Codex Chef

Getting Codex running is the easy part. Turning it into a setup that stays clear, useful, and safe after the first week takes much more work.

I built Codex Chef because I kept solving the same setup problems: which agent should handle a task, which skill should guide it, which MCP is safe to use, what needs approval, and how to prove the result instead of trusting a confident answer.

Codex Chef is an unofficial community starter built around official Codex documentation. It gives you a reviewed, open-source starting point without copying somebody else's private machine, credentials, sessions, or local memory.

Built for Codex. The ideas are portable to other terminal agents, but this repository does not claim drop-in Claude or multi-client compatibility.

👋 Start With What You Need

Explore What you will find
🤖 See 11 coordinators + 21 specialists The coordination roles, specialist workers, and when delegation is actually useful.
🧩 Browse the skill catalog Eleven bundled workflows, fifteen reviewed full-install skills, and the optional references that stay out of the default path.
🔌 Open the MCP catalog The balanced three-server default, optional local capabilities, eight gated connectors, and their process/access boundaries.
📜 Read the installed working agreement The user-wide defaults installed as ~/.codex/AGENTS.md; a repository-local AGENTS.md still has precedence.
🛡️ Read the security model Preview-first changes, backups, approval gates, secret handling, and the actions Codex Chef deliberately leaves to you.

🍳 What Codex Chef Adds

Agents: the right specialist, only when it helps

The starter includes roles such as code_mapper, root_cause_debugger, security_auditor, docs_author, and test_verifier. They are not permanent background services. A matching role is guidance; Codex spawns a subagent only when the work can be split safely or you ask for delegation.

Meet every agent and see its real role file →

Global AGENTS.md: durable defaults that stay reviewable

Codex Chef installs this global working agreement as ~/.codex/AGENTS.md. It makes the operating, safety, routing, design, and verification defaults visible before you install them. A repository-local AGENTS.md remains more specific and takes precedence, so project conventions continue to win where they should.

See where global guidance fits with config, skills, MCPs, and rules →

Skills: a reliable way to repeat a workflow

Skills teach Codex how to handle a focused job. Codex sees a short description first and loads the full instructions only when the task matches. Codex Chef ships eleven local plugin workflows and offers fifteen reviewed skills through the full install profile. Every local workflow is synchronized as a managed direct skill, so calls such as $adaptive-agent-routing, $context-budget-planner, $fetch, $seo, and $evidence-research work without a separate plugin installation. The equivalent plugin namespace becomes available only after the marketplace plugin is installed and a new Codex session is started.

See what is bundled, installed, and optional →

MCPs: tools and live context with visible boundaries

MCP connects Codex to documentation, browsers, semantic code navigation, memory, and codebase graph reads. The balanced base enables the remote openaiDeveloperDocs server plus local context7 and a lightweight Serena bridge. The bridge starts no Serena/LSP at session startup: the same canonical project shares one lazy backend, while a distinct worktree gets its own only when semantic navigation is actually used. The other five local stdio servers (sequential-thinking, playwright, chrome-devtools, memory, and codebase-memory) stay configured but off so concurrent Codex windows do not eagerly duplicate their Node/Python helper trees. Use the full profile for one capability-heavy primary session and multi-session for low-process secondary sessions. Account, database, production, and broad-filesystem connectors remain off until you deliberately enable them.

See every MCP, prerequisite, and access boundary →

🧭 How The Pieces Fit Together

You describe the task. Routing chooses the narrowest useful surface. Risky actions pause for approval. Verification checks what actually happened.

🚀 Preview First, Install Second

You need Git, Node.js 18 or newer, npm/npx, and Codex. If one is missing, use the installation guide instead of guessing.

git clone https://github.com/ucsahinn/codex-chef.git
cd codex-chef
npm run chef -- --install

The first command is a preview. It shows what Codex Chef would manage without writing to your Codex home.

When the preview looks right:

npm run chef -- --install --apply

The same commands work on macOS, Linux, and WSL. The installer backs up managed targets before replacement and does not prune user-owned skills, MCPs, profiles, or unrelated plugin files.

Four commands worth remembering

Need Command
Preview the install npm run chef -- --install
Check repo health npm run chef -- --status --repo-only --no-log
See the routing contract npm run chef -- --routing --profile starter-health
Audit Codex/MCP process ownership npm run chef -- --processes --no-log

Repair, diagnostics, updates, process checks, expected output, and direct installer commands live in the operator documentation.

🛡️ Safe Defaults, Not Hidden Access

  • Destructive actions, credential access, database work, publishing, releases, deployments, and broad filesystem access stay behind explicit approval.
  • Authenticated connectors such as GitHub, Figma, Linear, Notion, Sentry, Vercel, and Supabase are not enabled just because they exist in the catalog.
  • Codex Chef does not import browser sessions, copy private memory, store secrets, send maintainer telemetry, or silently commit and push your work.

Want to verify the repository yourself?

npm run check

The check covers docs, installers, agents, skills, MCPs, routing, package contents, supply-chain indicators, and security boundaries.

📚 Go Deeper Without Digging Around

English and Turkish deep docs contain the complete operator guidance. The other four README entry points are concise, human-written routes into those guides.

🤝 Feedback Is Welcome

Codex Chef grew out of real setup friction, and I am still improving it. If a section is unclear, a catalog entry feels wrong, or the first run makes you hesitate, please open an issue and tell me where.

If the project saves you time, a GitHub star helps more people find it. ⭐

MIT licensed. Community maintained. Not an OpenAI product.