reference codex devfull profile subagents 20260715T135029

name: Codex CLI: devfull full-access profile + native parallel subagents (0.144.4) description: Codex CLI has a devfull profile for full self-service (branch/worktree/cross-repo writes, no sandbox) and stable native multi-agent subagent fan-out (lead + concurrent subagents), corrected from an earlier wrong assumption. type: reference

Fact: Codex CLI 0.144.4 has two things that were previously unclear:

  1. A devfull profile (~/.codex/devfull.config.toml, aliased via codex in .bashrc) using danger-full-access sandbox mode. Under it, Codex self-service builds branches, worktrees, and writes across repos (e.g. Forge slot registry + CreatorTrack worktree + Forge edge repo) with zero approval prompts. Plain workspace-write + approval_policy="never" looked like it should allow this after widening writable_roots, but a second gate (the command-approval classifier) silently rejects cross-repo writes under never regardless of filesystem roots. \codex still runs the sandboxed default for anything that shouldn't touch prod-adjacent paths.

  2. Codex has real, stable, on-by-default multi-agent subagent support (multi_agent feature flag = stable/true), with spawn_agents_on_csv, x-openai-subagent, SubagentStartHook in the binary, agents.max_threads default 6, agents.max_depth default 1. Subagents inherit the parent's sandbox policy, so under devfull every spawned subagent is also full-access unless scoped down via custom per-agent .codex/agents/*.toml files with sandbox_mode = "read-only".

Why: Corrects a prior wrong claim (made in this same session) that Codex CLI was single-agent with no parallel fan-out. Justin pushed back with binary-level evidence and it checked out.

How to apply: When helping Justin set up Codex-driven builds that need self-service branch/worktree/cross-repo writes, point him at the devfull profile pattern. When those builds include audit/review roles that shouldn't have write access, recommend project-scoped .codex/agents/*.toml custom agents with sandbox_mode="read-only" rather than assuming Codex can't do parallel work at all.

[auto-memory session 577603bc-d3a9-4b19-bb8e-6db80243b054, confidence 0.75, mode staged]