By OpenAI

Codex CLI

Lightweight coding agent

Documentation GitHub Cheatsheet

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Setup

Install Codex CLI

Install Codex CLI globally

npm install -g @openai/codex

Run without installing

Run Codex directly with npx

npx @openai/codex

Set API key

Configure OpenAI API key

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Basics

Start session

Launch interactive Codex session

codex

Show help

Display available commands

codex --help

Check version

Show installed version

codex --version

Single prompt

Run a single prompt

codex "your request here"

Code Operations

Review code

Get code review feedback

codex "review my changes"

Explain code

Understand code functionality

codex "explain this file"

Refactor code

Improve code quality

codex "refactor for better performance"

Generate tests

Create test coverage

codex "write unit tests"

Fix issues

Resolve code issues

codex "fix the TypeScript errors"

Git Integration

Generate commit

Create git commit

codex "commit with a good message"

Write PR description

Generate pull request summary

codex "write PR description"

Generate changelog

Create release notes

codex "generate changelog since last release"

Execution Modes

Suggest mode

Suggest changes without applying

codex --approval-mode suggest

Auto-edit mode

Auto-apply file edits, confirm commands

codex --approval-mode auto-edit

Full auto mode

Fully autonomous execution

codex --approval-mode full-auto

Advanced

Select model

Choose OpenAI model

codex --model gpt-4o

Add file context

Include specific files

codex --files src/**/*.ts "analyze"

Built-in Tools

Core capabilities

View all

Shell Execution

Official

File Operations

Official

Web Search

Official

Tutorials

Learn Codex CLI

View all

Codex CLI Quickstart(5 min)

Understanding Approval Modes(10 min)

Sandboxed Execution(15 min)

CI/CD Integration(20 min)