Codex CLI Cheat Sheet — Complete Reference

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

General Controls

CtrlC Cancel input / interrupt

CtrlL Clear screen

CtrlG Open prompt in $EDITOR

EscEsc Undo last action

↑↓ Navigate prompt history

While Running

Enter / Tab Approve pending action

Prefixes

@ File mention + autocomplete

! Direct shell command

/ Slash command

⚡ Slash Commands

Model & Mode

/model Switch model

/fast Toggle fast mode

/plan Plan mode (read-only)

/review Review current changes

/diff Show diff of changes

/permissions View/update permissions

/theme Change color theme

Session

/clear Clear conversation

/compact Compact context

/copy Copy last response

/status Show session status

/fork Fork session

/resume Resume session

/new New session

/exit Close interactive session

Project & Config

/init Create AGENTS.md

/mention Mention file/context

/agent Switch/manage agent

/apps Manage apps

/personality Set personality

/experimental Toggle experimental features

Tools & Misc

/mcp MCP server management

/ps List running processes

/statusline Toggle status line

/debug-config Debug configuration

/skills List available skills

/feedback Submit feedback

/logout Log out

🖥️ CLI Flags

Basic Usage

codex "prompt" Start with initial prompt

--model Set model (e.g. gpt-5.4)

-i <file> Attach image file(s)

Directory & Profile

--cd <dir> Change working directory

--add-dir <dir> Add additional directory

--profile <name> Use named profile

Search & Automation

--search Enable live web search

--full-auto Full auto-approval mode

Local & OSS

--oss Use open-source models

--local-provider Use local model provider

Feature Control

--enable <flag> Enable feature flag

--disable <flag> Disable feature flag

--config key=val Override config values

Session

-c Continue last session

--sandbox Set sandbox mode

--json JSON output format

🚀 Exec & Scripting

Exec Mode

codex exec "prompt" Non-interactive execution

codex e "prompt" Short alias for exec

--full-auto Skip all approval prompts

--sandbox Run in sandbox

cat f | codex exec Pipe stdin + promptNEW

Output

--json JSON output format

--ephemeral No session persistence

-o <file> Write output to file

--output-schema JSON schema for output

--output-last-message Final NL summary (CI)

Session Management

codex resume Resume a session (picker)

codex resume --last Resume most recent

codex resume --all All sessions (any dir)

codex fork Fork a session

codex exec resume Resume non-interactive

Environment

CODEX_API_KEY API key env var

🤖 Models & Config

Available Models

gpt-5.4 Most capable (recommended)

gpt-5.3-codex Coding-optimized

spark Fast lightweight (Pro only)

4.1-mini Small & efficient

Config Locations

~/.codex/config.toml User config (global)

.codex/config.toml Project config (local)

Config Settings

model Default model

approval_policy Approval behavior

sandbox_mode Sandbox type

web_search "cached" | "live" | "disabled"

personality Agent personality

reasoning_effort Thinking depth

log_dir Log directory path

review_model Override model for /review

tui.theme TUI color theme

🔓 Features & Approval

Feature Flags

codex features list Show all flags

codex features enable Persist enable in config

codex features disable Persist disable in config

apps Enable apps

codex_hooks Lifecycle hooks

fast_mode Quick responses

multi_agent Multiple agents

shell_snapshot Shell state capture

unified_exec Unified execution

undo Undo operations

Approval Modes

Auto Read, edit, run in workdir

Read-only Browse files, no changes

Full Access All access incl. network ⚠️

Sandbox Modes

macOS seatbelt Built-in sandbox

Linux Landlock Kernel-level sandbox

codex sandbox Run cmd under sandbox

🔌 MCP

CLI Commands

codex mcp list List MCP servers

codex mcp show <name> Show server details

codex mcp add <name> Add MCP server

codex mcp remove <name> Remove MCP server

codex mcp login OAuth login (HTTP only)

codex mcp logout Remove OAuth credentials

Transports

--url <url> Streamable HTTP (recommended)

-- <cmd> Stdio launcher command

Server Mode

codex mcp-server Run Codex as MCP server

Interactive

/mcp MCP management UI

☁️ Cloud & Agents

Cloud Commands

codex cloud Cloud task picker

codex cloud exec Run task in cloud

codex cloud list List cloud tasks (--json)

--attempts N Best-of-N runs (1–4)

Apply

codex apply Apply cloud diff locally

AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md Project agent config file

/init Create AGENTS.md

/agent Switch agent

Subagents

Subagents Spawn child agents

[agents] config Agent settings in config.toml

Other Commands

codex login Auth (ChatGPT or API key)

codex login status Check auth (for CI)

codex logout Remove credentials

codex completion Shell completions (bash/zsh/fish)

codex app Launch Desktop app (macOS)

codex execpolicy Check execpolicy rules