Codex UX is a workspace for building richer, browser-based UX surfaces for Codex.
The goal is broader than file review: make it easier for people and coding agents to share context through focused interfaces instead of flattening every interaction into chat. A surface can be a reviewer, an inspector, a planning board, a visual handoff tool, or any small local UI that gives Codex better structured context.
The first surface is Codex UX File Browser: a read-only workspace browser for precise, anchored notes on files.
Codex UX works with the Codex desktop app and Codex CLI on macOS. In the desktop app, it opens in the Codex in-app Browser and can send notes back to the current thread. In Codex CLI, it opens your default browser and copies a handoff prompt that you paste back into the current CLI session.
The easiest install path is to ask Codex directly:
Help me install this plugin https://github.com/anycap-ai/codex-ux
You can also install it from the Codex app UI: open Plugins -> Add marketplace, then install Codex UX.
If you prefer the CLI:
codex plugin marketplace add anycap-ai/codex-ux --ref main
codex plugin add codex-ux --marketplace codex-uxStart a new Codex thread, then run:
$codex-ux-file-browser
Codex opens the current File Browser surface for your workspace. Add notes, then click Send in the desktop app or Copy in CLI mode so Codex can handle the notes in the conversation.
If your machine cannot run git reliably, install from a downloaded GitHub archive instead:
curl -L https://github.com/anycap-ai/codex-ux/archive/refs/heads/main.zip -o /tmp/codex-ux.zip
ditto -x -k /tmp/codex-ux.zip /tmp/codex-ux-install
codex plugin marketplace add /tmp/codex-ux-install/codex-ux-main
codex plugin add codex-ux --marketplace codex-uxWith the File Browser, you can:
- Browse files in the current workspace.
- Select exact ranges in code, Markdown, text, CSV, HTML, and PDFs.
- Mark image areas with boxes, pins, or freehand drawing.
- Attach a note to the selected range or region.
- Send all open notes back to Codex as structured AgentUX intents.
- Ask Codex to answer, explain, or make edits based on those notes.
The browser is intentionally read-only. It never modifies your repo. It gives Codex better context; Codex still performs any requested edits through normal workspace tools.
Use it when chat is too vague:
- "This paragraph is confusing. Rewrite it."
- "This part of the screenshot is wrong."
- "Explain why this block exists."
- "Make this table row match the new behavior."
- "These three notes are all about the same bug. Fix them together."
You mark the place. Codex gets the anchor, nearby context, note text, and file metadata.
Codex is good at working across code, docs, terminal output, and tools, but some collaboration patterns need more than a text box. Human feedback is often visual, spatial, comparative, or stateful. You might want to point at an exact thing, organize a set of decisions, mark several related items, or hand off a structured view of what matters.
Codex UX is the layer for those interactions.
The broader vision is a family of small, local UX surfaces that help humans and coding agents share context cleanly. File Browser is first because anchored file feedback is an immediate, useful version of that idea.
The plugin includes:
codex-ux-file-browser: the skill Codex uses to launch and operate the File Browser.- A local Python server for serving the read-only browser and snapshot API.
- Built frontend assets for the File Browser UI.
Everything runs locally. The browser serves files from the workspace you are reviewing and skips common large, generated, and secret-bearing paths.
Codex UX is early. The File Browser already works for local file browsing, anchored notes, and handoff back to Codex. The next step is to keep the first surface small and useful while expanding AgentUX based on workflows that genuinely need richer interaction.