Project codex surface vs ide decision

Codex on Console decision is OPEN (as of 2026-07-08).

The self-hosted Codex web chat surface [[reference_codex_chat_surface]] (codex.justinsforge.com) is fully built, live, and merged to main locally (not pushed to origin). But Justin is leaning toward possibly using a VS Code Codex extension instead (richer desktop coding UX: editor, diffs, terminal), and is waiting on a "new agent" to compare before committing.

Why: The web surface's only unique advantage over VS Code is phone/any-browser access; for desktop work the IDE extension is likely better + zero-maintenance. The Console groundwork (ChatGPT auth in ~/.codex, bwrap/userns sandbox fix, CODEX_HOME) is reused by either path (incl. VS Code Remote-SSH into Console), so it is not wasted.

How to apply: Do NOT treat the web surface as the settled solution or tear it down unless Justin says so. Leave forge-codex-chat running. If Justin revisits: recommended primary is VS Code + Remote-SSH into Console + Codex extension; open question was whether the extension installs in code-server (Open VSX, not verified). Also unpushed: main is ahead of origin by the codex commits (+2 unrelated from another session: creator-stack docs, Listmonk removal).