feat: make Codex available as a tool when running it as an MCP server

codex-rs/mcp-server/Cargo.toml

@@ -4,19 +4,9 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
-#
-# codex-core contains optional functionality that is gated behind the "cli"
-# feature. Unfortunately there is an unconditional reference to a module that
-# is only compiled when the feature is enabled, which breaks the build when
-# the default (no-feature) variant is used.
-#
-# We therefore explicitly enable the "cli" feature when codex-mcp-server pulls
-# in codex-core so that the required symbols are present.  This does _not_
-# change the public API of codex-core – it merely opts into compiling the
-# extra, feature-gated source files so the build succeeds.
-#
 codex-core = { path = "../core", features = ["cli"] }
 mcp-types = { path = "../mcp-types" }
+schemars = "0.8.22"
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1"
 tracing = { version = "0.1.41", features = ["log"] }
@@ -28,3 +18,6 @@ tokio = { version = "1", features = [
     "rt-multi-thread",
     "signal",
 ] }
+
+[dev-dependencies]
+pretty_assertions = "1.4.1"

codex-rs/mcp-server/src/codex_tool_config.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+//! Configuration object accepted by the `codex` MCP tool-call.
+
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+use mcp_types::Tool;
+use mcp_types::ToolInputSchema;
+use schemars::r#gen::SchemaSettings;
+use schemars::JsonSchema;
+use serde::Deserialize;
+
+use codex_core::protocol::AskForApproval;
+use codex_core::protocol::SandboxPolicy;
+
+/// Client-supplied configuration for a `codex` tool-call.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Deserialize, JsonSchema)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "kebab-case")]
+pub(crate) struct CodexToolCallParam {
+    /// The *initial user prompt* to start the Codex conversation.
+    pub prompt: String,
+
+    /// Optional override for the model name (e.g. "o3", "o4-mini")
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub model: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Working directory for the session. If relative, it is resolved against
+    /// the server process's current working directory.
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub cwd: Option<String>,
+
+    /// Execution approval policy expressed as the kebab-case variant name
+    /// (`unless-allow-listed`, `auto-edit`, `on-failure`, `never`).
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub approval_policy: Option<CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy>,
+
+    /// Sandbox permissions using the same string values accepted by the CLI
+    /// (e.g. "disk-write-cwd", "network-full-access").
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub sandbox_permissions: Option<Vec<CodexToolCallSandboxPermission>>,
+
+    /// Disable server-side response storage.
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub disable_response_storage: Option<bool>,
+    // Custom system instructions.
+    // #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    // pub instructions: Option<String>,
+}
+
+// Create custom enums for use with `CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy` where we
+// intentionally exclude docstrings from the generated schema because they
+// introduce anyOf in the the generated JSON schema, which makes it more complex
+// without adding any real value since we aspire to use self-descriptive names.
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Deserialize, JsonSchema)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "kebab-case")]
+pub(crate) enum CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy {
+    AutoEdit,
+    UnlessAllowListed,
+    OnFailure,
+    Never,
+}
+
+impl From<CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy> for AskForApproval {
+    fn from(value: CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy) -> Self {
+        match value {
+            CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy::AutoEdit => AskForApproval::AutoEdit,
+            CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy::UnlessAllowListed => AskForApproval::UnlessAllowListed,
+            CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy::OnFailure => AskForApproval::OnFailure,
+            CodexToolCallApprovalPolicy::Never => AskForApproval::Never,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// TODO: Support additional writable folders via a separate property on
+// CodexToolCallParam.
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Deserialize, JsonSchema)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "kebab-case")]
+pub(crate) enum CodexToolCallSandboxPermission {
+    DiskFullReadAccess,
+    DiskWriteCwd,
+    DiskWritePlatformUserTempFolder,
+    DiskWritePlatformGlobalTempFolder,
+    DiskFullWriteAccess,
+    NetworkFullAccess,
+}
+
+impl From<CodexToolCallSandboxPermission> for codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission {
+    fn from(value: CodexToolCallSandboxPermission) -> Self {
+        match value {
+            CodexToolCallSandboxPermission::DiskFullReadAccess => {
+                codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission::DiskFullReadAccess
+            }
+            CodexToolCallSandboxPermission::DiskWriteCwd => {
+                codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission::DiskWriteCwd
+            }
+            CodexToolCallSandboxPermission::DiskWritePlatformUserTempFolder => {
+                codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission::DiskWritePlatformUserTempFolder
+            }
+            CodexToolCallSandboxPermission::DiskWritePlatformGlobalTempFolder => {
