Codex Desktop approval redesign removes decline-and-instruct option

What version of the Codex App are you using (From "About Codex" dialog)?

Codex Desktop on Windows, Microsoft Store/AppX package:

• OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What subscription do you have?

Unknown / not relevant.

What platform is your computer?

Windows, x64. Local OS version: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200, build 26200.8655, Education edition.

What issue are you seeing?

The redesigned Codex Desktop approval card no longer provides the previous combined rejection path, "No, and tell Codex what to do differently." The current card provides a plain Deny action and approval actions such as Allow once, but it has no inline field or secondary action for rejecting the request while giving Codex an alternative instruction.

This makes denial and course correction two separate interactions:

1. Deny the permission request.
2. Wait for the approval card to close and for Codex to process the bare denial.
3. Send a separate follow-up message explaining what Codex should do instead.

The old combined path was important because the rejection and replacement instruction were delivered atomically. With the redesigned card, Codex can react to the bare denial, report a failure, or retry before the separate instruction is sent. The extra turn is also cumbersome for routine cases such as asking Codex to use a sandbox-compatible command instead.

This is a regression rather than only a request for a new convenience. Earlier Codex Desktop builds exposed the combined decline-and-instruct workflow. That workflow had a separate Enter-key bug reported in #24229, but the current redesign removes the workflow instead of fixing it.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Start a task in Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Have Codex request an operation that needs approval, such as a command using sandbox_permissions = "require_escalated".
3. Inspect the approval card.
4. Attempt to reject the request and tell Codex what to do differently as part of the same response.

Observed result:

• The card has a plain Deny action.
• There is no "Deny and tell Codex what to do differently" action, inline text field, or equivalent combined response.
• Denying resolves the approval request immediately, so alternative instructions must be sent later as a separate message.

What is the expected behavior?

The approval card should preserve a combined decline-and-instruct path. For example:

• Keep the quick Deny action for a bare rejection.
• Add a visible Deny and tell Codex what to do differently action that opens an inline response field, or let Deny expand into a choice between bare denial and denial with instructions.
• Deliver the denial and replacement instruction to Codex as one approval response before the task continues.
• In the inline field, make Enter submit and Shift+Enter insert a newline when the app is configured for Enter-to-send, matching the approval action's keyboard hint and the main composer behavior.

Additional information

Related issues:

• #24229 reports that Enter inserted a newline instead of submitting in the old approval card's "Other" / decline-and-instruct field. That issue remains open, but the affected field is no longer available in the current redesign.
• #12662 reports that instructions entered through the former combined rejection path could be ignored. This report concerns the newer regression in which that path is absent altogether.

I searched existing openai/codex issues for the redesigned approval card, denial, and permission-dialog behavior and did not find an exact report for removal of the combined decline-and-instruct workflow.