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Codex Issues / #18510

Broken flow: creating an automation template

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 18, 2026 by tifroz Closed Apr 18, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (etraut-openai, contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

Version 26.415.40636 (1799)

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.3.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

From the Codex app:

Automations > [+ New Automation] > [Use Template] > [Create New]

From the user perspective, this really seems like this flow would create a new reusable template, instead it just create an automation (not using any templates unless templates is selected again downstream of this flow)

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Automations > [+ New Automation] > [Use Template] > [Create New]

What is the expected behavior?

Should create a new reusable template

Additional information

I could not find an alternative mechanism to create a new template - maybe under ~/.codex? I would love to hear back is there is any way we can create templates in user land !

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

itsmejay80 · 4 months ago

Confirming this is confusing UX. "Create New" under the "Use Template" picker reads as "create a new template" but actually creates a blank automation. A few possible fixes:

  1. Rename the button "Create New" → "Start from Scratch" (or "Blank Automation") inside the template picker, so the action matches intent.
  2. Separate the flows add a distinct [+ New Template] entry point next to [+ New Automation], so template authoring has its own path instead of being implied by the picker.
  3. Template management surface a Templates tab in the Automations view with its own [+ New Template] CTA, list, edit, and delete. Also addresses the second half of the report (no obvious way to author templates).
  4. Docs clarify whether user-authored templates are supported today, and if there is a filesystem mechanism (e.g. under ~/.codex), document it.

Minimum viable fix is (1) to stop the misleading label; (2)+(3) are the real solution if user-authored templates are on the roadmap.

itsmejay80 · 4 months ago

@etraut-openai — curious what you think about this. Is the "Create New" entry under the template picker intentional (creates blank automation) or a labeling bug? And is user-authored template creation something on the roadmap, or should templates stay curated?

etraut-openai contributor · 4 months ago

The app is working as designed in this regard, so I don't think we'd consider this a bug.

I don't find the current UI confusing, but that's somewhat subjective. If you'd like to suggest a change, please open an enhancement request, and we can see if other users agree by upvote.