openclaw/docs/plan/codex-context-engine-harness.md

title, summary, read_when

title	summary	read_when
Codex Harness Context Engine Port	Specification for making the bundled Codex app-server harness honor OpenClaw context-engine plugins	You are wiring context-engine lifecycle behavior into the Codex harness You need lossless-claw or another context-engine plugin to work with codex/* embedded harness sessions You are comparing embedded OpenClaw and Codex app-server context behavior

Status

Draft implementation specification.

Goal

Make the bundled Codex app-server harness honor the same OpenClaw context-engine lifecycle contract that embedded OpenClaw turns already honor.

A session using provider/model agentRuntime.id: "codex" or a codex/* model should still let the selected context-engine plugin, such as lossless-claw, control context assembly, post-turn ingest, maintenance, and OpenClaw-level compaction policy as far as the Codex app-server boundary allows.

Non-goals

• Do not reimplement Codex app-server internals.
• Do not make Codex native thread compaction produce a lossless-claw summary.
• Do not require non-Codex models to use the Codex harness.
• Do not change ACP/acpx session behavior. This specification is for the non-ACP embedded agent harness path only.
• Do not make third-party plugins register Codex app-server extension factories; the existing bundled-plugin trust boundary remains unchanged.

Current architecture

The embedded run loop resolves the configured context engine once per run before selecting a concrete low-level harness:

• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/run.ts
  • initializes context-engine plugins
  • calls resolveContextEngine(params.config)
  • passes contextEngine and contextTokenBudget into runEmbeddedAttemptWithBackend(...)

runEmbeddedAttemptWithBackend(...) delegates to the selected agent harness:

• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/run/backend.ts
• src/agents/harness/selection.ts

The Codex app-server harness is registered by the bundled Codex plugin:

• extensions/codex/index.ts
• extensions/codex/harness.ts

The Codex harness implementation receives the same EmbeddedRunAttemptParams as built-in OpenClaw attempts:

• extensions/codex/src/app-server/run-attempt.ts

That means the required hook point is in OpenClaw-controlled code. The external boundary is the Codex app-server protocol itself: OpenClaw can control what it sends to thread/start, thread/resume, and turn/start, and can observe notifications, but it cannot change Codex's internal thread store or native compactor.

Current gap

Built-in OpenClaw attempts call the context-engine lifecycle directly:

• bootstrap/maintenance before the attempt
• assemble before the model call
• afterTurn or ingest after the attempt
• maintenance after a successful turn
• context-engine compaction for engines that own compaction

Relevant OpenClaw code:

• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/run/attempt.ts
• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/run/attempt.context-engine-helpers.ts
• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/context-engine-maintenance.ts

Codex app-server attempts currently run generic agent-harness hooks and mirror the transcript, but do not call params.contextEngine.bootstrap, params.contextEngine.assemble, params.contextEngine.afterTurn, params.contextEngine.ingestBatch, params.contextEngine.ingest, or params.contextEngine.maintain.

Relevant Codex code:

• extensions/codex/src/app-server/run-attempt.ts
• extensions/codex/src/app-server/thread-lifecycle.ts
• extensions/codex/src/app-server/event-projector.ts
• extensions/codex/src/app-server/compact.ts

Desired behavior

For Codex harness turns, OpenClaw should preserve this lifecycle:

1. Read the mirrored OpenClaw session transcript.
2. Bootstrap the active context engine when a previous session file exists.
3. Run bootstrap maintenance when available.
4. Assemble context using the active context engine.
5. Convert the assembled context into Codex-compatible inputs.
6. Start or resume the Codex thread with developer instructions that include any context-engine systemPromptAddition.
7. Start the Codex turn with the assembled user-facing prompt.
8. Mirror the Codex result back into the OpenClaw transcript.
9. Call afterTurn if implemented, otherwise ingestBatch/ingest, using the mirrored transcript snapshot.
10. Run turn maintenance after successful non-aborted turns.
11. Preserve Codex native compaction signals and OpenClaw compaction hooks.

