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Add Codex CLI installation docs to README - #408

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ViktorHofer merged 4 commits into
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copilot/add-support-for-codex
Mar 20, 2026
Merged

Add Codex CLI installation docs to README#408
ViktorHofer merged 4 commits into
mainfrom
copilot/add-support-for-codex

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Copilot AI commented Mar 19, 2026

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  • P0: Add Codex CLI installation section to README.md (alongside existing Copilot CLI / Claude Code / VS Code sections)
  • Add developers.openai.com to eng/reference-scanner/known-domains.txt so the reference scanner passes
  • P3: Upstream feature request for Codex marketplace protocol support noted (external action)
  • Run code review and security checks

Note: P1 (batch installation helper) and P2 (optional agents/openai.yaml) are intentionally deferred per maintainer guidance.

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Feature Request: Add support for Codex</issue_title>
<issue_description>Currently dotnet/skills only supports Copilot CLI, Claude Code, and VS Code.
Please add official support for Codex.
This would make .NET skills available to Codex users.
Thanks!
</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>See the analysis in this issue. We shouldn't do P1 or P2 but P0 and P3.</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

@ViktorHofer # Adding Codex Support to dotnet/skills

Analysis for dotnet/skills#386.

TL;DR

The skills in this repo already work with Codex at the format level — they use the same agentskills.io open standard (SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter). The gap is entirely in distribution and installation UX: Codex doesn't support the marketplace protocol that Copilot CLI, Claude Code, and VS Code use.

How Current Platforms Work

Copilot CLI, Claude Code, and VS Code all use a marketplace protocol:

  1. The repo contains marketplace manifests (.github/plugin/marketplace.json, .claude-plugin/marketplace.json).
  2. Users register the marketplace: /plugin marketplace add dotnet/skills
  3. Users install a plugin (bundle of skills): /plugin install dotnet-msbuild@dotnet-agent-skills
  4. All skills in that plugin are installed at once.

How Codex Works

Per the official Codex skills docs, Codex uses a fundamentally different model:

  • No marketplace.json protocol. Codex doesn't read .github/plugin/marketplace.json or any equivalent.
  • No "plugin" concept. Codex has individual skills, not plugin bundles.
  • Directory-based discovery. Codex scans .agents/skills/ from CWD up to repo root, plus ~/.agents/skills/ (user-global) and /etc/codex/skills (admin).
  • Per-skill installation via $skill-installer, which accepts a skill name (from openai/skills) or a GitHub URL.
  • Optional agents/openai.yaml per skill for Codex-specific UI metadata (display name, icon, invocation policy, MCP tool dependencies).

What Already Works

  • SKILL.md format is identical. Both Codex and Copilot CLI/Claude Code use the agentskills.io specification. Our skills are already compatible.
  • Users can install individual skills today via $skill-installer with a GitHub URL, e.g.:
    $skill-installer install https://github.com/dotnet/skills/tree/main/plugins/dotnet-msbuild/skills/check-bin-obj-clash
    
  • The repo already has .agents/skills/ with repo-level skills (create-skill, create-custom-agent).

What's Needed

P0: Documentation (small effort)

Add a Codex installation section to README.md alongside the existing Copilot CLI / Claude Code / VS Code sections. Example:

### Codex CLI

Skills in this repository follow the [agentskills.io](https://agentskills.io) open standard
and are compatible with [OpenAI Codex](https://developers.openai.com/codex/skills).

Install individual skills using `$skill-installer` with the GitHub URL:

    $skill-installer install https://github.com/dotnet/skills/tree/main/plugins/<plugin>/skills/<skill-name>

For example, to install the `check-bin-obj-clash` skill:

    $skill-installer install https://github.com/dotnet/skills/tree/main/plugins/dotnet-msbuild/skills/check-bin-obj-clash

P1: Batch installation helper (medium effort)

Since Codex can't install an entire "plugin" at once, consider providing a helper that installs all skills from a plugin into the user's .agents/skills/ directory. Options include:

  • A shell script that symlinks or copies skills from a cloned repo
  • A meta-skill (e.g., $dotnet-skills-installer) that automates the process
  • Instructions for cloning the repo and symlinking the desired plugin's skills/ directory

P2: Optional agents/openai.yaml per skill (small effort per skill)

Add Codex-specific UI metadata for richer integration in the Codex app:

# plugins/dotnet-msbuild/skills/check-bin-obj-clash/agents/openai.yaml
interface:
  display_name: "Check Bin/Obj Clash"
  short_description: "Detects MSBuild projects with conflicting output paths"

policy:
  allow_implicit_invocation: true

This is optional — skills work without it — but improves discoverability in the Codex UI.

P3: Upstream request (external)

File a feature request with the Codex team to support a marketplace protocol (or similar bulk-install mechanism) so that repositories like dotnet/skills can offer a one-command installation experience comparable to Copilot CLI / Claude Code.

Key References

Resource URL
Codex Skills docs https://developers.openai.com/codex/skills
agentskills....

🔒 GitHub Advanced Security automatically protects Copilot coding agent pull requests. You can protect all pull requests by enabling Advanced Security for your repositories. Learn more about Advanced Security.

…nai.com domain

Co-authored-by: ViktorHofer <7412651+ViktorHofer@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Add support for Codex in dotnet/skills Add Codex CLI installation docs to README Mar 19, 2026
Copilot AI requested a review from ViktorHofer March 19, 2026 13:51
@ViktorHofer

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@copilot remove the example

Co-authored-by: ViktorHofer <7412651+ViktorHofer@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI commented Mar 19, 2026

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@copilot remove the example

Removed in 8b84503.

@ViktorHofer
ViktorHofer marked this pull request as ready for review March 19, 2026 13:55
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 19, 2026 13:55

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Pull request overview

Adds documentation for installing skills from this repo using the Codex CLI, and updates the reference scanner allowlist so the new Codex documentation link passes validation.

Changes:

  • Document Codex CLI installation via per-skill GitHub URL in README.md.
  • Add developers.openai.com to the reference-scanner known domain allowlist.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File Description
README.md Adds a “Codex CLI” installation section with a skill-installer example and link to Codex skills docs.
eng/reference-scanner/known-domains.txt Allowlists developers.openai.com so the new README link passes the reference scanner.

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Comment thread README.md Outdated
Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

@JanKrivanek JanKrivanek left a comment

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LGTM

@ViktorHofer
ViktorHofer merged commit a68fa8d into main Mar 20, 2026
23 checks passed
@ViktorHofer
ViktorHofer deleted the copilot/add-support-for-codex branch March 20, 2026 09:29
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Feature Request: Add support for Codex

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