Escalation not working in Codex CLI on macOS.
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jun 16, 2026 by MagnusMG
What version of Codex CLI is running?
codex-cli 0.140.0
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT Edu
Which model were you using?
gpt-5.5
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm
What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?
Terminal.app
Codex doctor report
{
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"auth storage mode": "File",
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"stored agent identity": "false",
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"feature flag overrides": "none",
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"PATH codex #2": "/opt/homebrew/bin/codex",
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"current executable": "/opt/homebrew/bin/codex",
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"auth mode": "chatgpt",
"connect timeout": "15000 ms",
"endpoint": "wss://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted>",
"handshake result": "HTTP 101 Switching Protocols",
"model provider": "openai",
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"provider name": "OpenAI",
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"runtime.provenance": {
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"status": "ok",
"summary": "running brew on macos-aarch64",
"details": {
"commit": "unknown",
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"summary": "sandbox configuration is readable",
"details": {
"approval policy": "OnRequest",
"codex-linux-sandbox helper": "none",
"execve wrapper helper": "/Users/xgumag/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg002DUar/codex-execve-wrapper",
"filesystem sandbox": "restricted",
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"active rollout files": "1 files, 146627 total bytes, 146627 average bytes",
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"goals DB": "/Users/xgumag/.codex/goals_1.sqlite (file)",
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"log DB integrity": "ok",
"log dir": "/Users/xgumag/.codex/log (missing)",
"memories DB": "/Users/xgumag/.codex/memories_1.sqlite (file)",
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"sqlite home": "/Users/xgumag/.codex (dir)",
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}
}What issue are you seeing?
Whenever codex needs to run a command that is not allowed by default, it "escalates" to me, and I have to approve the running of the command. This is good. But when I allow the command, codex still cannot run the command. This happens if I set sandbox_mode to read-only and codex tries to create files in the project folder, or if I set sandbox_mode to workspace-write and codex tries to create files outside the project folder. I have tried all kinds of settings in config.toml, to no avail. I reinstalled codex and used the default settings, and I get the same behaviour. The escalation used to work, up until a couple of weeks ago, or so. (I let brew upgrade codex whenever it asks me to.)
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Create a folder ttt and navigate to it.
- Start codex.
- Ask codex to create a file in the parent folder of ttt. You get a question if you want to allow this.
- Allow the command.
- Codex reports that it has failed.
What is the expected behavior?
That codex reports that it has succeeded in creating the file.
Additional information
_No response_