Add an option to decline file edits or command execution without stopping the process
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Dec 29, 2025 by xtherexuu Closed Feb 23, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (etraut-openai, contributor)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
What feature would you like to see?
When I use Codex in chat mode, it sometimes attempts to edit files or run commands if I don’t explicitly specify that I want chat-only interaction. In these cases, I don’t want the action to be executed, but I do want the conversation or reasoning process to continue.
Currently, there is no button or option that allows me to say, “No, don’t edit the file or run the command, but continue in chat mode.”, there is only "approve", "approve in this session" or "cancel". It would be very useful to have a way to decline a proposed action while keeping the process ongoing, instead of having to stop or restart the interaction.
Additional information
_No response_
2 Comments
Are you using the CLI or IDE Extension? In the IDE Extension, you can explicit switch to "Chat" mode. In the CLI, you can use the
/approvalsslash command to switch to read-only mode.If you don't want to switch modes, you can enter a clarifying prompt like "Continue, but don't modify any files".
This feature request hasn't received any upvotes in a couple of months, so I'm going to close it.