Codex Skill Admin

Codex Skill Admin

Use Codex's official skill config API. Do not edit SKILL.md frontmatter to disable a skill, and do not uninstall plugins unless the user explicitly asks for uninstall.

Quick Start

Use the bundled script for normal work:

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SKILL_DIR="${CODEX_SKILL_ADMIN_DIR:-$HOME/.agents/skills/codex-skill-admin}"
if [ ! -d "$SKILL_DIR" ]; then
  SKILL_DIR="${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/codex-skill-admin"
fi
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" list --cwd "$PWD"
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" audit-unused --cwd "$PWD" --days 30
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" disable-unused --cwd "$PWD" --days 30
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" disable-unused --cwd "$PWD" --days 30 --apply
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" disable-unused --cwd "$PWD" --days 10 --max-uses 2
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" audit-unused --cwd "$PWD" --days 30 --exclude-session /path/to/session.jsonl
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" verify --cwd "$PWD"

The script starts a temporary localhost codex app-server, calls:

• skills/list
• skills/config/write

It saves apply-mode backups under:

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${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/backup/skill-disable-unused-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS/

Workflow

1. Run list to get the current total, enabled, and disabled counts.
2. Run audit-unused --days 30 to inspect high-confidence recent usage.
3. Optionally add --max-uses N to include low-frequency skills. Example: --days 10 --max-uses 2 targets enabled skills used in at most 2 distinct recent session/source files.
4. Run disable-unused --days 30 without --apply and inspect the dry-run output.
5. If the user asked to close unused or low-frequency skills, run disable-unused --apply.
6. Verify with verify, or with list --force-reload plus prompt-count.
7. Report counts, backup path, threshold parameters, and any limits of the usage evidence.

System skills are preserved by default. Use --include-system only when the user explicitly asks to consider system skills too.

The Codex desktop Skills tab count is a total discovered skill count. It is expected to stay unchanged after disabling skills. Treat enabledCount and availableSkillCount as the token-load success metrics.

Usage Evidence

The audit is intentionally conservative:

• Count a read only when a function_call or custom_tool_call contains an actual file-read operation. functions.exec wrappers are parsed for read commands such as cat and sed; structured read tools are parsed from their path input.
• Require a matching tool result. A result marked successful, with exit code 0, or with non-empty output counts as success; a failed result never counts as usage.
• Filter each event timestamp by the requested window. A recent session file does not make an old event recent. Missing or unparseable timestamps are reported as unknown and do not count as usage.
• Count usageCount as distinct evidence session/source files. Repeated successful reads in one session increase evidenceCount, but do not inflate usageCount.
• Keep failed, unmatched, unknown, and unsupported read intents in separate audit fields. They protect the affected enabled Skill from becoming a disable candidate until the evidence is classifiable.
• Ignore prose mentions, SKILL.md paths in general audit/available-Skills listings, and OMO fingerprints without structured tool events. OMO events are counted only when they retain the same call/result evidence.

This is local evidence, not the product Profile page's server-side analytics.

audit-unused and disable-unused accept repeatable --exclude-session PATH arguments. They also read CODEX_SKILL_ADMIN_SESSION, CODEX_SESSION_FILE, CODEX_SESSION_PATH, CODEX_SESSION_ID, and CODEX_THREAD_ID when set, so the current audit session can be excluded without copying private session data. The default --exclude-current-audit setting ignores calls that invoke this script's own audit-unused or disable-unused command; use --no-exclude-current-audit only when inspecting that invocation itself. An excluded session is reported in excludedSessionCount and does not contribute evidence.

The audit JSON keeps the existing usedEnabled, disableCandidates, usageCount, and evidenceCount fields. It additionally reports the per-path readIntent, unknown, failed, and unsupported evidence, plus uncertainEnabled, rawReadIntentSkillPathCount, rawUnknownSkillPathCount, rawFailedSkillPathCount, unsupportedEvidenceCount, outsideWindowCount, and missingTimestampCount. disableCandidates contains enabled Skills with no proven usage and no uncertain read intent; an uncertain or unsupported record is never silently treated as zero use.

If the same skill appears through multiple equivalent paths, set path aliases before auditing:

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export CODEX_SKILL_ADMIN_PATH_ALIASES="/old/root=/new/root"

Use the platform path separator for multiple aliases.

Verification

After an apply run:

1. Run verify --cwd "$PWD".
2. Confirm enabledCount dropped and target skills appear in list --force-reload --disabled.
3. Confirm availableSkillCount dropped versus the pre-run count when disabled skills were previously prompt-visible.
4. Ignore the desktop UI tab count for token savings; it counts total discovered skills, including disabled ones.
5. If the result is wrong, run restore --backup-dir <backupDir> using the backup path from the apply output.

Backup files include local skill paths and usage evidence. Treat them as private machine-local diagnostics.

Restore

Restore a previous disable run:

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SKILL_DIR="${CODEX_SKILL_ADMIN_DIR:-$HOME/.agents/skills/codex-skill-admin}"
if [ ! -d "$SKILL_DIR" ]; then
  SKILL_DIR="${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/skills/codex-skill-admin"
fi
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" restore --backup-dir "${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/backup/skill-disable-unused-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS"

Direct Set

Use set for specific skill toggles only after listing or otherwise confirming the target name/path:

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python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" set --name codex-skill-admin --no-enabled
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/codex_skill_admin.py" set --name codex-skill-admin --no-enabled --apply

Without --apply, set prints a dry run and writes nothing.

Manual Protocol Notes

Read references/app-server-protocol.md only when the script fails or the Codex app-server protocol changes.