# A 7-point checklist before you let Codex review Claude Code commits > Source: > Published: 2026-11-05 14:17:24+00:00 Claude Code writes, Codex reviews, a gate decides what merges. Here's the short version I check before trusting that loop on a repo. The full walkthrough, with the prompts, is in [How to make Codex review Claude Code's commits](https://rayastats.com/en/blog/how-to-make-codex-review-claude-code-commits). **1. Codex runs read-only.** `codex exec -s read-only --color never --output-last-message -`, with the prompt on stdin. The reviewer can read files and run `git diff`, but it can't write or hand back a patch. **2. One verdict line, saved under the commit hash.** `Verdict: ACCEPT` or `Verdict: CHANGES REQUIRED`, read only from the `--output-last-message` file. A crash, an empty answer or two Verdict lines leave no saved verdict, so the commit can't merge. **3. A brief exists before the code.** Every line under "Done means" is something a reviewer can confirm from the diff or a test. Write "a customer email with a comma is escaped", never "export works well". **4. Each new test failed on the base commit.** The engine that writes the code often writes the tests too. A test that already passes on the old code proves nothing about the change. **5. House rules live where both engines read them.** CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, AGENTS.md for Codex. Keep the AGENTS.md part short: Codex stops adding instruction files once their combined size reaches `project_doc_max_bytes`, 32 KiB by default. **6. The reviewer answers every line.** Met with a file:line, not met with what's missing, or not checkable with the evidence it would need. Findings outside the brief need a concrete failure. Style preferences aren't findings. **7. Rounds have a hard cap.** Later rounds raise only what blocks the merge. If the last allowed round says CHANGES REQUIRED, the merge stays blocked and a person decides. The merge is refused unless that exact commit has a test pass and a saved ACCEPT. A test pass alone won't catch a test Claude Code weakened in the same commit, so that falls to the reviewer: [what my review gate does with weakened and deleted tests](https://rayastats.com/en/blog/review-gate-weakened-deleted-tests). If you want the whole setup prebuilt, the [Two Engines Kit](https://rayastats.com/en/two-engines-kit) for Claude Code and Codex is a paid kit I made, built on information gathered since the first Codex and Claude CLIs.