Design constraints

Codex app-server remains canonical for native thread state

Codex owns its native thread and any internal extended history. OpenClaw should not try to mutate the app-server's internal history except through supported protocol calls.

OpenClaw's transcript mirror remains the source for OpenClaw features:

• chat history
• search
• /new and /reset bookkeeping
• future model or harness switching
• context-engine plugin state

Context engine assembly must be projected into Codex inputs

The context-engine interface returns OpenClaw AgentMessage[], not a Codex thread patch. Codex app-server turn/start accepts a current user input, while thread/start and thread/resume accept developer instructions.

Therefore the implementation needs a projection layer. The safe first version should avoid pretending it can replace Codex internal history. It should inject assembled context as deterministic prompt/developer-instruction material around the current turn.

Prompt-cache stability matters

For engines like lossless-claw, the assembled context should be deterministic for unchanged inputs. Do not add timestamps, random ids, or nondeterministic ordering to generated context text.

Runtime selection semantics do not change

Harness selection remains as-is:

• runtime: "openclaw" selects the built-in OpenClaw harness
• runtime: "codex" selects the registered Codex harness
• runtime: "auto" lets plugin harnesses claim supported providers
• unmatched auto runs use the built-in OpenClaw harness

This work changes what happens after the Codex harness is selected.

Implementation plan

1. Export or relocate reusable context-engine attempt helpers

Today the reusable lifecycle helpers live under the embedded agent runner:

• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/run/attempt.context-engine-helpers.ts
• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/run/attempt.prompt-helpers.ts
• src/agents/embedded-agent-runner/context-engine-maintenance.ts

Codex should import harness-neutral helpers rather than reaching into runner implementation details.

Create a harness-neutral module, for example:

• src/agents/harness/context-engine-lifecycle.ts

Move or re-export:

• runAttemptContextEngineBootstrap
• assembleAttemptContextEngine
• finalizeAttemptContextEngineTurn
• buildAfterTurnRuntimeContext
• buildAfterTurnRuntimeContextFromUsage
• a small wrapper around runContextEngineMaintenance

Update built-in harness call sites in the same PR.

The neutral helper names should not mention the built-in harness.

Suggested names:

• bootstrapHarnessContextEngine
• assembleHarnessContextEngine
• finalizeHarnessContextEngineTurn
• buildHarnessContextEngineRuntimeContext
• runHarnessContextEngineMaintenance

2. Add a Codex context projection helper

Add a new module:

• extensions/codex/src/app-server/context-engine-projection.ts

Responsibilities:

• Accept the assembled AgentMessage[], original mirrored history, and current prompt.
• Determine which context belongs in developer instructions vs current user input.
• Preserve the current user prompt as the final actionable request.
• Render prior messages in a stable, explicit format.
• Avoid volatile metadata.

Proposed API:

export type CodexContextProjection = {
  developerInstructionAddition?: string;
  promptText: string;
  assembledMessages: AgentMessage[];
  prePromptMessageCount: number;
};

export function projectContextEngineAssemblyForCodex(params: {
  assembledMessages: AgentMessage[];
  originalHistoryMessages: AgentMessage[];
  prompt: string;
  systemPromptAddition?: string;
}): CodexContextProjection;

Recommended first projection:

• Put systemPromptAddition into developer instructions.
• Put the assembled transcript context before the current prompt in promptText.
• Label it clearly as OpenClaw assembled context.
• Keep current prompt last.
• Exclude duplicate current user prompt if it already appears at the tail.

Example prompt shape:

OpenClaw assembled context for this turn:

<conversation_context>
[user]
...

[assistant]
...
</conversation_context>

Current user request:
...

This is less elegant than native Codex history surgery, but it is implementable inside OpenClaw and preserves context-engine semantics.

Future improvement: if Codex app-server exposes a protocol for replacing or supplementing thread history, swap this projection layer to use that API.

