App-server docs say remote image URLs are supported, but turn/start rejects them
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 17, 2026 by ruixingshi
What version of Codex CLI is running?
0.144.4
What subscription do you have?
pro
Which model were you using?
gpt-5.6-sol
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 24.5.0 arm64 arm
What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?
Warp
Codex doctor report
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}What issue are you seeing?
Hi! I noticed a mismatch between the app-server docs and the actual behavior.
The official docs show remote images like this:
{ "type": "image", "url": "https://.../design.png" }Remote URL support does not currently work, so the docs example appears to be outdated.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
I tested it with two small scripts:
- Send a real remote PNG URL directly to
turn/start.
It fails with:
``text``
remote image URLs are not supported; use an inline data URL instead
node --input-type=module <<'EOF'
import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
import { createInterface } from "node:readline";
const IMAGE =
"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/explore/main/topics/typescript/typescript.png";
const PROMPT = "what's the img";
const app = spawn("codex", ["app-server"], {
stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "ignore"],
});
const pending = new Map();
let id = 0;
createInterface({ input: app.stdout }).on("line", (line) => {
const message = JSON.parse(line);
const resolve = pending.get(message.id);
if (resolve) {
pending.delete(message.id);
resolve(message);
}
});
const send = (message) =>
app.stdin.write(JSON.stringify(message) + "\n");
const call = (method, params) =>
new Promise((resolve) => {
const requestId = ++id;
pending.set(requestId, resolve);
send({ id: requestId, method, params });
});
try {
// Initialize app-server.
await call("initialize", {
clientInfo: {
name: "image-test",
title: "Image Test",
version: "1.0.0",
},
});
send({ method: "initialized", params: {} });
const thread = await call("thread/start", {
ephemeral: true,
});
// Send the remote image URL directly.
const result = await call("turn/start", {
threadId: thread.result.thread.id,
input: [
{ type: "text", text: PROMPT },
{ type: "image", url: IMAGE },
],
});
console.log(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));
} finally {
app.kill();
}
EOF- Download the same image, convert it to a Base64 data URL, and send it again.
That works correctly, and Codex can identify the image.
node --input-type=module <<'EOF'
import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
import { createInterface } from "node:readline";
const REMOTE_IMAGE =
"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/explore/main/topics/typescript/typescript.png";
const PROMPT = "what's the img";
// Download and encode the image.
const download = await fetch(REMOTE_IMAGE);
if (!download.ok) {
throw new Error(`Download failed: HTTP ${download.status}`);
}
const mime = download.headers
.get("content-type")
?.split(";")[0] || "image/png";
const bytes = Buffer.from(await download.arrayBuffer());
const IMAGE = `data:${mime};base64,${bytes.toString("base64")}`;
const app = spawn("codex", ["app-server"], {
stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "ignore"],
});
const pending = new Map();
let id = 0;
let answer = "";
let finish;
const completed = new Promise((resolve) => {
finish = resolve;
});
createInterface({ input: app.stdout }).on("line", (line) => {
const message = JSON.parse(line);
const resolve = pending.get(message.id);
if (resolve) {
pending.delete(message.id);
resolve(message);
return;
}
if (
message.method === "item/completed" &&
message.params.item.type === "agentMessage"
) {
answer = message.params.item.text;
}
if (message.method === "turn/completed") {
finish(message.params.turn);
}
});
const send = (message) =>
app.stdin.write(JSON.stringify(message) + "\n");
const call = (method, params) =>
new Promise((resolve) => {
const requestId = ++id;
pending.set(requestId, resolve);
send({ id: requestId, method, params });
});
try {
// Initialize app-server.
await call("initialize", {
clientInfo: {
name: "image-test",
title: "Image Test",
version: "1.0.0",
},
});
send({ method: "initialized", params: {} });
const thread = await call("thread/start", {
ephemeral: true,
});
// Send the inline Base64 image.
const started = await call("turn/start", {
threadId: thread.result.thread.id,
input: [
{ type: "text", text: PROMPT },
{ type: "image", url: IMAGE },
],
});
if (started.error) {
throw new Error(started.error.message);
}
const turn = await completed;
console.log("Turn status:", turn.status);
console.log("Answer:", answer);
} finally {
app.kill();
}
EOFTested with Codex CLI 0.144.4.
What is the expected behavior?
turn/start should accept remote HTTP/HTTPS image URLs as documented and pass the image to the model successfully.
Additional information
_No response_