Codex Connect

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Connect your ChatGPT subscription to DeepSeek Harness with OAuth, optional GPT Image generation, user-controlled defaults, Harness-native approvals, diagnostics, and reliable session recovery.

dsh-codex-connect adds the openai-codex model catalog and a separate ChatGPT OAuth login. Models run through Harness's normal LLM service, so streaming, tool calls, reasoning replay, compaction, filesystem controls, permission gates, and approval prompts remain Harness-owned. It does not turn a ChatGPT subscription into an OpenAI Platform API credential. When an eligible GPT Codex model is selected, the Composer also shows a conversation-scoped Fast Mode toggle and a compact weekly-quota indicator.

Installation is additive. The bundle does not replace the current default model or search route. Standalone search, view_image, and image generation remain disabled until explicitly enabled.

The setup and image-result screenshots in this English guide are captured from the English-localized Harness UI. The shared Composer crop is a language-neutral feature strip; the Chinese guide uses the same strip and Chinese captures for the other screens. Model and provider identifiers keep their canonical spelling in both languages.

Quick start (about five minutes)

This guide uses the web profile. Replace web with the name of the Harness profile you already use. You need a working dsh installation; from a DeepSeek Harness source checkout, prefix the commands with pnpm.

1. Install the plugin into one profile

dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-codex-connect@alpha

Expected result: the package is added to that profile. This does not change the profile's default model or global search route.

To reproduce this release exactly, use dsh plugin --profile web add dsh-codex-connect@0.1.0-alpha.4.21. If npm is unavailable after the matching GitHub prerelease exists, use dsh plugin --profile web add 'github:franksong2702/dsh-codex-connect#v0.1.0-alpha.4.21'. A local checkout can be installed as link:/absolute/path/to/dsh-codex-connect.

What's new in Alpha 4.21

• Preserve and download the exact generated image separately from the conversation preview, including from restored sessions and forks that inherited the image result.
• Inspect runtime and Responses/SSE evidence with the opt-in capabilities command. Network probing requires explicit --probe; it does not enable unsupported features or alter routing.
• Use clearer exact-version installation guidance and expanded release/canary CI checks. The supported DSH version remains 0.1.1-rc.2.

Version updates

Codex Connect checks public package metadata and this repository's verified-compatibility.json periodically through the DSH Web server. The same card reads the locally loaded DSH package version, shows it beside the latest DSH version recorded by this project, and evaluates the exact installed plugin and DSH version pair. Local version detection uses package metadata already available to the plugin and does not require a DSH Core change.

The compatibility record lists exact plugin and DSH versions rather than assuming every later release remains compatible. Maintainers can add a newly verified DSH version to the repository file without publishing another plugin release. A green result means the installed pair was verified; yellow means the latest plugin was verified with the installed DSH version and should be installed first; red means the installed DSH version is known but neither the installed plugin nor the latest published plugin has a matching record; gray means the installed DSH version is not recorded or the public record could not be checked. A red result includes a prefilled GitHub issue link for the installed DSH version so users can remind the maintainer without composing a report from scratch.

When a newer plugin version is available, a frame-wide DSH notice appears even if you switch conversations. It first shows the user-facing changes between your installed version and the newest version; technical release notes are available as a secondary detail, or from the release page. The plugin never runs an upgrade command by itself.

The notice first summarizes the user-facing changes between your installed version and the newest version. Technical release notes remain available as a secondary detail. To update, copy the short request shown in the notice to the Agent you use for this DSH project. The Agent can inspect the project instructions and choose the appropriate install or update method; the plugin does not execute anything on your behalf.

After the Agent reports completion, return to the notice or settings card and select Done — check again. If the running process still reports the old version, restart that profile's DSH Web process and check again.

For a manual terminal update, use the command documented for the profile you are running:

dsh plugin --profile web update dsh-codex-connect

Replace web with your own Harness profile name when needed. If the running process still reports the old version after the check, restart that profile's DSH Web process and check again. If public metadata is unavailable, no update notice is shown; the account and model features continue working normally.

2. Start Harness

dsh web

Expected result: the Harness web UI opens for the selected profile.

3. Find the Codex Connect card

Open Settings → Plugins → Plugin configuration → Codex Connect.

