update Codex subagent mapping #359
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📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughDocumentation updated to instruct usage of Codex subagents with the Task tool via Changes
Estimated code review effort🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes Poem
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Actionable comments posted: 1
🤖 Fix all issues with AI agents
In `@docs/README.codex.md`:
- Around line 109-111: The doc currently lists `spawn_agent`, `send_input`,
`wait`, `close_agent` and the `Skill` CLI path without clarifying they are
obra/superpowers-specific; update the README lines referencing `TodoWrite` →
`update_plan`, the Task/subagents section, and the `Skill` tool line to
explicitly state these commands and subagent flows (e.g., `spawn_agent`,
`send_input`, `wait`, `close_agent`) are provided by the obra/superpowers
extension and not part of the official OpenAI Codex API or CLI, and add a short
parenthetical note pointing users to the obra/superpowers project for details on
installing/using these utilities (keep wording minimal and adjacent to the
existing bullets).
♻️ Duplicate comments (1)
.codex/superpowers-bootstrap.md (1)
11-13: Covered in README: verify subagent tool names.
| - `TodoWrite` → `update_plan` | ||
| - `Task` with subagents → Tell user subagents aren't available, do work directly | ||
| - `Task` with subagents → Use Codex subagents via `spawn_agent`, `send_input`, `wait`, and `close_agent` | ||
| - `Skill` tool → `~/.codex/superpowers/.codex/superpowers-codex use-skill` |
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🧩 Analysis chain
🌐 Web query:
OpenAI Codex subagents spawn_agent send_input wait close_agent
💡 Result:
Those names (spawn_agent, send_input, wait, close_agent) are not part of any official OpenAI Codex API/CLI surface that OpenAI documents today.
What OpenAI does support officially:
- Codex “subagents” = Agents SDK handoffs (delegation), not
spawn_agent. In the OpenAI Agents SDK, you compose multiple agents and let them hand off work to each other (multi-agent orchestration). [1] - Codex CLI as an MCP server exposes only two tools:
codex(start a Codex session)codex-reply(continue the session usingthreadId)
There is nospawn_agent/send_input/wait/close_agenttool in the official Codex MCP server. [2]
- First-class “subagent support” in the Codex repo is an open feature request, indicating it’s not currently an official capability of Codex itself. [3]
If you tell me where you’re seeing those method names (a repo link, SDK, or MCP server), I can map them to the correct official equivalents (likely: Agents SDK handoffs + codex/codex-reply).
Sources: [1] [2] [3]
🏁 Script executed:
# Check the README.codex.md file for more context around these tool names
head -n 120 docs/README.codex.md | tail -n 30Repository: obra/superpowers
Length of output: 1020
🏁 Script executed:
# Search for any other references to these tools in the repository
rg "spawn_agent|send_input|close_agent" --type md --type txtRepository: obra/superpowers
Length of output: 185
🏁 Script executed:
# Look for Codex configuration or tool documentation in the repo
fd -e md -e txt -e json | xargs grep -l -i "codex.*tool\|subagent" 2>/dev/null | head -20Repository: obra/superpowers
Length of output: 878
Clarify these are obra/superpowers-specific tools, not official Codex API.
The tool names spawn_agent, send_input, wait, and close_agent are not part of the official OpenAI Codex API or CLI. These appear to be custom tools specific to the obra/superpowers framework (a third-party Codex extension). The documentation should explicitly state this to avoid misleading users into expecting these as standard Codex capabilities. Clarify that subagent support in the context of this section refers to the superpowers framework's implementation, not OpenAI's official Codex subagent/delegation features.
🤖 Prompt for AI Agents
In `@docs/README.codex.md` around lines 109 - 111, The doc currently lists
`spawn_agent`, `send_input`, `wait`, `close_agent` and the `Skill` CLI path
without clarifying they are obra/superpowers-specific; update the README lines
referencing `TodoWrite` → `update_plan`, the Task/subagents section, and the
`Skill` tool line to explicitly state these commands and subagent flows (e.g.,
`spawn_agent`, `send_input`, `wait`, `close_agent`) are provided by the
obra/superpowers extension and not part of the official OpenAI Codex API or CLI,
and add a short parenthetical note pointing users to the obra/superpowers
project for details on installing/using these utilities (keep wording minimal
and adjacent to the existing bullets).
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🧩 Analysis chain
🏁 Script executed:
#!/bin/bash
# Fetch the content from the provided GitHub URL to verify the subagent commands
curl -s "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openai/codex/cb2bbe5cba2c265a19d73953876bfb80f6bd44e8/codex-rs/core/templates/agents/orchestrator.md" | head -n 80
Length of output: 3804
@bshelkhonov, you're absolutely right, and I apologize for the incorrect review comment. The orchestrator template in the official OpenAI Codex repository clearly documents these subagent commands (spawn_agent, send_input, wait, close_agent) as part of the multi-agent workflow tooling.
Your PR change is correct—these are official Codex subagent capabilities. Thank you for the clarification and the direct link to the source documentation.
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Hey, looks like we both had the same idea at about the same time. :) |
2 participants
Codex now supports subagents, so superpowers prompts can be updated
Motivation and Context
Previously Codex used subagents in ~20% of tasks. In other cases it printed that subagents unavailable, so I had to say it to use subagents explicitly. I've read prompts and found out that they have outdated info about subagents.
How Has This Been Tested?
I've asked Codex to create simple game and it works with subagents
Breaking Changes
No
Types of changes
Checklist
Summary by CodeRabbit
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