CLI: show agent/thread attribution on action status rows (read/search/update/exec)
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Feb 14, 2026 by darksheer Closed Apr 11, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (etraut-openai, contributor)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
Summary
When Codex CLI shows in-turn action/status rows (for example read/search/update/exec), the UI does not show which agent/thread produced each action.
This is a blocker for multi-agent workflows where users need to verify that each role is acting on the correct code area.
Environment
- Codex CLI:
0.101.0 - Install:
@openai/codexvia npm and Homebrew - OS: macOS (Apple Silicon)
Current behavior
- Status rows show action type/state (and color), but not agent identity.
- In collaboration/sub-agent flows, attribution exists in protocol/log metadata (
sender_thread_id,receiver_thread_ids, etc.), but is not surfaced inline in the UI rows users monitor.
Expected behavior
For each visible action row (read/search/update/exec/patch/mcp call):
- Show origin identity, at minimum:
- agent thread id (or stable short label)
- source (
agent,user_shell,unified_exec_*) where applicable - Keep this visible both in live progress and historical row view.
Why this matters
Without per-row attribution, users cannot reliably verify role/function boundaries in multi-agent execution, which makes debugging and trust significantly harder.
Suggested UX
- Add a compact origin badge on each row, e.g.
[A:ab12],[Planner],[Mapper] - Provide a
/statusor statusline toggle to show/hide attribution detail - Optional filter: show rows for active agent only vs all agents
Protocol note
The data appears to already exist in event surfaces (sender_thread_id, receiver_thread_ids, turn_id, source), so this looks like a presentation gap rather than missing backend data.
2 Comments
Related broader airline/statusline direction: #14043\n\nThis request is about per-row attribution, which is the right primary surface. A custom statusline widget API could complement it with compact live agent/thread attribution widgets or badges, instead of requiring every summary/attribution need to become a separate built-in statusline element.
This feature request hasn't received enough upvotes, so I'm going to close it.