Expected result: a fresh installation shows Not signed in and a Sign in with ChatGPT button. The card is where you later manage optional capabilities too.

4. Sign in with ChatGPT

Click Sign in with ChatGPT and complete the browser approval yourself. If an embedded WebView blocks the sign-in window, use the displayed Open ChatGPT sign-in page link to continue in your system browser. Do not copy an authorization URL, code, token, or account identifier into an issue, log, or configuration file.

Expected result: the account area changes to Signed in. The screenshot below is the successful end state after this step; it is not the initial sign-in screen.

5. Choose a model and make one safe check

Open Harness's normal model picker and select an openai-codex model for the agent or session you are using. This selection is separate from writing the profile's default model or global search route.

The picker groups the available entries under OpenAI Codex. Model identifiers such as GPT-5.6 Luna are canonical names, so they intentionally remain un-translated.

To shorten that list, open Settings → Plugins → Plugin configuration → Codex Connect, uncheck the models you do not want to see, and select Save changes. This controls discovery only: a hidden model already stored in an existing conversation or supplied by its exact id remains usable. A fresh installation shows the complete catalog.

Profiles may also seed the visible subset with models; provider order is preserved regardless of the order written here:

- id: llm-openai-codex
  config:
    models:
      - gpt-5.6-luna
      - gpt-5.6-sol
      - gpt-5.6-terra

Omit models to show the full catalog. An empty list hides every Codex model from selectors without disabling exact-id routing.

To confirm the configured plugin row locally, run:

dsh --profile web --dump-config

Expected result: the configuration has exactly one llm-openai-codex row. Keep this configuration dump local; it may include unrelated profile settings.

For secret-free status and diagnostics that do not start OAuth, run:

dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect status --json
dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect doctor --json

Expected result: status --json reports signed-in and exits 0, while doctor --json prints one secret-free JSON document. A signed-out status --json exits 1; return to step 4 instead of treating that as a plugin failure.

Composer controls for GPT Codex conversations

The two small controls are shown only when the current conversation is using a GPT model from the openai-codex provider. They are session controls, not profile-wide settings:

• Fast Mode (lightning icon) is off by default for each conversation. Click it to request the faster 1.5× mode; click it again to return to Standard speed. The control is bound to that conversation and does not change the selected model or other conversations. Hover or focus the icon to see the current state and its quota-consumption warning.
• Weekly quota bar is the short horizontal bar beside the model selector. Its color moves from green through yellow/orange to red as the remaining amount falls. Hover or focus it to see the exact remaining percentage and the server-provided reset time. It is hidden for non-GPT models or when usage data is unavailable.
• For the exact gpt-5.3-codex-spark model, the Composer reads the Spark weekly bucket. Other GPT Codex models read the standard Codex weekly bucket; these are separate limits.

Optional capabilities (off by default)

The installed bundle is intentionally inert beyond model-provider registration:

- id: llm-openai-codex
  config:
    enableProxy: false
    enableSearch: false
    enableImageTool: false
    enableImageGeneration: false

Open Settings → Plugins → Plugin configuration → Codex Connect to manage the account and these options in one card. Save changes affects only this plugin's capability section and applies live. It never selects a default model or a global search route.

Network connection and proxy detection

Codex Connect uses a Direct connection by default. A proxy is optional and applies only to this plugin's Codex requests: model streaming, OAuth login and token refresh, usage, standalone search, and image generation. Other providers and unscoped network requests keep the process's original dispatcher.

Select Detect proxy to test only the standard proxy environment variables and the documented loopback candidates 127.0.0.1:7890, 127.0.0.1:7897, and 127.0.0.1:10809. Detection makes no model call, consumes no quota, and does not write settings. A response from the canonical Codex endpoint proves network reachability; 401/403, proxy 407, DNS, refused connection, timeout, TLS, and CONNECT failures remain separate diagnostics.

Choose Use this proxy only after reviewing a candidate, then click Save changes. Configure manually lets you test a credential-free HTTP(S) proxy origin before activation. Disable proxy is always available. A failed probe leaves the previous mode unchanged, and an enabled proxy failure is shown as an actionable error; Codex Connect never silently retries the request through a direct connection.

