project-specific MCPs

[nick-youngblut]

What feature would you like to see?

The mcp docs in the readme state:

The Codex CLI can be configured to leverage MCP servers by defining an mcp_servers section in ~/.codex/config.toml

So, there appears to be no way of setting up project specific MCP settings (e.g., using MCP server A in Project X via config in the Project X root location, while using MCP server B in Project Y).

Given the proliferation of MCP servers, and the difficulty of current models to handle large numbers of MCP tools, it is best to limit the MCP tools to only those required for the target project.

See Project Configuration in the Cursor docs for an example of project-specific MCP setups.

Are you interested in implementing this feature?

No

Additional information

No response

[cogscides]

Definitely the issue. I think the whole workflow for managing and configuring MCPs should be enhanced.

[alanwilhelm]

In CC lately I have been using --mcp-config=.claude/.mcp.json

It would be great to have the ability to just have a local json config for each project.

[medeiroshudson]

Very important feat that Claude has, but Codex CLI doest not.
It would be very very useful in Codex

[vaeho]

bump

[theniceboy]

crucial feature

[madtank]

Would love to see this. I've created an agent network, and I like to give them usernames. I also don't always want the same MCP server for every project. However having a global setting is great for common MCP servers, so don't remove that feature. Agreed here, mcp json files are nice, but can't share one with other agents so make it unique, but tbh, toml is better than a conflict with another agents config.

[madtank]

This worked for me as a workaround:

export CODEX_HOME="$PWD/.codex"
ln -sfn ~/.codex/auth.json .codex/auth.json

This creates a project-level .codex/ directory. You’ll need to add a config.toml inside it with your MCP server configuration, for example:

[mcp_servers.myserver]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "some-mcp@latest", "--stdio"]

The symlink to ~/.codex/auth.json means you don’t have to re-authenticate in every project.
It’s a decent workaround until proper project-level config support is added.

[jpcaparas]

This codex2 wrapper is handy in maintaining per-repository/per-project configs while we wait for OpenAI to officially support it.

# Paste into your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.
codex2() {
  # If there's a project-local config (.codex/config.toml), use it as CODEX_HOME
  # and symlink your global auth.json into it so you don't need to re-auth.
  local project_codex_dir="$PWD/.codex"
  local project_config="$project_codex_dir/config.toml"
  local global_auth="${CODEX_GLOBAL_AUTH:-$HOME/.codex/auth.json}"

  if [ -f "$project_config" ]; then
    export CODEX_HOME="$project_codex_dir"

    # Ensure the local .codex directory exists (it should, but be safe)
    mkdir -p "$CODEX_HOME"

    # If you already have a global auth.json, mirror it into the project
    if [ -f "$global_auth" ]; then
      ln -sfn "$global_auth" "$CODEX_HOME/auth.json"
    else
      printf 'codex2: warning: no global auth found at %s; you may need to auth once.\n' "$global_auth" >&2
    fi
  fi

  # Proxy all args through to codex
  command codex "$@"
}

[DevGuyRash]

This codex2 wrapper is handy in maintaining per-repository/per-project configs while we wait for OpenAI to officially support it.

# Paste into your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.
codex2() {
  # If there's a project-local config (.codex/config.toml), use it as CODEX_HOME
  # and symlink your global auth.json into it so you don't need to re-auth.
  local project_codex_dir="$PWD/.codex"
  local project_config="$project_codex_dir/config.toml"
  local global_auth="${CODEX_GLOBAL_AUTH:-$HOME/.codex/auth.json}"

  if [ -f "$project_config" ]; then
    export CODEX_HOME="$project_codex_dir"

    # Ensure the local .codex directory exists (it should, but be safe)
    mkdir -p "$CODEX_HOME"

    # If you already have a global auth.json, mirror it into the project
    if [ -f "$global_auth" ]; then
      ln -sfn "$global_auth" "$CODEX_HOME/auth.json"
    else
      printf 'codex2: warning: no global auth found at %s; you may need to auth once.\n' "$global_auth" >&2
    fi
  fi

  # Proxy all args through to codex
  command codex "$@"
}

Had codex vibe code a script to do a bit more with all this:

https://gist.github.com/DevGuyRash/5340267a636de44d6c48ceb603f88846

Just run codex-wrapper --init.

[lentil32]

.envrc version:

project_codex_dir="$PWD/.codex"
project_config="$project_codex_dir/config.toml"
global_auth="${CODEX_GLOBAL_AUTH:-$HOME/.codex/auth.json}"

if [[ -f "$project_config" ]]; then
  export CODEX_HOME="$project_codex_dir"
  mkdir -p "$CODEX_HOME"
  if [[ -f "$global_auth" ]]; then
    ln -sfn "$global_auth" "$CODEX_HOME/auth.json"
  else
    printf 'codex2: warning: no global auth found at %s; you may need to auth once.\n' "$global_auth" >&2
  fi
fi

codex2_bin_dir="$(direnv_layout_dir)/bin"
mkdir -p "$codex2_bin_dir"

cat <<'WRAPPER' > "$codex2_bin_dir/codex2"
#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec codex "$@"
WRAPPER
chmod +x "$codex2_bin_dir/codex2"

PATH_add "$codex2_bin_dir"

[xizhibei]

I think you'll find 1MCP useful. I recently encountered the same issue while using Codex: the inability to configure MCP servers on a per-project basis. That's why I developed the proxy and .1mcprc features in 1MCP, which allow you to configure just one 1MCP proxy command in Codex while using project-specific .1mcprc files to group and filter all available MCP servers.

Quick Example:

cd /you/awesome/project
echo '{"preset": "web-dev"}' > .1mcprc

# Codex config.toml (one-time setup)
[mcp_servers.1mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@1mcp/agent", "proxy"]

Now Codex automatically loads different MCP servers based on your project's .1mcprc file!

The complete integration documentation is available at: https://docs.1mcp.app/guide/integrations/codex. If you encounter any issues, feel free to provide feedback at: https://github.com/1mcp-app/agent/issues