Codex CLI ignores symlinks in ~/.codex/prompts

[icedac]

What version of Codex is running?

❯ codex --version codex-cli 0.42.0

Which model were you using?

gpt-5 high

What platform is your computer?

❯ uname -mprs Darwin 24.5.0 arm64 arm

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Symlinked prompt files are ignored or fail to open in Codex CLI.

• Identical content copied as a regular file (e.g., do_fix2.md) is recognized and works.
• Example directory listing that reproduces the issue:

~/.codex/prompts:
- lrwxr-xr-x@  1 icedac  staff   46 Sep  1 18:52 do_fix.md -> /Users/icedac/dotfiles/codex/prompts/do_fix.md
- -rw-r--r--@  1 icedac  staff  686 Sep 28 18:33 do_fix2.md

• Note: do_fix2.md is a regular file and is recognized; the symlinked ones are not.

What is the expected behavior?

• Codex CLI should treat .md files that are symlinks inside ~/.codex/prompts the same as regular files:
  • Symlinked prompt files should be discoverable, listed, and loadable.
  • Behavior should be consistent regardless of whether a prompt file is a real file or a symlink to a file elsewhere (a very common dotfiles pattern).

> /do
/do_commit
/do_fix
/do_fix2
/do_commit
/dofix

What do you see instead?

• Symlinked prompt files are ignored or fail to open in Codex CLI.
• Identical content copied as a regular file (e.g., do_fix2.md) is recognized and works.

> /do
/do_fix2

Additional information

• Why this matters:
  • Dotfiles + symlink workflows are a standard way to manage config across machines with Git.
  • Not following symlinks forces copying files into ~/.codex/prompts, causing duplication and drift between the canonical dotfiles repo and the active
    config.
  • Supporting symlinks keeps developer setups clean, DRY, and portable.

[swushi]

Any update on this? My workaround for the time being is to run a simple setup script anytime I make adjustments to my prompts:

rm -rf ~/.codex/prompts
cp -r prompts ~/.codex/prompts

[etraut-openai]

This has been fixed in recent versions.