Enable only the capability you intend to use

• enableSearch: true registers Codex as an available search provider. It does not select the profile's global search route.
• enableImageTool: true enables view_image for approved local reads and public-network image fetches on vision-capable models.
• enableImageGeneration: true enables the prompt-only image generation tool. Use the image generation capability included with your current GPT subscription. Codex Connect preserves the exact generated file in plugin-owned storage and saves a DSH attachment as the conversation preview.

The screenshot below is an example after someone has explicitly enabled capabilities. It does not show the fresh-install default. This English guide uses the English-localized capture; the Chinese guide shows the matching Chinese-localized state.

Generate images with GPT Image

1. Turn on Enable GPT Image generation in the Codex Connect card and select Save changes.
2. Choose an openai-codex GPT model for the conversation.
3. Describe the image you want in ordinary language. The agent can expand that request into the prompt sent to GPT Image.
4. The exact generated file is preserved separately from the DSH attachment used to render the conversation preview. The result card lets you review and copy the full prompt, download the exact original or the preview, and compare their dimensions and file sizes.

This capability uses the image generation access included with your current GPT subscription; it does not require an OpenAI Platform API key. Availability remains subject to the GPT plan and model selected for the conversation.

Output dimensions are selected by the subscription service. The tool accepts a prompt only and does not offer a size setting or guarantee 4K output. Asking for "4K detail" does not establish the file's pixel dimensions; use the dimensions shown on the result card. Downloading the original preserves what the service returned, without upscaling it.

The detailed image prompt is authored by the selected GPT model. Codex Connect does not silently add image parameters: it validates the prompt-only request and forwards it through the ChatGPT subscription capability. The exact returned bytes are stored below $DSH_HOME/dsh-codex-connect/images/v1; an additional DSH attachment is the preview used by the conversation and may be resized or re-encoded by the active DSH attachment policy. The Download original action always uses the plugin-owned exact file, while Download preview returns that DSH representation. Originals are owner-only, integrity-checked before download, and available to the creating session and forks that inherited the image result, including after session restoration. Forks made before that result and unrelated sessions cannot download it. Disabling image generation or uninstalling the plugin does not automatically delete the files; downloading through the result card requires the plugin to remain installed. On the result card you can scroll through and copy the complete prompt. Try again and Generate another send that card's own prompt again, so an older card is not accidentally regenerated from a newer conversation message. Modify this image first asks what you want to change, then continues from that card's prompt.

Usage limits in Plugin configuration

After sign-in, the Codex Connect settings card can show several server-reported windows. They are separate buckets, not three views of one number:

• Codex · Weekly is the standard Codex weekly bucket used by ordinary GPT Codex models.
• GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark · 5-hour and GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark · Weekly are the two Spark windows returned for the Spark model.

Each bar shows the remaining percentage and its local reset time. OpenAI controls the returned windows, eligibility, and reset values; missing usage data is treated as unavailable rather than guessed.

Change a default model or global search route separately

To make a Codex model the default for new agents, add or update the separate Harness row yourself:

- id: agent-default-model
  config:
    provider: openai-codex
    model: gpt-5.6-sol

Selecting Codex as the profile's global search route is another explicit change:

- id: llm-openai-codex
  config:
    enableSearch: true
    searchMode: live
    searchContextSize: medium

- id: web
  config:
    searchProvider: openai-codex

Field	Default	Values
models	full catalog	Codex model id array; empty hides all entries
enableProxy	false	boolean; direct connection unless explicitly enabled
proxyUrl	http://127.0.0.1:7890 (inactive placeholder)	Credential-free HTTP(S) proxy origin
contextWindowOverrides	none	Per-model context-window override map; see below
enableSearch	false	boolean
enableImageTool	false	boolean
enableImageGeneration	false	boolean
searchModel	gpt-5.6-sol	Codex model id
searchMode	cached	cached, indexed, live
searchContextSize	medium	low, medium, high
searchMaxOutputTokens	10000	positive integer

Context-window overrides

Use contextWindowOverrides to opt into a per-model client context budget when you have evidence that the bundled catalog does not fit your deployment. It cannot enlarge the OpenAI backend's context capacity. Overrides default off; this feature does not verify the community-reported larger windows.

