Allow structured user questions in Default mode

What variant of Codex are you using?

CLI

What feature would you like to see?

I’d like the structured user-question tool (request_user_input / AskUserQuestion) to be available in Default mode, not only Plan mode.

In a Default-mode task, the tool was present in the tool definitions and the Default-mode instructions said to use request_user_input when it is listed as available. But when I tried to call it, the runtime returned:

request_user_input is unavailable in Default mode

That leaves the agent with only a plain-text question fallback, which loses the UI affordance and the structured answer payload. This is especially awkward during execution tasks where the agent has already done useful work but needs a bounded user decision before continuing.

Expected behavior: if request_user_input is listed for the turn, it should be callable in Default mode too. If Plan-mode-only availability is intentional, the Default-mode guidance and exposed tool list should make that explicit so agents do not attempt a call that is guaranteed to fail.

Additional information

I searched open issues in openai/codex for:

• request_user_input Default mode
• AskUserQuestion Default mode
• Plan mode request user input tool
• Default mode ask user question tool

I didn’t find an existing open issue.