3. Wire bootstrap before Codex thread startup

In extensions/codex/src/app-server/run-attempt.ts:

• Read mirrored session history as today.
• Determine whether the session file existed before this run. Prefer a helper that checks fs.stat(params.sessionFile) before mirroring writes.
• Open a SessionManager or use a narrow session manager adapter if the helper requires it.
• Call the neutral bootstrap helper when params.contextEngine exists.

Pseudo-flow:

const hadSessionFile = await fileExists(params.sessionFile);
const sessionManager = SessionManager.open(params.sessionFile);
const historyMessages = sessionManager.buildSessionContext().messages;

await bootstrapHarnessContextEngine({
  hadSessionFile,
  contextEngine: params.contextEngine,
  sessionId: params.sessionId,
  sessionKey: sandboxSessionKey,
  sessionFile: params.sessionFile,
  sessionManager,
  runtimeContext: buildHarnessContextEngineRuntimeContext(...),
  runMaintenance: runHarnessContextEngineMaintenance,
  warn,
});

Use the same sessionKey convention as the Codex tool bridge and transcript mirror. Today Codex computes sandboxSessionKey from params.sessionKey or params.sessionId; use that consistently unless there is a reason to preserve raw params.sessionKey.

4. Wire assemble before thread/start / thread/resume and turn/start

In runCodexAppServerAttempt:

1. Build dynamic tools first, so the context engine sees the actual available tool names.
2. Read mirrored session history.
3. Run context-engine assemble(...) when params.contextEngine exists.
4. Project the assembled result into:
   • developer instruction addition
   • prompt text for turn/start

The existing hook call:

resolveAgentHarnessBeforePromptBuildResult({
  prompt: params.prompt,
  developerInstructions: buildDeveloperInstructions(params),
  messages: historyMessages,
  ctx: hookContext,
});

should become context-aware:

1. compute base developer instructions with buildDeveloperInstructions(params)
2. apply context-engine assembly/projection
3. run before_prompt_build with the projected prompt/developer instructions

This order lets generic prompt hooks see the same prompt Codex will receive. If we need strict OpenClaw parity, run context-engine assembly before hook composition, because the built-in harness applies context-engine systemPromptAddition to the final system prompt after its prompt pipeline. The important invariant is that both context engine and hooks get a deterministic, documented order.

Recommended order for first implementation:

1. buildDeveloperInstructions(params)
2. context-engine assemble()
3. append/prepend systemPromptAddition to developer instructions
4. project assembled messages into prompt text
5. resolveAgentHarnessBeforePromptBuildResult(...)
6. pass final developer instructions to startOrResumeThread(...)
7. pass final prompt text to buildTurnStartParams(...)

The spec should be encoded in tests so future changes do not reorder it by accident.

5. Preserve prompt-cache stable formatting

The projection helper must produce byte-stable output for identical inputs:

• stable message order
• stable role labels
• no generated timestamps
• no object key order leakage
• no random delimiters
• no per-run ids

Use fixed delimiters and explicit sections.

6. Wire post-turn after transcript mirroring

Codex's CodexAppServerEventProjector builds a local messagesSnapshot for the current turn. mirrorTranscriptBestEffort(...) writes that snapshot into the OpenClaw transcript mirror.

After mirroring succeeds or fails, call the context-engine finalizer with the best available message snapshot:

• Prefer full mirrored session context after the write, because afterTurn expects the session snapshot, not only the current turn.
• Fall back to historyMessages + result.messagesSnapshot if the session file cannot be reopened.

