Codex Workspace

Codex Workspace is a local-first system for working across many standalone repositories as one coherent environment. It gives you shared discovery, runtime control, memory, docs, and agent tooling without forcing those repos into a monorepo or one shared dependency tree.

In practice, that means:

• many repos can feel like one working system without becoming one codebase
• local context can survive repo switches, handover updates, and long gaps between sessions
• shared memory, docs, and tooling can sit above the repos without flattening their runtime models

What Exists Today

The most concrete product in this repo today is Workspace Hub, a local control plane for mixed-stack workspaces. It scans sibling repos, classifies them conservatively, shows runtime and metadata state, and provides start, stop, open, and preview actions without forcing every repo into one toolchain.

Around that, the workspace turns the usual pile of local scripts, scattered notes, and one-off agent setup into a more deliberate system.

The workspace repo around it provides:

• a predictable folder layout for mixed stacks
• shared caches and helper tooling
• lightweight workspace metadata and manifests
• a tracked capability lifecycle for reviewed upstream references, optional abilities, and core services
• a filesystem-first context model for docs, manifests, and agent guidance
• a practical way to resume work across multiple repos without reconstructing context from scratch

Who It's For

• People managing many independent local repos across frontend, WordPress, PHP, static, and utility stacks.
• Contributors who want a practical workspace structure plus a concrete app surface in repos/workspace-hub/.
• Teams who want local runtime behavior to stay explicit instead of hiding everything behind one central toolchain.

Who It's Not For

• Teams looking for one shared dependency graph across unrelated repos.
• Setups that expect ServBay, Docker, or a proxy layer to be mandatory for every project.
• Projects that already want a full monorepo with centralized installs and one runtime model.

Why This Instead Of A Monorepo

• Repos stay independently runnable on their own terms.
• Caches can be shared without sharing installs.
• Local runtime behavior stays explicit and inspectable.
• WordPress, Vite, static, PHP, and utility repos can coexist without pretending they all want the same workflow.
• Shared memory, docs, and tooling can span the whole workspace without pretending the codebases are one project.

The goal is not to make many repos look like one dependency graph. The goal is to make them feel like one working environment.

Quick Start

If you want to try the concrete product first, run Workspace Hub:

cd repos/workspace-hub
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Once the Hub is open, use the Workspace memory switch in the header to open the dedicated MemPalace page directly. That page now covers service state, target selection, in-app memory search, target-scoped graph builds, and safe wrapper actions. The dashboard also exposes installable abilities and core services through the Workspace Capabilities panel, and supports a persisted split versus discovery-first repo layout.

If you want the fuller workspace path after that:

• Start with docs/08-first-run-and-updates.md.
• Use docs/README.md for the detailed docs index.
• Use docs/20-ai-context-side-load.md for the generated AI side-load contract and the generate-context-cache.sh workflow.
• Use docs/09-new-repo-baseline.md when adding or onboarding a repo.

How To Contribute

• Start with .github/CONTRIBUTING.md.
• Use docs/14-git-and-github-workflow.md for the default issue, discussion, branch, and PR path when a repo does not already document its own collaboration flow.
• Browse current help wanted and good first issue tickets.
• If the queue is thin, use docs/13-contributor-roadmap.md for the current contribution map and ready-to-open starter issue briefs.
• Use GitHub Discussions Q&A for setup or usage questions.

Looking For Help

• Docs clarity and repo-entry improvements.
• Repo classification and manifest examples.
• Workspace Hub UX and empty-state polish.
• Runtime diagnostics and contributor-friendly troubleshooting.
• Templates and scripts that reduce workspace setup friction.

Contribution Areas

• Docs clarity
• Repo classification and manifests
• Workspace Hub UX
• Runtime diagnostics
• Templates and scripts

Now / Next / Later

• Now: Docs clarity, Workspace Hub UX, repo classification, manifest examples, and script ergonomics are stable enough for outside contribution.
• Next: Capability-surface polish, observability visibility, screenshot and preview reliability, and tighter contributor verification paths.
• Later: Broader capability promotion and deeper workspace-memory flows after the current public surfaces settle.
• Out of scope: Shared dependency installs across unrelated repos, making ServBay mandatory, or forcing every repo through one runtime model.

