Can include_instructions mute skills for Worker/Explorer?

[XxUnkn0wnxX]

I'm trying to clarify the intended behaviour of:

[skills]
include_instructions = false

when used in specific subagent role configs, particularly worker.toml and explorer.toml.

I do still want subagents to support and use skills in general. I'm not looking to disable the skills system for all subagents.

What I want is the ability to restrict skills for particular lightweight roles such as Worker and Explorer, while other subagents can continue using skills normally.

For example:

Main agent
└── Skills enabled normally

Specialised subagent
└── Skills enabled normally

Worker
└── Skills restricted/default OFF

Explorer
└── Skills restricted/default OFF

What does include_instructions = false actually do?

If I put this inside worker.toml or explorer.toml:

[skills]
include_instructions = false

does it effectively make all skills unavailable/default-off for that specific role, including skills supplied by plugins?

Or does it only prevent the skills catalogue/instructions from being injected into that agent's context while the skills themselves remain available?

Can it work as a default-off/whitelist system?

Ideally, I'd like Worker/Explorer to start with all skills off and then explicitly enable only the few they need.

Something along the lines of:

[skills]
include_instructions = false

[[skills.config]]
name = "some-required-skill"
enabled = true

The desired behaviour would be:

• Main agent keeps its normal skills.
• Other subagents can still use their normal skills.
• Worker/Explorer have skills off by default.
• Plugin-provided skills are also off by default for those roles.
• Specific skills can be explicitly enabled for Worker/Explorer.
• The configuration only affects that particular agent role.

This would be much easier than maintaining a large blacklist such as:

[[skills.config]]
name = "skill-a"
enabled = false

[[skills.config]]
name = "skill-b"
enabled = false

[[skills.config]]
name = "skill-c"
enabled = false

# ...etc

especially when local skills and plugin-provided skills can change over time.

Why restrict Worker/Explorer specifically?

Worker and Explorer roles may have smaller usable context windows or perform narrowly scoped delegated tasks.

For those roles, injecting a large catalogue of skills that they probably won't use can consume context unnecessarily.

I still want the ability to create other specialised subagents that do use skills normally.

Ideally:

Main
├── normal skills
└── plugin skills

Specialised subagent
├── normal skills
└── plugin skills

Worker
├── skills default: OFF
└── explicitly enabled: skill-a

Explorer
├── skills default: OFF
├── explicitly enabled: skill-b
└── explicitly enabled: skill-c

If include_instructions isn't intended for this

If include_instructions = false only controls whether skill instructions are included in the model context and doesn't actually provide a default-off skill policy, is there another supported way to achieve this per role?

If not, could a configuration like this be implemented?

[skills]
default_enabled = false

[[skills.config]]
name = "some-required-skill"
enabled = true

The exact syntax isn't important.

The feature I'm looking for is:

Allow specific subagent roles such as Worker and Explorer to have all skills, including plugin skills, disabled by default while still allowing explicitly selected skills to be enabled — without affecting the main agent or other skill-using subagents.

I'd mainly like clarification on whether include_instructions already provides this behaviour, whether there's another supported configuration for it, or whether this would require a new feature.

[ryanportfolio]

include_instructions = false only stops the catalogue block from being injected. Skills stay available and one the agent is pointed at by name still loads ([extension.rs](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/codex-rs/ext/skills/src/extension.rs))

In practice include_instructions = false means an agent that never sees the catalogue will not reach for skills on its own and you keep the few you need by naming them in the task prompt.

I don't know of any default-off/whitelist option. SkillsConfig is just bundled, include_instructions and config, and unknown keys like default_enabled are rejected.

Enablement is deny-list only
[[skills.config]] entries with enabled = false which also cover plugin skills

Per-role does work though, a role file loads as a config layer at session-flag precedence, so [[skills.config]] in it applies to that role only (tested in [role_tests.rs](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/codex-rs/core/src/agent/role_tests.rs)).

but the built-in worker role has no config file so write your own at `~/.codex/agents/worker.toml

It shadows the built-in (same for explorer) and must include name, description and developer_instructions or Codex skips it at startup:

name = "worker"
description = "Execution work with the skills catalogue muted."
developer_instructions = "You are a worker agent focused on the delegated task."

[skills]
include_instructions = false

[skills.bundled]
enabled = false