In Plugin configuration, each model row keeps its visibility checkbox and adds Context → Adjust. Enter a positive whole-number token budget, or choose Restore default to use the catalog value even if composition supplies an override. Hiding a model preserves its budget. Save applies the staged visibility and budget edits; Discard abandons them. An empty input is not a reset: use Restore default explicitly.

- id: llm-openai-codex
  config:
    contextWindowOverrides:
      # Illustration only: 350000 is not a verified or recommended server limit.
      gpt-5.6-sol: 350000

Keys must exactly match models in the installed Codex catalog; unknown ids reject the configuration or settings write with an explicit error. Maps accept at most 256 entries and positive safe-integer token counts. Other models keep their catalog metadata. Output-token limits, transport (SSE), and DSH's compaction policy are unchanged. Leave room for output and protocol overhead below your independently verified server limit. For a deployment configured to compact at 80%, a client window of 350000 gives a nominal threshold of 280000; this arithmetic is not evidence that the server accepts that input size.

Persisted Host settings are applied on plugin load, and changes affect the next model resolution or prepared request. Already prepared requests retain their captured budget. The original catalog is never mutated.

To restore defaults, distinguish the settings layers:

• A resolved empty map {} or no override uses catalog windows.
• DSH recursively merges settings maps. Updating an existing map with {} is therefore not a clear operation.
• Set contextWindowOverrides: null to explicitly disable all overrides, including values inherited from composition.
• Set a model entry to null to restore only that model's catalog default while preserving other overrides. The UI saves explicit per-model masks so restored defaults do not re-inherit composition values.
• Removing the stored field re-inherits composition settings; with no composition override, it restores catalog windows. Removing one stored model entry similarly restores that model's composition or catalog value.

Reauthentication, diagnostics, and conflicts

• If the card says Sign in again or the server asks for reauthentication, click that action and complete the same safe browser flow. It preserves this plugin's capability settings and does not silently change your default model or global search route. Do not run logout just to renew a session.

• doctor reads process and filesystem metadata only. doctor --json emits exactly one secret-free JSON document with schema version 1, package/version/Node metadata, credential-file state and safe mode, capabilities, conflict status, and hints. It omits the absolute credential path and OAuth, account, and expiry data.

• status --json emits only signed-in or signed-out state with package metadata. status --json reads the credential only to determine sign-in state, but never prints credential contents or starts OAuth.

• Alpha 4.10 users whose search histories fail with an unknown web/openai-codex-search-llm-request event can run dsh-codex-connect migrate-history --json, stop DSH, then apply the reported repair with migrate-history --apply --confirm-stopped --json. The command is dry-run by default, backs up every changed compressed JSONL artifact, and is dry-run only on Windows; see MIGRATION.md.

• OAuth is stored separately at $DSH_HOME/.openai-codex-auth.json (~/.dsh by default). ~/.codex/auth.json is never copied or modified. The parent directory and file use owner-only permissions where supported, writes are atomic, and refresh writes use a cross-process file lock.

• By default, the OAuth routes accept loopback browser requests only. When DSH runs on one device and you open it from another device on a trusted network, approve the browser address-bar origin explicitly on the device that runs DSH:

  dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect trust-origin http://192.168.1.20:3080
  dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect trusted-origins
  dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect untrust-origin http://192.168.1.20:3080
  

  Replace the example with the exact origin from the browser address bar, including scheme and port; do not enter the accessing device's IP, a bare host, a path, a query, or a fragment. Trust only a network you control, never expose this route to the public Internet, and use an SSH tunnel as the fallback when explicit network trust is not appropriate. The browser page only displays and copies this command; it never changes the allowlist itself.

• If startup reports an openai-codex collision, an old dsh-codex bundle or manual provider row may already own the adapter. Inspect the effective configuration and remove only the confirmed conflicting owner. Do not delete auth files or unrelated providers.

• Removing the package does not delete OAuth state. Run logout only when credential removal is intended.

