Agent-skills oracle-codex

This skill should be used when the user asks to "use Codex", "ask Codex", "consult Codex", "use GPT for planning", "ask GPT to review", "get GPT's opinion", "what does GPT think", "second opinion on code", "consult the oracle", "ask the oracle", or mentions using an AI oracle for planning or code review. NOT for implementation tasks.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/PaulRBerg/agent-skills

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/PaulRBerg/agent-skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/oracle-codex" ~/.claude/skills/paulrberg-agent-skills-oracle-codex && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/oracle-codex/SKILL.md

source content

Codex Oracle

Use OpenAI Codex CLI as a read-only oracle — planning, review, and analysis only. Codex provides its perspective; you synthesize and present results to the user.

Sandbox is always

read-only

. Codex must never implement changes.

Arguments

Parse

$ARGUMENTS

for:

query — the main question or task (everything not a flag). Required — if empty, tell the user to provide a query and stop.
```
--reasoning <level>
```
— override reasoning effort (
```
low
```
,
```
medium
```
,
```
high
```
,
```
xhigh
```
). Optional; default is auto-selected based on complexity.

Prerequisites

Run the check script before any Codex invocation:

scripts/check-codex.sh

If it exits non-zero, display the error and stop. Use the wrapper for all

codex exec

calls:

scripts/run-codex-exec.sh

Configuration

Setting	Default	Override
Model	`gpt-5.3-codex`	Allowlist only (see `references/codex-flags.md` )
Reasoning	Auto	`--reasoning <level>` or user prose
Sandbox	`read-only`	Not overridable

Reasoning Effort

Complexity	Effort	Timeout	Criteria
Simple	`low`	300000ms	<3 files, quick question
Moderate	`medium`	300000ms	3–10 files, focused analysis
Complex	`high`	600000ms	Multi-module, architectural thinking
Maximum	`xhigh`	600000ms	Full codebase, critical decisions

For

xhigh

tasks that may exceed 10 minutes, use

run_in_background: true

on the Bash tool and set

CODEX_OUTPUT

so you can read the output later.

See

references/codex-flags.md

for full flag documentation.

Workflow

1. Parse and Validate

Parse
```
$ARGUMENTS
```
for query and
```
--reasoning
```
Run
```
scripts/check-codex.sh
```
— abort on failure
Assess complexity to select reasoning effort (unless overridden)

2. Construct Prompt

Build a focused prompt from the user's query and any relevant context (diffs, file contents, prior conversation). Keep it direct — state what you want Codex to analyze and what kind of output you need. Do not implement; request analysis and recommendations only.

3. Execute

Invoke via the wrapper with HEREDOC. Set the Bash tool timeout per the reasoning effort table above.

EFFORT="<effort>" \
CODEX_OUTPUT="/tmp/codex-${RANDOM}${RANDOM}.txt" \
scripts/run-codex-exec.sh <<'EOF'
[constructed prompt]
EOF

For

xhigh

, consider

run_in_background: true

on the Bash tool call, then read

CODEX_OUTPUT

when done.

4. Present Results

Read the output file and present with attribution:

## Codex Analysis

[Codex output — summarize if >200 lines]

---
Model: gpt-5.3-codex | Reasoning: [effort level]

Synthesize key insights and actionable items for the user.