Codex Security is an open-source CLI and TypeScript SDK for finding, validating, and reviewing security issues in code you own or have permission to assess.

[!NOTE] This package follows semantic versioning. Its public API may change between minor versions before 1.0.0.

Requirements

The SDK and CLI support macOS, Linux, and Windows and require Node.js 22 or later. Scanning and exporting findings also require Python 3.10 or later. If you use Python 3.10, install the tomli package. Python is not needed to install the package or run --help and --version.

Sign in with your OpenAI account or provide an OpenAI API key before running a scan. Scan only repositories you own or have explicit permission to assess.

Install and scan

npm install @openai/codex-security
npx codex-security login
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo

Run npx codex-security --help to see all commands and npx codex-security scan --help for scan options.

On a remote or headless machine, use npx codex-security login --device-auth. For CI and other unattended scans, set OPENAI_API_KEY or CODEX_API_KEY using your shell, CI secret, or secret manager.

On Windows, set an API key in PowerShell with:

$env:OPENAI_API_KEY = "<your-api-key>"
npx codex-security scan C:\code\repository

To store an API key, pass it on stdin:

printenv OPENAI_API_KEY | npx codex-security login --with-api-key

Use npx codex-security login status to check the stored sign-in and npx codex-security logout to remove it. Codex Security reuses an existing file-based Codex sign-in. If Codex stores credentials in the system keyring, run npx codex-security login once before scanning.

An environment API key takes precedence over a stored sign-in. Unset both OPENAI_API_KEY and CODEX_API_KEY to use your ChatGPT sign-in. The login status command reports the effective credential source without printing its value, including when no stored sign-in exists.

Scan a subset of a repository or write machine-readable results:

npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --model gpt-5.6-terra
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --path src --path tests
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --knowledge-base /path/to/threat-models --knowledge-base /path/to/architecture.pdf
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --diff origin/main --json
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --output-dir /path/outside/repo/results
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --output-dir /path/outside/repo/results --archive-existing
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --dry-run
npx codex-security scan /path/to/repo --fail-on-severity high
npx codex-security install-hook
npx codex-security bulk-scan
npx codex-security bulk-scan repositories.csv --output-dir /path/outside/repositories/security-scans
npx codex-security scans list /path/to/repo
npx codex-security scans list --scan-root /path/outside/repo/results
npx codex-security scans show SCAN_ID
npx codex-security scans rerun SCAN_ID
npx codex-security scans match PREVIOUS_SCAN_ID CURRENT_SCAN_ID
npx codex-security scans match --all
npx codex-security scans compare PREVIOUS_SCAN_ID CURRENT_SCAN_ID
npx codex-security export /path/outside/repo/results --export-format sarif --output /path/outside/repo/results.sarif
npx codex-security export /path/outside/repo/results --export-format csv --output /path/outside/repo/findings.csv
npx codex-security export /path/outside/repo/results --export-format json --output /path/outside/repo/findings.json
npx codex-security validate /path/outside/repo/findings.json "Possible SQL injection in src/query.ts:42"
npx codex-security patch /path/outside/repo/findings.json "Missing authorization check in src/routes.ts:18"

install-hook scans staged and unstaged changes before each commit. It respects core.hooksPath, does not replace an existing hook, and blocks high-severity findings or failed scans. Set --fail-on-severity to change the threshold.

Use npx codex-security --version for the CLI version and npx codex-security info --json for package, plugin, and runtime versions, the default model and reasoning effort, and the next scan command. Add --dry-run to inspect the effective model and reasoning effort without initializing Codex or contacting the network.

The output directory must be outside the scanned directory and any enclosing Git worktree. On macOS and Linux, an existing output directory must be private to the current user (chmod 700). Scan artifacts can contain source excerpts, vulnerability details, and reproduction steps. Keep them out of repositories, public issue reports, and shared locations.

When SARIF is produced, it is written to <scan-dir>/exports/results.sarif. Use npx codex-security scan --help for all target, output, and runtime options.

Repeat --knowledge-base PATH for multiple files or directories. Directories are searched recursively for Markdown, text, PDF, and Word (.docx) files.

Sign in with gh auth login, then run npx codex-security bulk-scan to discover GitHub repositories pushed in the last 90 days. Archived repositories and forks are excluded. Search the repository list, select the repositories to scan, and confirm before scanning. Private checkouts reuse your GitHub CLI sign-in without changing your global Git configuration. For automation or an existing repository list, pass a CSV containing id, repository, and full immutable revision columns and specify --output-dir. Use npx codex-security bulk-scan --help for all options.