Pseudo-flow:

const prePromptMessageCount = historyMessages.length;
await mirrorTranscriptBestEffort(...);
const finalMessages = readMirroredSessionHistoryMessages(params.sessionFile)
  ?? [...historyMessages, ...result.messagesSnapshot];

await finalizeHarnessContextEngineTurn({
  contextEngine: params.contextEngine,
  promptError: Boolean(finalPromptError),
  aborted: finalAborted,
  yieldAborted,
  sessionIdUsed: params.sessionId,
  sessionKey: sandboxSessionKey,
  sessionFile: params.sessionFile,
  messagesSnapshot: finalMessages,
  prePromptMessageCount,
  tokenBudget: params.contextTokenBudget,
  runtimeContext: buildHarnessContextEngineRuntimeContextFromUsage({
    attempt: params,
    workspaceDir: effectiveWorkspace,
    agentDir,
    tokenBudget: params.contextTokenBudget,
    lastCallUsage: result.attemptUsage,
    promptCache: result.promptCache,
  }),
  runMaintenance: runHarnessContextEngineMaintenance,
  sessionManager,
  warn,
});

If mirroring fails, still call afterTurn with the fallback snapshot, but log that the context engine is ingesting from fallback turn data.

7. Normalize usage and prompt-cache runtime context

Codex results include normalized usage from app-server token notifications when available. Pass that usage into the context-engine runtime context.

If Codex app-server eventually exposes cache read/write details, map them into ContextEnginePromptCacheInfo. Until then, omit promptCache rather than inventing zeros.

8. Compaction policy

There are two compaction systems:

1. OpenClaw context-engine compact()
2. Codex app-server native thread/compact/start

Do not silently conflate them.

/compact and explicit OpenClaw compaction

When the selected context engine has info.ownsCompaction === true, explicit OpenClaw compaction should prefer the context engine's compact() result for the OpenClaw transcript mirror and plugin state.

When the selected Codex harness has a native thread binding, we may additionally request Codex native compaction to keep the app-server thread healthy, but this must be reported as a separate backend action in details.

Recommended behavior:

• If contextEngine.info.ownsCompaction === true:
  • call context-engine compact() first
  • then best-effort call Codex native compaction when a thread binding exists
  • return the context-engine result as the primary result
  • include Codex native compaction status in details.codexNativeCompaction
• If the active context engine does not own compaction:
  • preserve current Codex native compaction behavior

This likely requires changing extensions/codex/src/app-server/compact.ts or wrapping it from the generic compaction path, depending on where maybeCompactAgentHarnessSession(...) is invoked.

In-turn Codex native contextCompaction events

Codex may emit contextCompaction item events during a turn. Keep the current before/after compaction hook emission in event-projector.ts, but do not treat that as a completed context-engine compaction.

For engines that own compaction, emit an explicit diagnostic when Codex performs native compaction anyway:

• stream/event name: existing compaction stream is acceptable
• details: { backend: "codex-app-server", ownsCompaction: true }

This makes the split auditable.

9. Session reset and binding behavior

The existing Codex harness reset(...) clears the Codex app-server binding from the OpenClaw session file. Preserve that behavior.

Also ensure context-engine state cleanup continues to happen through existing OpenClaw session lifecycle paths. Do not add Codex-specific cleanup unless the context-engine lifecycle currently misses reset/delete events for all harnesses.

10. Error handling

Follow built-in OpenClaw semantics:

• bootstrap failures warn and continue
• assemble failures warn and fall back to unassembled pipeline messages/prompt
• afterTurn/ingest failures warn and mark post-turn finalization unsuccessful
• maintenance runs only after successful, non-aborted, non-yield turns
• compaction errors should not be retried as fresh prompts

Codex-specific additions:

• If context projection fails, warn and fall back to the original prompt.
• If transcript mirror fails, still attempt context-engine finalization with fallback messages.
• If Codex native compaction fails after context-engine compaction succeeds, do not fail the whole OpenClaw compaction when the context engine is primary.

Test plan

Unit tests

Add tests under extensions/codex/src/app-server:

1. run-attempt.context-engine.test.ts

   • Codex calls bootstrap when a session file exists.
   • Codex calls assemble with mirrored messages, token budget, tool names, citations mode, model id, and prompt.
   • systemPromptAddition is included in developer instructions.
   • Assembled messages are projected into the prompt before current request.
   • Codex calls afterTurn after transcript mirroring.
   • Without afterTurn, Codex calls ingestBatch or per-message ingest.
   • Turn maintenance runs after successful turns.
   • Turn maintenance does not run on prompt error, abort, or yield abort.

