›_ Codex Issues
Codex Issues / #18262

Codex cannot see symlinked files or directories in workspace

Open 💬 4 comments Opened Apr 17, 2026 by mingxu1031

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.415.21839 (build 1763)

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.3.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

When I open a folder as a Codex workspace, symlinked files or directories inside that folder do not show up in the file tree.

The symlinks are valid and work normally in the shell, but Codex behaves as if they do not exist.

<img width="600" height="922" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4a479e0a-f895-4a55-a56c-4489b8d85bcd" />

<img width="928" height="442" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6378f528-97db-42d1-b0db-66671a31d4f9" />

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Create a folder outside the workspace, for example real-dir, and put a file in it.
  2. Create another folder that will be opened as the Codex workspace.
  3. Inside that workspace folder, create a symlink to the external file or directory.
  4. Open the workspace folder in Codex.
  5. Check the file tree.

The symlinked file or directory does not appear in the file tree.

What is the expected behavior?

Symlinked files and directories inside the workspace should be visible in the file tree and accessible from Codex.

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

tskimmett · 4 months ago

This would be nice to have. I'm assuming if this were fixed, you could also @ mention files inside a symlinked dir.

mingxu1031 · 4 months ago
如果能实现这个功能就太好了。我猜如果这个问题解决了，应该也可以用 @ 符号提及符号链接目录中的文件。

in my case, the issue only affects visibility in the file tree/sidebar. @ mentions still work for files inside the symlinked directory, so Codex can reference them that way.

tskimmett · 4 months ago
> 如果能实现这个功能就太好了。我猜如果这个问题解决了，应该也可以用 @ 符号提及符号链接目录中的文件。 in my case, the issue only affects visibility in the file tree/sidebar. @ mentions still work for files inside the symlinked directory, so Codex can reference them that way.

Interesting. Maybe the issue I mentioned is specific to Windows for some reason 🤷

bineon · 2 months ago

I can also reproduce this with a minimal, privacy-safe setup on macOS where the symlink target is outside the opened workspace.

mkdir -p /tmp/codex-real-dir
echo hello > /tmp/codex-real-dir/a.txt
mkdir -p /tmp/codex-workspace
ln -s /tmp/codex-real-dir /tmp/codex-workspace/linked-dir

Then open /tmp/codex-workspace in Codex Desktop.

Observed:

  • The shell can traverse the symlink normally:
ls -la /tmp/codex-workspace/linked-dir
cat /tmp/codex-workspace/linked-dir/a.txt
  • The Codex agent/terminal can also read the files.
  • But the Codex Desktop file tree/sidebar does not show the symlinked directory, so the UI looks like the directory does not exist.

This creates a confusing mismatch between the actual workspace filesystem and what the Desktop UI presents. It is especially painful for a common “workspace hub” pattern: a small workspace folder contains symlinked entry points to larger local source/document directories. The current behavior makes that pattern usable from the shell/agent but not discoverable in the UI.

Expected behavior: the file tree should show valid symlinked files/directories, ideally with a symlink indicator, or provide a setting to show/follow workspace symlinks.