Codex CLI 0.135.0: Doctor, Vim Text Objects, and the 0.136 Alpha

OpenAI shipped Codex CLI 0.135.0 on May 28, 2026 and tagged 0.136.0-alpha.1 the same evening — a pattern now characteristic of the team's release cadence. This is a diagnostics and developer-experience cycle; no model changes, no new agentic capabilities. The headline items: a substantially expanded codex doctor command, text-object support for Vim mode, remote session visibility in /status, named Sandbox presets in the Python SDK, and TUI rendering fixes for macOS and Zellij users. If you live in either of those environments, this release is worth pulling immediately.

0.135.0 Release Scope: What This Cycle Covers

Codex CLI 0.135.0 is the fifth stable release in a ten-day window . The cycle is DX-only — no model updates, no new agent primitives. OpenAI has held this tempo since mid-May: one stable every five to seven days, each bundled with a same-day alpha tag to seed the next cycle's integration feedback loop.

For teams pinning to stable, Codex now updates roughly twice weekly. Teams willing to track alpha have effectively daily access to new behavior, though alpha.1 tags carry no changelog until alpha.2 or the subsequent stable cut.

codex doctor Now Covers Five Diagnostic Categories

codex doctor was introduced in 0.131.0 and receives its most comprehensive expansion in 0.135.0. Output now spans five structured categories — environment, Git, terminal, app-server, and thread inventory. The design goal, as stated in the OpenAI Codex changelog, is that a single paste of codex doctor output should resolve a support case without any back-and-forth context gathering.

"A paste of codex doctor output should be sufficient for OpenAI support or community troubleshooting without back-and-forth." — OpenAI Codex Changelog, May 2026

What each category surfaces:

• Environment: Runtime versions, platform details, PATH state — the baseline machine snapshot.
• Git: Repo presence, branch, dirty state, and config that may affect Codex's context window.
• Terminal: Emulator detection, color depth, encoding — directly useful for diagnosing TUI rendering issues.
• App-server: Local Codex app server reachability and reported version.
• Thread inventory: Active and recent threads, allowing support teams to reconstruct what was running at failure time.

The recommended bug-report workflow is now: run codex doctor, paste the output verbatim, add the specific behavior you observed. No additional environment description should be necessary.

Vim Mode Gains Text Objects and a Configurable Interrupt Key

Vim mode remains opt-in via config. In 0.135.0, text-object editing becomes functional: ciw, da", and ca( now behave as expected inside the composer pane . Refined word and line-end motion behavior closes the remaining motion gaps present in prior releases — w, e, and $ edge cases are addressed.

The more operationally significant fix is the configurable interrupt binding. Previously, interrupting an in-progress turn required Ctrl-C — a key sequence that tmux and iTerm2 routinely intercept before the signal reaches Codex . A new configurable binding for the interrupt-turn action lets you set an alternative key sequence in config, bypassing that interception entirely. If you have been working around this in a multiplexer environment, you no longer need to.

Remote /status and /permissions Profile Rendering

Two slash commands gain meaningful upgrades in 0.135.0. The /status command now surfaces remote connection details and the server version when Codex is running over remote transport . Before this release, the TUI gave no signal about which backend was serving a remote session — a practical gap for teams operating Codex in headless or server-side configurations.

The /permissions command now renders named permission profiles inline, building on the --profile flag work from 0.134.0 . That earlier release established named profiles as the primary config selector and retired legacy config forms. Teams managing multiple permission postures can now verify their active posture from inside the TUI without leaving the session.

No config migration is required. The 0.134.0 profile format is unchanged; 0.135.0 adds display only. If you skipped 0.134.0, pull that changelog first — the --profile flag is the prerequisite for what /permissions now renders.

Python SDK Sandbox Presets and Zsh Helper Auto-Discovery

The Python SDK for Codex now exposes named Sandbox presets for thread and turn API operations . Instead of constructing raw permission objects in evaluation harnesses or automation scripts, you select a sandbox posture by name. The presets map to documented sandbox configurations — this is a convenience layer over the existing permission model, not an extension of it.

Bundled patched zsh helpers are now auto-discovered across macOS and Linux in non-Homebrew installs . Previously, manual sourcing was required after install in packaged builds. The change is setup ergonomics only — no behavioral difference once running.

