Show HN: Zsh-codex-assistant: codex session attached to your shell

Developer klntsky released zsh-codex-assistant, a zsh plugin that attaches a persistent Codex CLI session to a shell and is invoked by prefixing a prompt with '@', preserving shell context and command history between invocations. The plugin requires Zsh and an installed, signed-in Codex CLI, and can be loaded via a source line in ~/.zshrc or through zplug; it supports ZSH_CODEX_ASSISTANT_MODEL, ZSH_CODEX_ASSISTANT_PROFILE, and ZSH_CODEX_ASSISTANT_INITIAL_PROMPT environment settings. The author said existing tools were unsatisfactory because they lacked a persistent harness process, carried feature bloat for a root shell, and did not focus on Codex support.

An on-demand codex session attached to your zsh shell. You can bring it forward any time, shell context is preserved. Use @ your prompt to hop into Codex anytime. bash $ run your commands normally in the shell $ cd ./zsh-codex-assistant $ prefix your prompts with '@'. first invocation starts a background codex session for this shell $ @ explain this project <codex CLI opens, responds to your request and exits $ your shell returns to normal. $ ls session-notify.zsh zsh-codex-assistant.plugin.zsh ... $ @ what was my last request? $ <codex session resumes, your shell command history since the last invocation is put into the context I decided to build this because none of the existing tools were quite satisfactory: - I need a persistent harness process, not just an agent in oneshot mode - to preserve shell context and skip the warmup delay - I do not want to trust a pile of overcomplicated slop for my root shell there are plenty of other projects for AI in the shell that suffer from feature bloat - I only need codex support If you need LLM command generation in-place, check out zsh-ai https://github.com/matheusml/zsh-ai - it's decent. Requires Zsh and an installed, signed-in Codex CLI. Make sure codex works first. Clone this repository, then add this line to your ~/.zshrc , using the path where you cloned it: source /path/to/zsh-codex-assistant/zsh-codex-assistant.plugin.zsh Open a new terminal to load the plugin. Load it after plugins that customize the Enter key if you have any. Add this alongside your other zplug declarations in ~/.zshrc , after any plugins that customize the Enter key and before zplug load : zplug "klntsky/zsh-codex-assistant", use:"zsh-codex-assistant.plugin.zsh" Open a new terminal, run zplug install , then open another new terminal to load the plugin. Your ~/.zshrc should already call zplug load after the declarations. If you already cloned this repository and want zplug to use that checkout, register its path instead: zplug "/path/to/zsh-codex-assistant", from:local, use:"zsh-codex-assistant.plugin.zsh" Local checkouts do not need zplug install . Put the declaration before your existing zplug load line, then open a new terminal. Add any of these settings to ~/.zshrc : export ZSH CODEX ASSISTANT MODEL="your-model" export ZSH CODEX ASSISTANT PROFILE="your-profile" export ZSH CODEX ASSISTANT INITIAL PROMPT="Act as a shell assistant"