Why It Exists

This repo exists to keep local development practical when your machine contains many unrelated repos.

• repos stay independently runnable
• caches can be shared without sharing installs
• local runtime behaviour stays explicit
• WordPress, Vite, static, PHP, and utility repos can coexist cleanly
• ServBay remains optional rather than becoming a hard dependency

How It Works

Codex Workspace addresses that with a practical filesystem-first model:

• keep repo facts in normal tracked files
• keep generated summaries in cache/
• keep core workspace services in tools/ with durable per-user state in shared/
• keep reusable skills portable across agents
• keep machine-specific memory and secrets local
• keep retrieval and repo classification explainable

Core Principles

• Do not merge unrelated repos into one dependency structure.
• Share caches, not installs.
• Treat each repo as independently runnable.
• Prefer direct local runtime for frontend and dev-server projects.
• Keep WordPress handling pragmatic.
• Use lightweight manifests where explicit runtime behaviour helps.

Workspace Layout

Codex Workspace/
├── docs/
├── repos/
│   └── workspace-hub/
├── tools/
├── cache/
├── shared/
└── workspace.code-workspace

docs/ is the canonical documentation surface. shared/ is for workspace metadata such as shared/repo-index.json and shared/standards.md, not duplicated doc mirrors.

Use the starter files when you need explicit repo metadata:

• project-manifest.template.json
• repo-index.sample.json

Recommended maintainer extras:

• gh is recommended when you maintain forks, PRs, or reviewed upstream mirrors
• gh auth login is optional maintainer setup, not part of the baseline release gate
• ServBay remains optional and should only be installed when specific repos benefit from a shared local front door

Documentation

Start here:

• docs/README.md
• docs/08-first-run-and-updates.md
• docs/09-new-repo-baseline.md
• docs/12-maintainer-runbook.md
• docs/13-contributor-roadmap.md
• docs/14-git-and-github-workflow.md
• docs/15-mcp-profiles-and-trust-levels.md
• docs/16-mcp-profiles.md
• docs/17-mcp-install-and-health-check.md
• repos/workspace-hub/README.md

Deeper docs:

• docs/00-overview.md
• docs/01-codex-workspace-handover.md
• docs/02-local-runtime-handover.md
• docs/03-workspace-hub-build-spec.md
• docs/04-build-order-and-dod.md
• docs/05-examples-and-templates.md
• docs/06-cross-agent-skills-and-mcp.md
• docs/07-context-cache-and-retrieval.md
• docs/10-release-readiness.md
• docs/11-core-memory-and-reference-promotion.md
• docs/18-mcp-server-catalog.md
• docs/19-mcp-authoring-rules.md
• docs/20-ai-context-side-load.md

Supporting references:

• docs/HANDOVER.md
• docs/CHANGELOG.md
• AGENTS.md

When a workspace-wide feature lands, update the public surfaces in the same slice:

• README.md
• docs/README.md
• docs/CHANGELOG.md
• relevant repo-local docs such as repos/workspace-hub/README.md
• optional navigation pages under docs/wiki/ when public navigation should expose the feature

Context For Agents

Codex Workspace treats agent-facing context as normal workspace content rather than a hidden prompt blob.

The practical model is:

• tracked resources such as repo docs, READMEs, and manifests
• official Codex repo-local skills stored in .codex/skills/, with .agents/skills/ supported as a workspace compatibility mirror and shared skill sources/templates kept in normal tracked folders
• generated context summaries under cache/context/
• optional local workflow-state folders such as .cognetivy/ kept separate from canonical tracked docs
• local-only memory and MCP config kept separate from tracked repo content
• a small official MCP v1 profile set for Codex, installed through workspace-owned scripts instead of ad hoc one-off setup

Side-load summaries are now generated with tools/scripts/generate-context-cache.sh into ignored cache/context/workspace/ and cache/context/repos/ paths. They are optional L0 and L1 cache files, not canonical workspace documentation.

