codex-relay: Instructions file for Codex

Agent Operating Guide

This repository is intended to be maintained by humans and coding agents. Agents must preserve repo hygiene, secrets hygiene, and release discipline from the beginning.

Prime Directive

Build Codex Relay as a production-shaped Slack control plane for local and self-hosted Codex execution. Favor durable, testable, documented changes over demo-only shortcuts.

Safety Rules

• Never print, commit, move, overwrite, or normalize .env secrets.
• Do not edit .env unless the user explicitly asks for a specific change.
• Keep .codex-slack/, dist/, node_modules/, logs, worktrees, tokens, and generated local runtime state out of git.
• Do not use danger-full-access, --yolo, or equivalent unsafe Codex execution defaults in product code.
• Preserve workspace isolation: approved write tasks must run in session worktrees, not a user's active branch.
• Do not revert user changes unless explicitly requested.

Engineering Standards

• Use TypeScript with strict typechecking.
• Keep Slack gateway, orchestrator, local runner, shared types, infra, and docs boundaries clear.
• Prefer existing local patterns over new abstractions.
• Add abstractions only when they remove real duplication or define a durable boundary.
• Treat Slack messages, Codex prompts, command output, and diffs as sensitive data.
• Make state transitions idempotent where Slack retries or duplicate button clicks are plausible.

Custody-First Workflow

• Use Custody-First Orchestration for all non-trivial repository work.
• Create or activate a machine-readable packet in docs/work-packets/ before starting a meaningful implementation, release, security, governance, or visual-asset chunk.
• Keep packet ownership narrow: one owner, exact paths or named concerns, explicit non-goals, acceptance criteria, verification, risks, and handoff expectations.
• Keep active/review/verify packet scopes disjoint. If two packets may touch the same files or concern, serialize the work.
• Run npm run check:work-packets whenever packet state changes.
• Do not mark a packet done without completed verification, evidence, handoff notes, reviewer/verifier, date, checks, and commit or artifact reference.
• Record maintenance history in docs/MAINTENANCE_AUDIT.md and active status in docs/TASKS.md.
• External Custody-First scaffold work is currently tabled. Do not edit any external scaffold repository unless the user explicitly reopens that project.