On-demand capability report

Run the separate capabilities command from the intended plugin installation. Without --probe, it reads local host package versions and credential-file metadata only; it does not open the credential document or send network requests. Existing doctor behavior and the settings compatibility card are unchanged.

dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect capabilities --model gpt-5.6-sol --json
dsh plugin --profile web exec dsh-codex-connect capabilities --model gpt-5.6-sol --probe --json

--probe explicitly sends one fixed short request to the ordinary Codex Responses route and may consume quota. It reads an unexpired stored credential without refreshing or writing it. The command uses a direct connection unless you pass --proxy <http(s)-origin>; it does not load the active profile's proxy settings or environment proxy variables. The default deadline is 30000 ms; --timeout-ms <1..60000> overrides it. There are no redirects or retries, the response is capped at 64 KiB, and owned connections are destroyed before return. A deadline or size limit does not guarantee that server-side generation stopped. The reusable diagnostic instance caches only completed responses and explicit request rejections for at most 60 seconds in memory, scoped to credential, model, versions, and network policy. Separate CLI invocations do not share cached evidence.

The report labels each check supported, rejected, or unknown, with a reason and corrective action. Runtime support means the declared host package versions match, not that the Web profile or an exact Node patch was integration-tested. A catalog entry or private credential file leaves model access and OAuth validity unknown. Only an HTTP 200 finite SSE response with a complete, nonempty assistant output for the selected model confirms the standalone route; redirects, timeouts, rate limits, and incomplete streams remain unknown. HTTP 400/404 reject the particular request, not every model or optional feature; HTTP 401/403 also reject authorization for that request. Reports omit tokens, account ids, paths, proxy origins, response ids, headers, and generated text.

This report covers only the standalone route, not active profile routing, search/image tools, browser compatibility, provider retry behavior, or session recovery. Automatic provider failover is rejected because this plugin does not implement it; select an alternative provider explicitly. WebSocket-to-SSE fallback is inactive with the finite SSE default. contextManagement and continuation remain unknown; native compaction and WebSocket reuse are rejected by the current integration policy. No diagnostic result enables these capabilities or changes Harness history. Exit codes cover runtime, OAuth, selected model, Responses, and SSE only: 0 means all five were supported, 1 means at least one was rejected, and 2 means unknown evidence, invalid options, or an inspection failure. Rejected optional capabilities do not change that exit code.

Compatibility and security boundary

• The only verified compatibility combination is DSH plugin API packages 0.1.1-rc.2, @earendil-works/pi-ai 0.82.1, and Node.js ^22.19.0 || >=24.0.0; see compatibility.json. Alpha 4.21 uses the rc.2 keyed Plugin configuration slot; users of older DSH API packages should upgrade to the rc.2 API packages.
• Upgrade the DSH plugin API packages and @earendil-works/pi-ai as one group, then run dsh-codex-connect doctor --json and the compatibility check again. This contract does not make claims about future versions.
• When the daily upstream check finds a new latest or next DSH candidate, it installs Codex Connect into an isolated profile, boots the installed model runtime without OAuth credentials, verifies model and reasoning-effort discovery, and confirms provider disposal. Live sign-in, quota, and model requests still require manual validation in the test profile.
• ChatGPT plan eligibility, model access, quotas, and backend behavior are controlled by OpenAI and may change.
• The Codex endpoint does not enforce the ordinary Responses max_output_tokens field. Harness compaction still works, but that summary cap cannot be imposed server-side on this route.
• Shell, filesystem, skills, MCP, subagents, approvals, permissions, attachments, session persistence, compaction, and recovery continue to come from the active Harness profile.
• Remote view_image URLs are limited to public HTTP(S) destinations. Every DNS result and redirect is checked, and the connection is pinned to the validated address so localhost, private networks, link-local services, and cloud metadata endpoints remain unreachable.
• No real OAuth operation is required for installation, build, tests, doctor, or package validation.

See INSTALL.md for the idempotent agent runbook, RELEASING.md for the Alpha release checklist, MIGRATION.md for migration from dsh-codex, and docs/design.md for architecture details.

Development

pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
pnpm run check

Releases

Maintainers publish alpha versions through the manual OIDC release workflow; see the alpha release runbook for the separate, short-lived latest promotion step.

Legal / Acknowledgements

Copyright 2026 Frank Song for the modifications and additional work in Codex Connect. This project includes software derived from Yan-Zero/dsh-codex; Copyright 2026 Yan-Zero is retained for the upstream material. Both are distributed under Apache-2.0, with details in NOTICE. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI, ChatGPT, Codex, DeepSeek, or DeepSeek Harness.

License

Apache-2.0