The CLI uses Incur for agent-friendly discovery and structured output. Use --llms for the command manifest, scan --schema --format json for a command schema, register an MCP server with mcp add, sync agent skills with skills add, and use completions bash|zsh|fish for shell completions. Scan results support --format toon|json|yaml|jsonl and --full-output. Use info --json for SDK and bundled-plugin metadata. MCP exposes only this read-only metadata command; scans, authentication, exports, validation, and patching remain CLI-only because the MCP transport cannot cancel active scans.

If the output directory already contains results, add --archive-existing. The CLI moves them to <output-dir>.previous-<timestamp>-<id> and starts the scan in a new, empty directory at the original path. Add --dry-run to see the destination without moving files.

Scans are report-only by default. Use --fail-on-severity in CI to exit 1 when a completed scan contains a finding at or above the selected severity. Incomplete coverage and CLI/runtime errors exit 2. Incomplete scans still write the available human or JSON result to stdout and a coverage warning to stderr, including in report-only mode.

For CI, save machine-readable output outside the checked-out repository and apply a severity policy. Incomplete coverage and runtime errors still exit nonzero:

SCAN_ROOT="$(mktemp -d)"
npx codex-security scan . \
  --diff origin/main \
  --output-dir "$SCAN_ROOT/results" \
  --json \
  --fail-on-severity high > "$SCAN_ROOT/findings.json"

JSON scans remain noninteractive, including when stderr is a terminal. Commands that run Codex interactively (validate, patch, login, and logout) reject --json. Write CSV exports to a file when JSON output is selected.

Scans use gpt-5.6-sol with extra-high reasoning effort by default. Switch models with --model. Use --codex for other Codex settings:

npx codex-security scan . --model gpt-5.6-terra --codex 'model_reasoning_effort="high"'

Scans report their requested paths and actual ranking, file-review, validation, and attack-path phases. Completion shows finding severity, coverage, elapsed time, available token and worker counts, the results directory, and the next useful command. Progress remains on stderr; JSON results remain on stdout.

Use the TypeScript SDK

Create a client, choose a private output directory outside the repository, and close the client after the scan:

import { CodexSecurity } from "@openai/codex-security";

const security = new CodexSecurity();

try {
  const result = await security.run("/path/to/repository", {
    outputDir: "/path/outside/repository/results",
  });

  console.log(result.reportPath);
  console.log(result.findings.findings.length);
} finally {
  await security.close();
}

The SDK also supports path and diff targets, preflight, progress callbacks, cancellation, security knowledge bases, and typed scan results.

Run bulk scans in Docker

The included Docker image runs noninteractive bulk scans from a supplied CSV on a Linux Docker host. The included compose.yaml configures the image, persistent files, and a hardened Codex command sandbox.

Configure a Docker bulk scan

Create a repositories.csv with one full, immutable Git commit per repository:

id,repository,revision
payments,https://github.com/example/payments.git,0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567

Create private, persistent result and authentication directories, and let the container write files as your current user:

mkdir -p results state
chmod 700 results state
export CODEX_SECURITY_USER="$(id -u):$(id -g)"
docker compose build codex-security

For a one-time sign-in from a remote or headless Docker host, run:

docker compose run --rm codex-security login --device-auth

Open the displayed verification URL in your browser and enter the one-time code. The login remains in state/ after the container exits.

Alternatively, provide OPENAI_API_KEY or CODEX_API_KEY through your host environment or secret manager. For private repositories, provide GH_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN the same way. Compose passes only the named, configured credentials to the container.

Start a resumable, four-worker scan with the default command:

docker compose run --rm codex-security

Full-repository scans can take tens of minutes per repository at the default extra-high reasoning setting. Run large campaigns as asynchronous batch jobs and keep the results and authentication directories mounted throughout the run.

Completed reports, per-repository findings, and the scan manifest appear in results/ on the host. The workbench state for that campaign remains in results/.codex-security-state/; the reusable Codex login remains separately in state/. This allows a new results directory to start a separate campaign with the same login without colliding with an earlier scan. Rerun the same command with the original CSV and the same results/ and state/ directories to resume an interrupted scan.

