feature: add granular builtin tool enablement by ashwinnathan-openai · Pull Request #14525 · openai/codex

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-12T23:30:54Z

Why

This PR adds a new config surface for controlling built-in tool availability from config.tools and from per-thread config overrides.

The final design uses grouped feature tables under [tools.<feature>]. This composes cleanly with layered TOML, keeps per-feature config colocated with enablement, and gives SDK/app-server callers an explicit opt-in mode when they want to start from no built-in tools.

What Changed

Added grouped tool controls for:
- shell
- filesystem
- javascript
- agents
- agent_jobs
- planning
- user_input
- web_search
- image_generation
- document_generation
Added tools.disable_defaults as the top-level switch for explicit grouped mode.
Added per-feature wrapper types in config/app-server protocol:
- generic ToolFeature* wrappers with enabled
- WebSearchFeature* wrappers with enabled plus existing web-search config
Updated tool gating, config readback, app-server protocol types, generated schemas, and tests to use the grouped feature model.
Preserved shipped legacy config behavior in default mode, including:
- legacy tools.view_image
- top-level web_search = "cached" | "live" | "disabled"
- legacy [tools] web_search = true|false remains accepted and ignored, and the schema reflects that

Invariants

If tools.disable_defaults is omitted or false, Codex preserves the existing/default tool behavior and shipped legacy fallback knobs continue to participate.
If tools.disable_defaults = true, grouped [tools.<feature>] entries are the only source of truth for built-in tool exposure.
In explicit grouped mode, legacy standalone knobs do not re-enable tools.
For web_search, top-level mode config controls Cached / Live / Disabled, but exposure still comes from [tools.web_search] when disable_defaults = true.

Testing

just write-config-schema
just write-app-server-schema
just fmt
cargo test -p codex-app-server-protocol
cargo test -p codex-core
cargo test

github-actions · 2026-03-12T23:31:03Z

All contributors have signed the CLA ✍️ ✅
_{Posted by the CLA Assistant Lite bot.}

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-16T19:02:56Z

I have read the CLA Document and I hereby sign the CLA

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-16T19:28:11Z

@codex review

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codex-rs/core/src/tools/sandboxing.rs

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-17T00:20:53Z

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codex-rs/core/src/tools/spec.rs

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-17T01:23:08Z

@codex review

chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-17T01:34:46Z

Codex Review: Didn't find any major issues. More of your lovely PRs please.

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ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-17T23:06:43Z

@codex review

codex-rs/app-server-protocol/schema/json/v2/ConfigReadResponse.json

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codex-rs/core/src/config/mod.rs

codex-rs/core/src/tools/registry.rs

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-17T23:29:50Z

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codex-rs/core/src/tools/spec.rs

codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs

codex-rs/app-server/README.md

bolinfest · 2026-03-18T05:02:09Z

codex-rs/core/src/config/mod.rs

+    pub shell: Option<bool>,
+    pub filesystem: Option<bool>,
+    pub javascript: Option<bool>,
+    pub agents: Option<bool>,
+    pub agent_jobs: Option<bool>,
+    pub planning: Option<bool>,
+    pub user_input: Option<bool>,
+    pub web_search: Option<bool>,
+    pub image_generation: Option<bool>,
+    pub document_generation: Option<bool>,


I feel like these should have their own types with the associated configuration specific to each tool. None can mean "not enabled" so the corresponding configuration struct doesn't have to have its own enabled field perhaps?

@pakrym-oai I'm particularly interested to get your thoughts on this bit!

iiuc we can't do None = not enabled because in the disable_defaults = false case, if a thread override doesn't include tools.shell, we'd resolve that as tool_feature_overrides.shell = None and incorrectly treat it as disabled instead of inheriting from the lower layer.

I think we need Option<bool> for the three states:

None = inherit / no explicit override

Some(true) = enabled

Some(false) = disabled

Separately though open to having separate types with the associated config specific to each tool but don't know if that's premature atm.

bolinfest · 2026-03-18T05:03:29Z

codex-rs/core/src/config/mod.rs

 #[schemars(deny_unknown_fields)]
 pub struct ToolsToml {
+    pub disable_defaults: Option<bool>,
+    pub shell: Option<ToolFeatureToml>,


Likewise, this should have the specific TOML shape we want to parse?

As in create a specific shape for each tool like ShellFeatureToml? For now I just kept it generic as ToolFeatureToml which has enabled and if we end up adding feature specific configuration we should be able to evolve easily right?

codex-rs/core/src/tools/registry.rs

codex-rs/core/src/tools/spec.rs

bolinfest · 2026-03-18T05:26:09Z

codex-rs/core/src/tools/spec.rs

+            push_builtin_tool_spec_if_enabled(
                &mut builder,
+                config,
+                "local_shell",


I also don't understand how this and others are not causing #14652 to fail....

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-18T23:13:49Z

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codex-rs/core/src/config/mod.rs

ashwinnathan-openai · 2026-03-19T00:40:39Z

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codex-rs/core/src/tools/spec.rs

etraut-openai added the oai PRs contributed by OpenAI employees label Mar 13, 2026

ashwinnathan-openai changed the title ~~builtin config~~ refactor: model builtin tool policy as tools.enabled Mar 16, 2026

ashwinnathan-openai changed the title ~~refactor: model builtin tool policy as tools.enabled~~ add tools.enabled builtin tool configuration Mar 16, 2026

ashwinnathan-openai changed the title ~~add tools.enabled builtin tool configuration~~ feature: add granular builtin tool enablement Mar 16, 2026

github-actions bot added a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 16, 2026

@ashwinnathan-openai has signed the CLA in #14525

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ashwinnathan-openai force-pushed the dev/ashwinnathan/builtin-tool-configuration branch from ae06690 to 8f52730 Compare March 16, 2026 19:09

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📊 AI CLI 工具社区动态日报 2026-03-17 gsscsd/big_model_radar#50

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ashwinnathan-openai added 4 commits March 18, 2026 15:33

builtin config

9682191

tests

6621893

enabled

9f0d8c2

fix

ee5eeaa

ashwinnathan-openai added 6 commits March 18, 2026 15:34

remove execution mode

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web search mode

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tests

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update

1d94a8b

tests

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comments

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ashwinnathan-openai force-pushed the dev/ashwinnathan/builtin-tool-configuration branch from 19bc70c to 3e62ad3 Compare March 18, 2026 22:34

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📊 AI CLI 工具社区动态日报 2026-03-19 gsscsd/big_model_radar#60

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📊 Bản tin hàng ngày công cụ AI CLI 2026-03-19 compasify/agents-radar#55

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