# Using Codex with Craft Anything

Craft Anything reaches Codex in two ways, and both have to get past Codex's own tool approval.

## Why a tool can be refused

`codex exec` is non-interactive: it has no one to ask, so its approval policy is `never`. A tool
that an MCP server doesn't mark read-only (such as `rebuild_start`, which runs a coding agent) is
refused before our server sees the call, with `requires approval, but approval policy is never`.
Codex's own settings decide this; Craft Anything's consent is a second, separate check.

## What we set

Only tools that ask the person themselves are approved on Codex's side
(`AGENT_APP_PREAPPROVED_TOOLS` in the engine, today just `rebuild_start`; a test checks each one
asks for consent). Every other tool keeps whatever approval policy you set in Codex.

- **Connecting Codex to Craft Anything** (`craft-anything-cli setup --client codex --yes`, or the
  Connect screen) writes the entry in `~/.codex/config.toml` (`$CODEX_HOME/config.toml` if set):

  ```toml
  [mcp_servers.craft-anything]
  command = "…/craft-anything-cli"
  args = ["mcp"]
  startup_timeout_sec = 30
  tools = { rebuild_start = { approval_mode = "approve" } }
  ```

  Your other entries and comments stay as they are, the old file is kept as
  `config.toml.craft-anything.backup`, and settings you added to our entry (`env`,
  `enabled_tools`, approvals for other tools) are kept when setup updates it. Setting
  `approval_mode` for `rebuild_start` yourself is overwritten by the next setup run.
  `craft-anything-cli doctor --client codex` reports an entry without the approval as "a different
  copy or shape of the command"; running setup again fixes it.
- **Building with Codex from the app** starts `codex exec` with the same setting on its `-c`
  flags, so nothing in your config is needed.

## Who still asks

Approving `rebuild_start` in Codex doesn't remove Craft Anything's own consent: it runs a coding
agent, so our server asks before it runs. Who can answer depends on how the server was started:

- **Builds started from the app** run the server with the project's inbox, so the person answers
  in the app (Allow / Don't allow).
- **The entry from `setup`** starts `craft-anything-cli mcp` on its own, with no app attached, so
  there is no approval card: the call returns `consent_required` and nothing runs. To let Codex
  start builds this way, add `"--allow-run"` to the entry's `args` (every tool that runs code is
  then treated as allowed, so only do it for a Codex you trust), or start the build from the app.

In Clean room mode the tools that touch the original stay refused either way.

## If it still fails

A refusal for one of our tools now says what was blocked and how to fix it, instead of showing
`null`; another MCP server's refusal keeps Codex's own words, because our setup can't change
that server's policy. To approve more of our tools by hand, add
`[mcp_servers.craft-anything.tools.<tool>]` with `approval_mode = "approve"` and start the chat
again. Approving all of them (`default_tools_approval_mode = "approve"`) also approves tools with
no consent check of their own, such as `project_inbox_answer`, which can answer a pending approval,
so we don't do it.

Not yet verified on a real Codex install (this was written from Codex's published configuration
keys, tested with stand-in output).