GPT-5.6-sol replaces an explicitly named plan with an unrelated project

What issue are you seeing?

Codex discarded an explicitly named, locally available plan while moving the work into a new repository, invented an unrelated meaning for the project name, and spent roughly 19 minutes producing a detailed implementation plan for the wrong product.

The source document was docs/plans/fx/fx-on-workers.md in the starting repository. It specified an experiment to run Vercel Labs' fx-core.wasm coding agent inside Cloudflare Workers/workerd, using the local ~/work/research/fx checkout for implementation evidence.

The prompt was:

Work on docs/plans/fx/fx-on-workers.md in a new repo, in ~/work/me/cf-fx. Use wayfinder autonomously to clean out the fog

Codex changed to the not-yet-created destination repository, looked only there, and said:

No existing copy of the plan is present locally.

It did not read the explicitly named file from the starting repository. It then noticed that “FX” was ambiguous but unilaterally chose foreign exchange:

The working interpretation is a production-oriented foreign-exchange rate service on Cloudflare Workers.

It authored a large ECB currency-rate API plan, a six-ticket decision map, and a domain glossary. The generated plan explicitly said:

This plan assumes FX means foreign exchange.

The correct source plan had nothing to do with currencies. The only shared words were “fx” and “Workers.” Codex finally reported the unrelated plan as structurally complete with no remaining unknown areas.

This is unacceptably low model performance because the source artifact was explicitly named and available in the original working directory. The failure was not caused by missing context or an unavoidable ambiguity: Codex failed to retrieve the primary input, then used autonomous planning as permission to redefine the product.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start Codex in repository A containing docs/plans/fx/fx-on-workers.md.
2. Make that document describe running a software project named fx on Cloudflare Workers.
3. Have a relevant checkout at ~/work/research/fx.
4. Prompt Codex: “Work on docs/plans/fx/fx-on-workers.md in a new repo, in ~/work/me/cf-fx. Use wayfinder autonomously to clean out the fog.”
5. Observe whether Codex reads the named source document before creating/changing to repository B.
6. In the failing session, Codex searched only the empty destination, interpreted fx as foreign exchange, and authored an unrelated ECB service.

Session ID: 01a02bbd-f5ff-75f3-a5b7-c0df7e821d9c

Expected behavior

Codex should first read the explicitly named source document in the starting repository, then carry its product intent into the new repository.

If the requested relocation is unclear, it should locate the named file in the current working directory or ask one focused question. “Use wayfinder autonomously” authorizes autonomous resolution of design questions within the stated project; it does not authorize replacing the project with a different one.

A robust retrieval order would be:

1. Resolve the named path against the initial working directory.
2. Read the source document and relevant referenced checkout.
3. Create the destination repository.
4. Preserve the source intent while refining the plan.
5. Ask only if the source cannot be found after checking the initial context.

Environment

• Codex CLI: 0.147.0 (latest available at report time: 0.149.0)
• Model: gpt-5.6-sol
• Provider/auth: OpenAI via ChatGPT
• Platform: Darwin 23.4.0 arm64
• Terminal: Ghostty 1.3.1
• Session originator: codex-tui
• Session time: 2026-08-23, approximately 01:12–01:31 CEST
• Installation and provider reachability checks were healthy; this was not an environment or transport failure.