TUI Fixes: Tables, macOS Stability, and Completion Behavior

Several TUI-layer issues are resolved in 0.135.0 . The full list:

• Markdown table column sizing: Fixed — wide outputs no longer mis-render in the composer pane.
• macOS and Zellij stability: Corrupted stderr and composer pane state under certain terminal configurations are resolved.
• Slash-command completion: Draft text is preserved when accepting an inline argument. Previously, confirming a completion wiped the current draft — a reproducible but easy-to-miss data loss.
• App mention suggestions: Inaccessible or disabled applications are excluded from suggestion lists.
• Resume flows: Non-interactive exec sessions with working-directory overrides now resume correctly. This affected CI steps and scripts that set a custom working directory before resuming a session.

If you deferred updating due to rendering instability on macOS or Zellij, 0.135.0 is the release to pull.

0.136.0-alpha.1: Tagged May 28, Changelog Pending

The tag rust-v0.136.0-alpha.1 was pushed at 21:23 UTC on May 28, 2026 — commit 9164fc9, authored by @shijie-oai . The GitHub release notes page for this tag returned an error state at publication time — the 0.136.0 feature scope is not yet publicly documented.

This is consistent with the team's tagging pattern. Alpha.1 is a staging marker; readable changelog entries appear with alpha.2 or later tags, or with the stable cut itself. There is no basis to characterize what 0.136.0 specifically targets. The repo tag history is the earliest available signal . Track the releases page or ReleaseBot for the first documented entries — expected within a few days based on prior cycles.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does codex doctor output include in 0.135.0?

Five categories: environment (runtime versions, platform, PATH), Git (repo state, branch, dirty state, relevant config), terminal (emulator detection, encoding, color depth), app-server (local Codex server reachability and version), and thread inventory (active and recent threads). The output is designed to be pasted directly into an OpenAI support request or GitHub issue, eliminating the need for follow-up questions to gather environment context.

Do I need to migrate config to use permission profiles in 0.135.0?

No migration needed. Named profiles and the --profile flag were introduced in 0.134.0. In 0.135.0, the /permissions command adds inline rendering of those profiles — a display improvement only. The config format is unchanged. Profiles already configured in 0.134.0 will render automatically in 0.135.0's /permissions output with no additional action required.

Is Vim mode on by default in Codex CLI 0.135.0?

No. Vim mode remains opt-in via config. The 0.135.0 additions — text-object support (ciw, da", ca(), refined word and line-end motion behavior, and a configurable interrupt binding — apply only when Vim mode is explicitly enabled. The default input mode is unchanged.

What is in 0.136.0-alpha.1?

Unknown at time of publication. The tag rust-v0.136.0-alpha.1 exists (commit 9164fc9, pushed May 28, 2026 at 21:23 UTC) but the GitHub release notes page returned an error state. Based on the team's established tagging pattern, the first documented 0.136.0 features are expected in alpha.2 or a later tag. Check the Codex releases page for updates.

How do Python SDK Sandbox presets differ from raw permission objects?

Named presets let you select a sandbox permission posture by identifier — a single string — rather than constructing a full permission object with all its fields. This reduces boilerplate in automation and evaluation harnesses built on the Python SDK's thread and turn API operations. Presets map to documented sandbox postures; they are a convenience API layer, not an extension of the underlying permission model.

What to Watch Next

Codex CLI's current pace — five stables in ten days — reflects iteration on practitioner feedback rather than a fixed calendar. The 0.135.0 cycle closes the highest-friction reported gaps: Vim muscle memory gaps, TUI corruption on macOS and Zellij, missing remote session context, and setup friction in non-Homebrew installs. The structural expansion of codex doctor to five categories is the clearest indicator that support-issue patterns are being actively tracked and addressed at the tooling level.

The 0.136.0 cycle is already in flight with alpha.1 tagged. Until a readable changelog appears, the tag itself is the only confirmed signal. Based on prior cycles, expect the first documented features within a few days — in alpha.2 or in the stable release notes. The OpenAI Codex changelog and releases.sh Codex feed are the most reliable places to watch for the first 0.136.0 entries.

Last updated: 2026-05-29. Based on Codex CLI 0.135.0 stable release notes and the 0.136.0-alpha.1 tag as of May 28, 2026.