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Codex

The Codex runtime (Codex CLI) is a first-class SDTK runtime alongside Claude Code: the same skills install into Codex's skill directory, and AGENTS.md guidance routes sessions the same way.

Setup

bash
npm install -g sdtk-kit
sdtk init --runtime codex

Codex defaults to user scope — skills land in $CODEX_HOME/skills/ (default ~/.codex/skills/), installed once for every project on the machine.

Project scope with CODEX_HOME

Codex resolves its home from the CODEX_HOME environment variable, so project-scoped skills work via an explicit launch contract: point CODEX_HOME at a .codex directory inside the project, both when initializing and when launching Codex.

bash
# initialize into the project
CODEX_HOME=$(pwd)/.codex sdtk init --runtime codex --runtime-scope project

# launch Codex against the same home
CODEX_HOME=$(pwd)/.codex codex

If you launch Codex without that variable, it uses ~/.codex and won't see project-scoped skills — the contract is only as good as the launch command.

Using the skills

Codex has no slash-command syntax; invoke skills by name in the session:

text
Use the orchestrator skill.
I want to build a lightweight CRM for solo consultants to track leads.

Init writes AGENTS.md session guidance so the model picks up SDTK routing (discovery gate, phase pipeline, smallest-sufficient-workflow) at session start. All CLIs (sdtk-spec, sdtk-wiki, sdtk-agent, …) work identically regardless of runtime.

Naming note

The runtime is "Codex" and SDTK supports it — but SDTK is not a Codex product. You'll see "Codex runtime" in these docs, never a combined product name.

What calls leave your machine

Same story as every runtime: SDTK CLIs are local; model/API calls happen when you run a Codex session. Repo-owned artifacts stay in your repository.

Keeping skills current

bash
sdtk update
sdtk init --runtime codex --force        # user scope
CODEX_HOME=$(pwd)/.codex sdtk init --runtime codex --runtime-scope project --force

Where to go next

SDTK — governed, auditable, resumable AI-assisted engineering.