+                codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission::DiskWritePlatformGlobalTempFolder
+            }
+            CodexToolCallSandboxPermission::DiskFullWriteAccess => {
+                codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission::DiskFullWriteAccess
+            }
+            CodexToolCallSandboxPermission::NetworkFullAccess => {
+                codex_core::protocol::SandboxPermission::NetworkFullAccess
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn create_tool_for_codex_tool_call_param() -> Tool {
+    let schema = SchemaSettings::draft2019_09()
+        .with(|s| {
+            s.inline_subschemas = true;
+            s.option_add_null_type = false
+        })
+        .into_generator()
+        .into_root_schema_for::<CodexToolCallParam>();
+    let schema_value =
+        serde_json::to_value(&schema).expect("Codex tool schema should serialise to JSON");
+
+    let tool_input_schema =
+        serde_json::from_value::<ToolInputSchema>(schema_value).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+            panic!("failed to create Tool from schema: {e}");
+        });
+    Tool {
+        name: "codex".to_string(),
+        input_schema: tool_input_schema,
+        description: Some(
+            "Run a Codex session. Accepts configuration parameters matching the Codex Config struct."
+                .to_string(),
+        ),
+        annotations: None,
+    }
+}
+
+impl CodexToolCallParam {
+    /// Returns the initial user prompt to start the Codex conversation and the
+    /// Config.
+    pub fn into_config(self) -> std::io::Result<(String, codex_core::config::Config)> {
+        let Self {
+            prompt,
+            model,
+            cwd,
+            approval_policy,
+            sandbox_permissions,
+            disable_response_storage,
+        } = self;
+        let sandbox_policy = sandbox_permissions.map(|perms| {
+            SandboxPolicy::from(perms.into_iter().map(Into::into).collect::<Vec<_>>())
+        });
+
+        // Build ConfigOverrides recognised by codex-core.
+        let overrides = codex_core::config::ConfigOverrides {
+            model,
+            cwd: cwd.map(PathBuf::from),
+            approval_policy: approval_policy.map(Into::into),
+            sandbox_policy,
+            disable_response_storage,
+        };
+
+        let cfg = codex_core::config::Config::load_with_overrides(overrides)?;
+
+        Ok((prompt, cfg))
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use pretty_assertions::assert_eq;
+
+    /// We include a test to verify the exact JSON schema as "executable
+    /// documentation" for the schema. When can track changes to this test as a
+    /// way to audit changes to the generated schema.
+    ///
+    /// Seeing the fully expanded schema makes it easier to casually verify that
+    /// the generated JSON for enum types such as "approval-policy" is compact.
+    /// Ideally, modelcontextprotocol/inspector would provide a simpler UI for
+    /// enum fields versus open string fields to take advantage of this.
+    ///
+    /// As of 2025-05-04, there is an open PR for this:
+    /// https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/pull/196
+    #[test]
+    fn verify_codex_tool_json_schema() {
+        let tool = create_tool_for_codex_tool_call_param();
+        let tool_json = serde_json::to_value(&tool).expect("tool serializes");
+        let expected_tool_json = serde_json::json!({
+          "name": "codex",
+          "description": "Run a Codex session. Accepts configuration parameters matching the Codex Config struct.",
+          "inputSchema": {
+            "type": "object",
+            "properties": {
+              "approval-policy": {
+                "description": "Execution approval policy expressed as the kebab-case variant name (`unless-allow-listed`, `auto-edit`, `on-failure`, `never`).",
+                "enum": [
+                  "auto-edit",
+                  "unless-allow-listed",
+                  "on-failure",
+                  "never"
+                ],
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "cwd": {
+                "description": "Working directory for the session. If relative, it is resolved against the server process's current working directory.",
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "disable-response-storage": {
+                "description": "Disable server-side response storage.",
+                "type": "boolean"
+              },
+              "model": {
+                "description": "Optional override for the model name (e.g. \"o3\", \"o4-mini\")",
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "prompt": {
+                "description": "The *initial user prompt* to start the Codex conversation.",
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "sandbox-permissions": {
+                "description": "Sandbox permissions using the same string values accepted by the CLI (e.g. \"disk-write-cwd\", \"network-full-access\").",
+                "items": {
+                  "enum": [
+                    "disk-full-read-access",
+                    "disk-write-cwd",
+                    "disk-write-platform-user-temp-folder",
+                    "disk-write-platform-global-temp-folder",
+                    "disk-full-write-access",
+                    "network-full-access"
+                  ],
+                  "type": "string"
+                },
+                "type": "array"
+              }
+            },
+            "required": [
+              "prompt"
+            ]
+          }
+        });
+        assert_eq!(expected_tool_json, tool_json);
+    }
+}