
• Needs to search / export a past Codex conversation

Example prompts

• “/codex-thread-reader”

Requirements

• Python 3

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1locate + summary: confirm the right home/file, cwd, time span, model, number of turns and compactions.
2. 2turns over the whole thread: skim first-line prompts and final answers to build a timeline; note turn numbers of pivotal moments…
3. 3messages --turn ... --full for those pivotal turns; add --commentary only when you need the agent's intermediate reasoning notes.
4. 4search for the specific entities you care about (PR numbers, file paths, people, project names, error strings). Use --tools when you need…
5. 5If the thread will be referenced again, export it once into .local/codex-thread-dumps/ and read the Markdown; never copy the dump into…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit d01d8f8. 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

  Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • python3

  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 Thread Reader loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 94 tokens; SKILL.md has 578 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~94

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.4k

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

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); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from huangruiteng/CS-Notes at commit d01d8f8, republished under its MIT licence (© huangruiteng). 578 words, ~1,445 tokens.

name

codex-thread-reader

description

Locate and read a Codex thread by a codex thread link, thread id, or rollout path across all local CODEX_HOME directories (~/.codex, ~/.codex-gpt, ...). Use when the user pastes a codex:// link, asks to understand the 前因后果 of a Codex session, wants a timeline of what a long-running main thread did, or needs to search / export a past Codex conversation.

S="{baseDir}/scripts/codex_thread.py"
THREAD_REF="codex://threads/<thread-id>"  # replace with the target thread link
python3 "$S" locate  "$THREAD_REF"   # which home / file / size / title
python3 "$S" summary "$THREAD_REF"                   # cwd, models, span, turns, compactions, tools
python3 "$S" turns   "$THREAD_REF" --width 160                                    # one block per turn: time, prompt, final answer
python3 "$S" turns   "$THREAD_REF" --since 2026-09-20 --last 15
python3 "$S" messages "$THREAD_REF" --turn 104,185 --full                         # full prompt + final answer of chosen turns
python3 "$S" messages "$THREAD_REF" --since 2026-09-24 --role user --full         # what the user asked recently
python3 "$S" search  "$THREAD_REF" 'PR #?\d+|self-?merge' --max 50                # regex over prompts/answers
python3 "$S" search  "$THREAD_REF" 'git status' --tools                          # also tool inputs/outputs (slower)
python3 "$S" tools   "$THREAD_REF" --commands --turn 185 --width 240              # every exec input in a turn
python3 "$S" export  "$THREAD_REF" --repo /path/to/repo               # Markdown transcript -> .local/codex-thread-dumps/<id>.md

© huangruiteng, 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 2 other files (scripts) in .codex/skills/codex-thread-reader of huangruiteng/CS-Notes.

• SKILL.md
• agents/openai.yaml
• scripts/codex_thread.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit d01d8f8