To choose a different number of parallel workers or retry failed repositories, override the default scan command:

docker compose run --rm codex-security \
  bulk-scan /input/repositories.csv \
  --output-dir /output \
  --workers 8 \
  --max-attempts 2

Set CODEX_SECURITY_CSV, CODEX_SECURITY_RESULTS, or CODEX_SECURITY_STATE to use existing files or directories outside the Compose project. Set CODEX_SECURITY_IMAGE to use an approved, already-built image. Set CODEX_SECURITY_GIT_HOST when accessing GitHub Enterprise Server. Keep credentials, repository lists, and results out of the image and Git; the included ignore files exclude them from image builds and commits. All CSV files, including custom-named repository inventories, are excluded from the Docker build context. Compose mounts the selected CSV at runtime instead.

The included Compose configuration drops all Linux capabilities, prevents new privileges, runs as a nonroot user, and applies the supplied default-deny seccomp profile. Codex Security runs each scan command in a separate unprivileged Linux sandbox. Docker's default seccomp profile blocks the user and mount namespaces required by that sandbox; the supplied profile permits only the needed namespace operations. The Linux host must allow unprivileged user namespaces. Some Docker Desktop virtual machines additionally restrict nested mount namespaces, so use a Linux host for production scans.

For environments without Docker Compose, the equivalent lower-level invocation is:

docker run --rm --init \
  --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
  --cap-drop ALL \
  --security-opt no-new-privileges \
  --security-opt "seccomp=$PWD/docker/codex-security-seccomp.json" \
  --env OPENAI_API_KEY \
  --env CODEX_API_KEY \
  --env GH_TOKEN \
  --env GITHUB_TOKEN \
  --env CODEX_SECURITY_GIT_HOST \
  --mount "type=bind,source=$PWD/repositories.csv,target=/input/repositories.csv,readonly" \
  --mount "type=bind,source=$PWD/results,target=/output" \
  --mount "type=bind,source=$PWD/state,target=/state" \
  codex-security:local \
  bulk-scan /input/repositories.csv \
  --output-dir /output

The image configures a noninteractive Git credential helper for github.com when a GitHub token is supplied. The token works with both HTTPS repository URLs and git@github.com: repository URLs without mounting an SSH agent. The image never places that token in a repository URL, writes it to image layers, or sends it to another Git host. Set CODEX_SECURITY_GIT_HOST to the hostname of a GitHub Enterprise Server instance when needed.

Use --workers to control concurrent repository scans and --max-attempts to retry failures. The command returns a nonzero status when any repository fails.

Scan history and reruns

npx codex-security scans list lists scans for the current repository. Pass a repository path to inspect another checkout, --scan-root DIR to filter by scan artifact directory. scans show SCAN_ID includes saved configuration, findings, and coverage.

History is saved in the existing Codex Security workbench database under $CODEX_HOME/state/plugins/codex-security. Set CODEX_SECURITY_STATE_DIR to choose a different location.

scans rerun SCAN_ID repeats the same configuration against the current checkout. scans match BEFORE_SCAN_ID AFTER_SCAN_ID links findings with the same root cause; scans match --all includes every available completed scan of the current repository, including other worktrees and clones. Use --force to recompute saved matches.

scans compare BEFORE_SCAN_ID AFTER_SCAN_ID reads saved matches and identifies new, persisting, reopened, resolved, or unknown findings. Missing findings remain unknown when coverage is incomplete or their original location was not reviewed.

Use export to create CSV, JSON, or SARIF from a completed, sealed scan without starting Codex or loading credentials. JSON preserves the sealed findings document. CSV uses the portable findings columns, marks findings as open, and does not include local workbench triage state. The exporter validates the seal before writing, accepts --output - for stdout, and can use --source-root /path/to/repo with SARIF to add source-line fingerprints. Run npx codex-security export --help for all export options.

Use validate to run the bundled validation skill on candidate findings and patch to run the bundled fix-finding skill on security issues. Each positional input can be either a file, whose contents are read into the request, or literal text. Both commands operate on the current directory.

Canonical scan documents are limited to 16 MiB for the manifest, 128 MiB for findings, and 32 MiB for coverage. Oversized scans are rejected before sealing.

Exit codes are 0 for a completed report-only scan or a passing policy, 1 for a completed policy violation, 2 for invalid input, incomplete coverage, or a runtime/export error, 130 for interruption, and 143 for termination.

Use --dry-run or await security.preflight(...) to validate local scan inputs and report the selected credential source without initializing Codex, loading credentials, or starting a scan. Dry runs do not inspect the plugin, probe Python, or contact the network; their authentication metadata is not verified.

Documentation, support, and security

• Codex Security overview
• CLI quickstart and reference
• TypeScript SDK guide
• GitHub issues for bugs and feature requests
• Security policy for private vulnerability reporting and safe operation
• Contribution guidelines

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.