Codex CLI Adds --approve-for-me Flag for Automated Approval Reviews
CodexCodex CLI 0.147.0 introduced a new --approve-for-me command-line flag that enables automatically reviewed approvals, letting Codex proceed through routine actions without stopping for manual sign-off on each one while still applying an automated review layer behind the scenes. This targets a common source of friction for CLI users: constant interruption for low-risk approvals during long agent runs. The flag arrives in the same release as expanded thread organization tooling, continuing Codex CLI's push toward smoother handling of long, autonomous sessions.
Key Takeaways
- The new
--approve-for-meflag lets Codex CLI proceed through routine actions without pausing for manual approval on each one. - Approvals are still automatically reviewed rather than bypassed outright, distinguishing it from a full auto-approve/no-oversight mode.
- It arrives in the same release that removed the older
--full-autoflag, signalling a shift toward more explicit, layered approval controls. - The change directly addresses approval fatigue, a common complaint during long-running or multi-step Codex agent sessions.
- It complements Codex's broader move toward longer, more autonomous sessions (multi-agent runs, remote execution, extended thread management).
- Ships in Codex CLI 0.147.0, installable via
npm install -g @openai/codex@0.147.0, released August 7, 2026.
Sources & Mentions
2 external resources covering this update
Automatically Reviewed Approvals
Codex CLI 0.147.0, released August 7, 2026, added a new --approve-for-me flag that lets developers hand off the moment-to-moment approval decisions Codex normally asks for during a session. Rather than pausing for a manual yes/no on each command or file change, invoking Codex with this flag enables automatically reviewed approvals: actions proceed without interruption, backed by an automated review pass rather than a blanket bypass of all safety checks.
This distinguishes the new flag from Codex's older, fully manual full-auto behavior (the --full-auto flag was in fact removed in this same 0.147.0 release, in favor of the more explicit --sandbox workspace-write configuration). Where a pure "skip all approvals" mode trades away oversight entirely, --approve-for-me is positioned as a middle ground — it removes the interruption of live prompts while keeping an automated review layer in the loop, consistent with the safety-review work Codex has been building into its auto-review system across recent releases.
Why It Matters for Long Sessions
Approval fatigue is one of the most commonly cited frustrations with agentic coding CLIs: the more autonomous and long-running a Codex session becomes, the more often a developer is pulled back in just to click "approve." As Codex CLI has leaned further into long-running, multi-agent, and remote-execution workflows over recent months, that friction compounds. --approve-for-me gives developers a way to opt into a smoother, less interruptive session for routine or lower-risk work, without abandoning automated safety checks altogether.
The flag ships alongside the release's broader thread-organization improvements (persistent sections and incremental transcript loading), though the two are independent, unrelated changes bundled into the same version. The update is available via npm install -g @openai/codex@0.147.0.