Files
Michael Bolin b4cb989563 refactor: prepare unified exec for zsh-fork backend (#13392)
## Why

`shell_zsh_fork` already provides stronger guarantees around which
executables receive elevated permissions. To reuse that machinery from
unified exec without pushing Unix-specific escalation details through
generic runtime code, the escalation bootstrap and session lifetime
handling need a cleaner boundary.

That boundary also needs to be safe for long-lived sessions: when an
intercepted shell session is closed or pruned, any in-flight approval
workers and any already-approved escalated child they spawned must be
torn down with the session, and the inherited escalation socket must not
leak into unrelated subprocesses.

## What Changed

- Extracted a reusable `EscalationSession` and
`EscalateServer::start_session(...)` in `shell-escalation` so callers
can get the wrapper/socket env overlay and keep the escalation server
alive without immediately running a one-shot command.
- Documented that `EscalationSession::env()` and
`ShellCommandExecutor::run(...)` exchange only that env overlay, which
callers must merge into their own base shell environment.
- Clarified the prepared-exec helper boundary in `core` by naming the
new helper APIs around `ExecRequest`, while keeping the legacy
`execute_env(...)` entrypoints as thin compatibility wrappers for
existing callers that still use the older naming.
- Added a small post-spawn hook on the prepared execution path so the
parent copy of the inheritable escalation socket is closed immediately
after both the existing one-shot shell-command spawn and the
unified-exec spawn.
- Made session teardown explicit with session-scoped cancellation:
dropping an `EscalationSession` or canceling its parent request now
stops intercept workers, and the server-spawned escalated child uses
`kill_on_drop(true)` so teardown cannot orphan an already-approved
child.
- Added `UnifiedExecBackendConfig` plumbing through `ToolsConfig`, a
`shell::zsh_fork_backend` facade, and an opaque unified-exec
spawn-lifecycle hook so unified exec can prepare a wrapped `zsh -c/-lc`
request without storing `EscalationSession` directly in generic
process/runtime code.
- Kept the existing `shell_command` zsh-fork behavior intact on top of
the new bootstrap path. Tool selection is unchanged in this PR: when
`shell_zsh_fork` is enabled, `ShellCommand` still wins over
`exec_command`.

## Verification

- `cargo test -p codex-shell-escalation`
  - includes coverage for `start_session_exposes_wrapper_env_overlay`
  - includes coverage for `exec_closes_parent_socket_after_shell_spawn`
- includes coverage for
`dropping_session_aborts_intercept_workers_and_kills_spawned_child`
- `cargo test -p codex-core
shell_zsh_fork_prefers_shell_command_over_unified_exec`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all
shell_zsh_fork_prompts_for_skill_script_execution`


---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/13392).
* #13432
* __->__ #13392
2026-03-05 08:55:12 +00:00
..
2026-03-04 13:00:11 +00:00
2026-03-03 23:11:28 -08:00

codex-core

This crate implements the business logic for Codex. It is designed to be used by the various Codex UIs written in Rust.

Dependencies

Note that codex-core makes some assumptions about certain helper utilities being available in the environment. Currently, this support matrix is:

macOS

Expects /usr/bin/sandbox-exec to be present.

When using the workspace-write sandbox policy, the Seatbelt profile allows writes under the configured writable roots while keeping .git (directory or pointer file), the resolved gitdir: target, and .codex read-only.

Network access and filesystem read/write roots are controlled by SandboxPolicy. Seatbelt consumes the resolved policy and enforces it.

Seatbelt also supports macOS permission-profile extensions layered on top of SandboxPolicy:

  • no extension profile provided: keeps legacy default preferences read access (user-preference-read).
  • extension profile provided with no macos_preferences grant: does not add preferences access clauses.
  • macos_preferences = "readonly": enables cfprefs read clauses and user-preference-read.
  • macos_preferences = "readwrite": includes readonly clauses plus user-preference-write and cfprefs shm write clauses.
  • macos_automation = true: enables broad Apple Events send permissions.
  • macos_automation = ["com.apple.Notes", ...]: enables Apple Events send only to listed bundle IDs.
  • macos_accessibility = true: enables com.apple.axserver mach lookup.
  • macos_calendar = true: enables com.apple.CalendarAgent mach lookup.

Linux

Expects the binary containing codex-core to run the equivalent of codex sandbox linux (legacy alias: codex debug landlock) when arg0 is codex-linux-sandbox. See the codex-arg0 crate for details.

All Platforms

Expects the binary containing codex-core to simulate the virtual apply_patch CLI when arg1 is --codex-run-as-apply-patch. See the codex-arg0 crate for details.