Agents

Codex

Run the Codex coding agent inside a VM with skills, MCP servers, and custom configuration.

Quick start

import { agentOS, setup } from "@rivet-dev/agentos";
import codex from "@agentos-software/codex";

const vm = agentOS({ software: [codex] });

export const registry = setup({ use: { vm } });
registry.start();

import { createClient } from "@rivet-dev/agentos/client";
import type { registry } from "./server";

const client = createClient<typeof registry>({
	endpoint: "http://localhost:6420",
});
const agent = client.vm.getOrCreate("my-agent");

// ── Quick start ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
async function quickStart() {
	await agent.sessions.open({
		agent: "codex",
		env: { OPENAI_API_KEY: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY! },
	});

	const result = await agent.sessions.prompt({
		content: [
			{ type: "text", text: "What files are in the current directory?" },
		],
	});
	console.log(result.message?.content ?? []);
}

Read Sessions first for session options, streaming events, prompts, and lifecycle management.

Model & credentials

Set the relevant variable(s) on the session’s env, sourced from your server’s environment:

OPENAI_API_KEY — OpenAI API key (built-in openai provider).
OPENAI_BASE_URL — route through a gateway or OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
Custom providers — defined in ~/.codex/config.toml; each provider’s env_key names the variable Codex reads for its key (e.g. AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY, MISTRAL_API_KEY).

See Models & Credentials, and Codex’s config reference for details.

Skills

Codex discovers SKILL.md files from its skills directory. Write the skill into the VM before creating a session and Codex loads it automatically.

// ── Skills ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
//
// Write a SKILL.md into the agent's skills directory before creating the
// session and the agent discovers it automatically.
async function withSkill() {
	const skill = `---
name: commit-style
description: How to write commit messages in this project.
---

Write commit messages in the imperative mood and keep the subject under 50 characters.
`;

	await agent.filesystem.mkdir("/home/agentos/.codex/skills/commit-style");
	await agent.filesystem.writeFile(
		"/home/agentos/.codex/skills/commit-style/SKILL.md",
		skill,
	);

	await agent.sessions.open({
		agent: "codex",
		env: { OPENAI_API_KEY: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY! },
	});
}

MCP servers

Expose extra tools to the agent by passing mcpServers to openSession. Both local child-process servers and remote URLs are supported.

// ── MCP servers ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
//
// Codex reads MCP servers from its own config file. Write a `config.toml`
// into the VM before creating the session — local child-process servers and
// remote URLs are both supported.
async function withMcp() {
	// Pre-install the MCP server so `npx` is silent — first-run install output
	// would otherwise corrupt the MCP stdio handshake ("Connection closed").
	await agent.process.exec("npm install -g @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem");

	const config = `[mcp_servers.filesystem]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/home/agentos"]

[mcp_servers.example]
url = "https://mcp.example.com/sse"
http_headers = { Authorization = "Bearer my-token" }
`;

	await agent.filesystem.writeFile("/home/agentos/.codex/config.toml", config);

	await agent.sessions.open({
		agent: "codex",
		env: { OPENAI_API_KEY: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY! },
	});
}

Pre-install npx-launched servers. A local server started with npx -y … writes install progress to stdout on its first run, which corrupts the MCP stdio handshake (you’ll see Connection closed). Pre-install it in the VM so npx is silent — await agent.process.exec("npm install -g @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem") before the session — or pin the package and point command at the installed binary.

Customizing the agent

Codex is a built-in agent, but it’s just a software package under the hood. To ship your own ACP adapter, swap the underlying agent SDK, or register a tweaked build as a new agent, see Custom Agents.