Codex app does not index personal skills from ~/.agents/skills for `$` invocation

Summary

Codex desktop app does not detect personal skills placed in ~/.agents/skills, even though this path is documented and implemented in the repo. Typing $ in the composer shows No skills or apps found for these skills.

Environment

• Codex desktop app version: 26.609.71450
• OS: macOS
• Codex config path: ~/.codex/config.toml
• Personal skills path used: ~/.agents/skills

Expected behavior

Skills placed in ~/.agents/skills should be available in Codex app and invokable with $, per docs:

• Skills docs: https://developers.openai.com/codex/skills
• App commands docs: https://developers.openai.com/codex/app/commands

Actual behavior

Two valid personal skills exist in ~/.agents/skills, but Codex app does not show them in $ autocomplete and reports:

No skills or apps found

This persists after:

• new thread
• app restart
• Force Reload Skills
• full app reinstall

Reproduction

1. Create a personal skill in:

~/.agents/skills/test-skill/SKILL.md

1. Example minimal skill:

```md
---
name: test-skill
description: Test personal skill for Codex app discovery.
---

# test-skill

Reply with a short confirmation that the skill was invoked.
```

1. Optional UI metadata:

~/.agents/skills/test-skill/agents/openai.yaml

``yaml
interface:
display_name: "Test Skill"
short_description: "Test personal skill discovery"
default_prompt: "Use $test-skill."
``

1. Restart Codex app or use Force Reload Skills.
2. Open a new thread.
3. Type $test in the composer.

Result

The skill does not appear. Composer says No skills or apps found.

Validation already performed

I verified all of the following locally:

• SKILL.md has valid frontmatter with name and description
• file encoding is UTF-8 without BOM
• directories are real folders, not broken symlinks
• permissions are normal
• no [[skills.config]] entries in ~/.codex/config.toml disabling the skill
• duplicate legacy copies under ~/.codex/skills were removed from active use
• issue persists after restart and reinstall

Relevant local paths from the failing setup

• ~/.agents/skills/pavlo-calendar/SKILL.md
• ~/.agents/skills/pavlo-slack/SKILL.md

Additional evidence

Repo history suggests this path should work:

• Issue: personal skills not loaded from ~/.agents/skills

https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/10430

• PR adding support for $HOME/.agents/skills

https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/10437

• Later PR confirms production loader scans ~/.agents/skills

https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/12474

There is also a possibly related autocomplete/discovery issue:

• https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/13184

Notes

This may be one of:

• a desktop app indexing regression for raw personal skills
• a gap where raw skills are supported, but $ autocomplete only indexes some skill sources

Installable plugin-backed “Personal” items appear in the app UI, but bare local skills from ~/.agents/skills do not.