The current MCP v1 support set is intentionally small: OpenAI Docs, Context7, Playwright, Chrome DevTools, and GitHub.

This keeps context easier to inspect, reason about, and adapt across tools while keeping each repo independently runnable.

Tracked repo knowledge belongs in public docs, manifests, and portable skills. Local operator memory belongs in ignored local files until it becomes stable enough to promote into tracked project guidance.

The Workspace Hub app is optional for memory operations. MemPalace ingest, search, and wake-up run through tools/bin/workspace-memory, so a shell session or tool-capable chat can save repo or conversation memory without the Hub UI running.

Recommended closeout commands:

• tools/bin/workspace-memory save-repo <repo-name> after meaningful repo README, HANDOVER, or setup changes
• tools/bin/workspace-memory save-workspace after docs-only or workspace-level planning sessions
• tools/bin/workspace-memory export-codex current when you want a readable transcript bundle under shared/mempalace/<user>/exports/codex/

Other safe operator commands:

• tools/bin/workspace-memory status
• tools/bin/workspace-memory wake-up
• tools/bin/workspace-memory mine-codex-current
• tools/bin/mempalace-start
• tools/bin/mempalace-sync

Current note: wake-up is much cleaner after low-signal filtering, but it may still occasionally surface config-heavy files such as tsconfig.node.json.

When a capability becomes part of how the whole workspace operates, prefer a core-service shape:

• tracked runtime code in tools/
• durable per-user state in shared/
• disposable artifacts in cache/

See:

• docs/06-cross-agent-skills-and-mcp.md
• docs/15-mcp-profiles-and-trust-levels.md
• docs/17-mcp-install-and-health-check.md
• docs/07-context-cache-and-retrieval.md
• docs/11-core-memory-and-reference-promotion.md
• docs/12-maintainer-runbook.md

Current workspace source taxonomy:

• reference-only lives under tools/ref/
• ability lives under repos/abilities/<slug>/
• repo-level adoption lives under normal repos/...
• core service lives under tools/<name>/ with durable state in shared/<name>/<user>/ and disposable state in cache/<name>/<user>/

External skill catalogs such as openai/skills and upstream design catalogs such as VoltAgent/awesome-design-md should be treated as optional reviewed sources, not vendored workspace dependencies.

• install only the specific skills that solve a real workflow need
• prefer local skill installation via Codex tooling such as $skill-installer
• for repo-level Codex discoverability, prefer tracked .codex/skills/ and keep .agents/skills/ only when repo-local compatibility mirroring helps
• keep workspace-wide reusable skill sources in shared/skills/ and starter templates in tools/templates/skills/
• keep the managed VoltAgent DESIGN.md catalog as an optional ability under repos/abilities/voltagent-awesome-design-md and copy only the specific DESIGN.md files a repo actually needs
• use tools/scripts/use-design-md.sh when you want a stable local mirror under cache/design-md/catalog/ or need to copy one DESIGN.md into a repo root quickly
• keep third-party orchestration layers and generated agent setup local-only unless there is a strong reason to publish them
• do not add the whole upstream skill catalog to repos/, tools/, or as a submodule unless there is a very specific maintenance reason

If you want local reviewed copies of official upstreams for comparison, keep snapshot-style references under tools/ref/, and use tools/scripts/manage-workspace-capabilities.sh for installable abilities and core services. tools/scripts/update-github-refs.sh remains only as the compatibility wrapper for update-only GitHub-ref flows.

Release Readiness

Use the non-destructive release gate before calling a workspace release stable:

tools/scripts/release-readiness.sh

The stable repo contract and .codex/ migration note live in docs/10-release-readiness.md.

Community

• Ask questions in GitHub Discussions Q&A
• LICENSE
• .github/CONTRIBUTING.md
• .github/FUNDING.yml
• .github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• .github/SECURITY.md
• .github/SUPPORT.md
• Support the work: PayPal

Current Status

The current baseline is a stable local workspace structure plus Workspace Hub 1.0, with optional ServBay integration and enough documentation and tooling to keep mixed repos practical on one machine.