Codex CLI: Run Shell Commands During Agent Tasks & Enterprise Controls
CodexCodex CLI 0.99.0 was released on February 11, 2026, introducing the ability to run direct shell commands concurrently alongside active agent turns without interruption. The update also adds an interactive /statusline command for configuring the TUI footer, a sortable resume picker, expanded app-server APIs for enterprise turn-steering, GIF and WebP image attachment support, and shell environment snapshotting.
Sources & Mentions
3 external resources covering this update
Overview
Version 0.99.0 of the Codex CLI, released February 11, 2026, is a substantial feature release that improves developer interactivity, enterprise configurability, and agent programmability. The release addresses longstanding friction around shell command interruption during active turns and expands the app-server protocol surface considerably.
Core Improvements
Concurrent Shell Command Execution
Previously, running a direct shell command while an agent turn was in flight would interrupt that turn. Version 0.99.0 resolves this: direct shell commands now execute concurrently alongside active turns without disruption. This significantly improves multi-tasking workflows where a developer needs to run quick terminal commands while an agent is still processing a longer task.
Interactive Statusline Configuration
A new /statusline slash command allows users to configure which metadata appears in the TUI footer interactively, without editing configuration files. Users can choose exactly which status indicators are shown, customizing the information density of the terminal UI to match their preferences.
Sortable Resume Picker
The TUI resume picker — used to resume previous sessions — can now toggle its sort order between creation time and last-updated time. An in-picker mode indicator makes the current sort mode visible at a glance.
App-Server and Enterprise Features
Expanded App-Server APIs
App-server clients receive several new dedicated APIs in this release:
- Steering active turns mid-execution
- Listing available experimental features
- Resuming suspended agents
- Opting out of specific notification types
These APIs expand the surface area available to integrations and automation pipelines built on top of the Codex app-server protocol.
Enterprise Network and Search Constraints
Operators and enterprise admins can now define web search mode restrictions and network constraints through a requirements.toml configuration file. This allows organizations to enforce policy-compliant behavior around network access and search capabilities within Codex sessions.
Media and Attachments
Image attachment support has been expanded to include GIF and WebP formats in addition to the previously supported image types. Shell environment snapshotting has also been enabled, capturing rc files and the active shell environment at session start.
Bug Fixes and Reliability
- Fixed a Windows startup issue where buffered keypresses caused the TUI sign-in flow to exit immediately
- Required MCP servers now fail fast during start/resume flows rather than continuing in a broken state
- Fixed a file-watcher bug that emitted spurious skills reload events, which could generate very large log files
- Multiple TUI input reliability improvements: long option labels now wrap correctly, Tab submits in steer mode when idle, history recall keeps cursor placement consistent, and stashed drafts restore image placeholders correctly
- Fixed model-modality edge cases with clearer
view_imageerrors on text-only models - Reduced false approval mismatches for wrapped and heredoc shell commands
Security and Distribution
A security-driven dependency update for the time crate (RUSTSEC-2026-0009) was pulled in. NPM release packaging was restructured to distribute platform-specific binaries via @openai/codex dist-tags, reducing package-size pressure while preserving platform-specific installs.