VS Code extension does not load custom prompts from symlinks in ~/.codex/prompts

[0xYiliu]

Hi Codex team — I found a behavior mismatch between the Codex CLI and the VS Code extension.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a custom prompt file in a repo, e.g. /.codex/prompts/biz.md
2. Symlink it into ~/.codex/prompts/biz.md
3. Restart VS Code and open Codex
4. Try to use /prompts:biz

Observed:

• Codex CLI shows the prompt and works with the symlink.
• VS Code extension does NOT show or load the prompt when it is a symlink.
• If I replace the symlink with a real file (copy the file contents into ~/.codex/prompts/biz.md), the prompt appears and works immediately.

Expected:

• The VS Code extension should read symlinked files in ~/.codex/prompts, same as the CLI.

Environment:

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS (WSL2, kernel 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2)
• VS Code: 1.100.0
• Extension: openai.chatgpt@0.5.56
• Mode: /local

generated by GPT-5.2-Codex