2. context-engine-projection.test.ts

   • stable output for identical inputs
   • no duplicate current prompt when assembled history includes it
   • handles empty history
   • preserves role order
   • includes system prompt addition only in developer instructions

3. compact.context-engine.test.ts

   • owning context engine primary result wins
   • Codex native compaction status appears in details when also attempted
   • Codex native failure does not fail owning context-engine compaction
   • non-owning context engine preserves current native compaction behavior

Existing tests to update

• extensions/codex/src/app-server/run-attempt.test.ts if present, otherwise nearest Codex app-server run tests.
• extensions/codex/src/app-server/event-projector.test.ts only if compaction event details change.
• src/agents/harness/selection.test.ts should not need changes unless config behavior changes; it should remain stable.
• Built-in harness context-engine tests should continue to pass unchanged.

Integration / live tests

Add or extend live Codex harness smoke tests:

• configure plugins.slots.contextEngine to a test engine
• configure agents.defaults.model to a codex/* model
• configure provider/model agentRuntime.id = "codex"
• assert test engine observed:
  • bootstrap
  • assemble
  • afterTurn or ingest
  • maintenance

Avoid requiring lossless-claw in OpenClaw core tests. Use a small in-repo fake context engine plugin.

Observability

Add debug logs around Codex context-engine lifecycle calls:

• codex context engine bootstrap started/completed/failed
• codex context engine assemble applied
• codex context engine finalize completed/failed
• codex context engine maintenance skipped with reason
• codex native compaction completed alongside context-engine compaction

Avoid logging full prompts or transcript contents.

Add structured fields where useful:

• sessionId
• sessionKey redacted or omitted according to existing logging practice
• engineId
• threadId
• turnId
• assembledMessageCount
• estimatedTokens
• hasSystemPromptAddition

Migration / compatibility

This should be backward-compatible:

• If no context engine is configured, legacy context engine behavior should be equivalent to today's Codex harness behavior.
• If context-engine assemble fails, Codex should continue with the original prompt path.
• Existing Codex thread bindings should remain valid.
• Dynamic tool fingerprinting should not include context-engine output; otherwise every context change could force a new Codex thread. Only the tool catalog should affect the dynamic tool fingerprint.

Open questions

1. Should assembled context be injected entirely into the user prompt, entirely into developer instructions, or split?

   Recommendation: split. Put systemPromptAddition in developer instructions; put assembled transcript context in the user prompt wrapper. This best matches the current Codex protocol without mutating native thread history.

2. Should Codex native compaction be disabled when a context engine owns compaction?

   Recommendation: no, not initially. Codex native compaction may still be necessary to keep the app-server thread alive. But it must be reported as native Codex compaction, not as context-engine compaction.

3. Should before_prompt_build run before or after context-engine assembly?

   Recommendation: after context-engine projection for Codex, so generic harness hooks see the actual prompt/developer instructions Codex will receive. If built-in harness parity requires the opposite, encode the chosen order in tests and document it here.

4. Can Codex app-server accept a future structured context/history override?

   Unknown. If it can, replace the text projection layer with that protocol and keep the lifecycle calls unchanged.

Acceptance criteria

• A codex/* embedded harness turn invokes the selected context engine's assemble lifecycle.
• A context-engine systemPromptAddition affects Codex developer instructions.
• Assembled context affects the Codex turn input deterministically.
• Successful Codex turns call afterTurn or ingest fallback.
• Successful Codex turns run context-engine turn maintenance.
• Failed/aborted/yield-aborted turns do not run turn maintenance.
• Context-engine-owned compaction remains primary for OpenClaw/plugin state.
• Codex native compaction remains auditable as native Codex behavior.
• Existing built-in harness context-engine behavior is unchanged.
• Existing Codex harness behavior is unchanged when no non-legacy context engine is selected or when assembly fails.