Add a true append-only interactive mode that preserves terminal scrollback

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.122.0

What subscription do you have?

Pro

Which model were you using?

gpt-5.4

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.4.0 arm64 arm

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

iTerm2

What issue are you seeing?

When running Codex in iTerm2, --no-alt-screen helps with the alternate screen buffer, but it does not solve the main usability problem.
The interactive TUI still redraws in place, so past assistant output is not preserved as normal terminal scrollback.

As a result, long responses disappear out of view, interactive sessions become difficult to review, and the terminal session is not meaningfully auditable from the terminal itself.
This is a real workflow problem for longer technical sessions where I need to inspect earlier output while continuing the same interaction.
I know this is a design choice but it feels like a bug.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Running codex in iTerm2.

What is the expected behavior?

Requested behavior:

• Add a true append-only interactive mode.
• In that mode, assistant output and tool updates should be emitted as normal terminal lines and should never be rewritten in place.
• Preserve approvals and status information, but render them as appended events rather than screen redraws.
• Make this configurable in config.toml, not only as a one-off command-line flag.

Why --no-alt-screen is not enough:

• It preserves access to shell scrollback.
• It does not preserve prior Codex output when the TUI itself rewrites the screen.
• So the session remains difficult to review even after alternate-screen mode is disabled.

A redraw-heavy TUI is understandable for compact status display, but there should be a first-class reviewable mode for terminal-centric workflows.
Right now interactive usage can become effectively non-reviewable, which is especially problematic for debugging, auditability, and longer technical sessions.

Additional information

Thank you for building Codex CLI.
The current TUI is capable, but for terminal-centric workflows it has an important usability gap: long interactive sessions are hard to review because prior assistant output is not preserved in normal scrollback once the screen is redrawn.
I would appreciate a true append-only interactive mode so that the terminal remains reviewable and auditable during use.