Allow Enabling/Disabling Default Codex Apps from CLI and Per-Client App Management

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.141.0

What subscription do you have?

PRO

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)?

default mac terminal

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

Title: Allow Enabling/Disabling Default Codex Apps from CLI and Per-Client App Management

Summary

The Codex CLI currently loads all configured/default MCP apps and integrations, which can consume unnecessary context and tokens even when those apps are not needed for a particular task.

It would be helpful to provide granular control over app availability directly from the CLI, without affecting ChatGPT Web settings.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Problem

Many users use Codex CLI for focused development workflows and do not require all configured apps (e.g., Gmail, Photoshop, Playwright, Figma, etc.) during every session.

Currently:

• Default apps appear to be loaded automatically.
• Unused apps increase context size and token consumption.
• Disabling an app globally may also affect ChatGPT Web workflows.
• There is no obvious way to temporarily exclude apps from a CLI session while keeping them available elsewhere.

Example:

/mcp

Shows all available apps and tools, even when only one or two are required for the current task.

What is the expected behavior?

Proposed Solution

1. Enable/Disable Apps from CLI

Allow users to toggle apps directly from Codex CLI.

Examples:

codex apps disable gmail
codex apps disable photoshop
codex apps enable gmail

or

/mcp disable gmail
/mcp enable gmail

2. Session-Only App Selection

Start a Codex session with only specific apps loaded.

codex --apps github,playwright

or

codex session --only github

This would prevent unnecessary tools from being included in the context.

3. Remove Apps from CLI Without Affecting ChatGPT Web

Support separate app configurations for:

• ChatGPT Web
• Codex CLI

Example:

codex apps remove gmail

This would remove Gmail from Codex CLI visibility while keeping it enabled in ChatGPT Web.

Configuration example:

{
  "cli": {
    "enabledApps": ["github", "playwright"]
  },
  "chatgpt": {
    "enabledApps": ["github", "gmail", "photoshop"]
  }
}

4. Default App Profile

Allow users to define a lightweight default profile.

codex profile create minimal
codex profile add github
codex profile add laravel-boost
codex profile use minimal

Benefits

• Reduced token usage and context overhead.
• Faster tool discovery and startup experience.
• Cleaner /mcp output.
• Better privacy and principle-of-least-access.
• Separation between ChatGPT Web and Codex CLI workflows.
• Improved developer productivity when working with a focused toolset.

Expected Behavior

Users should be able to:

• Disable specific apps from Codex CLI.
• Enable them again when needed.
• Run sessions with only selected apps loaded.
• Maintain separate app configurations for ChatGPT Web and Codex CLI.
• Reduce unnecessary token consumption caused by unused tool definitions.

Additional Context

In environments with multiple connected apps, the /mcp command can list dozens of tools that are never used during a session. Providing per-client and per-session app management would help keep the Codex context lean and improve overall efficiency.

Additional information

_No response_