codex/agentydragon/tasks/06-external-editor-prompt.md

Task 06: External Editor Integration for Prompt Entry

This task is specific to codex-rs.

Status

General Status: Done
Summary: External editor integration for prompt entry implemented.

Goal

Allow users to spawn an external editor (e.g. Neovim) to compose or edit the chat prompt. The prompt box should update with the editor's contents when closed.

Acceptance Criteria

• A slash command /edit-prompt (or Ctrl+E) launches the user's preferred editor on a temporary file pre-populated with the current draft.
• Upon editor exit, the draft is re-read into the composer widget.
• Configurable via editor = "${VISUAL:-${EDITOR:-nvim}}" setting in config.toml.

Implementation

How it was implemented

• Added editor option to [tui] section in config.toml, defaulting to ${VISUAL:-${EDITOR:-nvim}}.
• Exposed the tui.editor setting in the codex-core config model (config_types.rs) and wired it through to the TUI.
• Added a new slash-command variant EditPrompt in tui/src/slash_command.rs to trigger external-editor mode.
• Implemented ChatComposer::open_external_editor() in tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer.rs:
  • Creates a temporary file pre-populated with the current draft prompt.
  • Launches the configured editor (from VISUAL/EDITOR with nvim fallback) in a blocking subprocess.
  • Reads the edited contents back into the TextArea on editor exit.
• Wired both Ctrl+E and the /edit-prompt slash command to invoke open_external_editor().
• Updated config.md to document the new editor setting under [tui].

How it works

• Pressing Ctrl+E, or typing /edit-prompt and hitting Enter, spawns the user's preferred editor on a temporary file containing the current draft.
• When the editor process exits, the plugin reads back the file and updates the chat composer with the edited text.
• The default editor is determined by VISUAL, then EDITOR, falling back to nvim if neither is set.