chore(skills): load skills/ directly in Codex and delete the generated copy

.codex-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "name": "agentops",
   "version": "3.8.0",
   "description": "Engineering guidance for coding agents: behavior-driven planning, shared domain language, independent validation, and reusable improvements.",
-  "skills": "./skills-codex",
+  "skills": "./skills",
   "interface": {
     "displayName": "AgentOps",
     "shortDescription": "Agent work you can verify and build on.",

.gitattributes

@@ -25,12 +25,10 @@ scripts/lib/probe-fixture-metadata.py text eol=lf
 
 # Generated/derived artifacts — union-merge to kill textual re-conflicts during
 # multi-PR drains (their canonical content is restored by scripts/regen-all.sh).
-# Council 2026-06-06 (ag-bdg1). NOTE: cli/embedded/** is //go:embed'd and
-# skills-codex/** ships in the tarball — they MUST stay committed; union-merge
-# only avoids spurious conflict markers, regen produces the authoritative bytes.
+# Council 2026-06-06 (ag-bdg1). NOTE: cli/embedded/** is //go:embed'd — it MUST
+# stay committed; union-merge only avoids spurious conflict markers, regen
+# produces the authoritative bytes.
 registry.json                          merge=union
-**/.agentops-generated.json            merge=union
-skills-codex/.agentops-manifest.json   merge=union
 docs/contracts/context-map.md          merge=union
 cli/docs/COMMANDS.md                   merge=union
 

.githooks/pre-commit

@@ -46,30 +46,6 @@ if [[ -n "$staged_embed" ]]; then
     fi
 fi
 
-# --- Codex mirror delta check (when skills/ files are staged but skills-codex/ is not) ---
-staged_skills_src=$(git diff --cached --name-only -- 'skills/*' 2>/dev/null || true)
-if [[ -n "$staged_skills_src" ]]; then
-    affected_skills=$(echo "$staged_skills_src" | awk -F/ 'NF>=2 && $1=="skills" {print $2}' | sort -u)
-    drift_warned=0
-    for skill in $affected_skills; do
-        codex_dir="$REPO_ROOT/skills-codex/$skill"
-        [[ -d "$codex_dir" ]] || continue
-        staged_codex=$(git diff --cached --name-only -- "skills-codex/$skill/" 2>/dev/null || true)
-        if [[ -z "$staged_codex" ]]; then
-            if [[ "$drift_warned" -eq 0 ]]; then
-                echo "pre-commit: WARN — codex mirror parity drift detected:" >&2
-                drift_warned=1
-            fi
-            echo "  - skills/$skill/ has staged changes but skills-codex/$skill/ does not." >&2
-        fi
-    done
-    if [[ "$drift_warned" -eq 1 ]]; then
-        echo "  Run: bash scripts/regen-codex-hashes.sh    # update hashes only" >&2
-        echo "  Or:  bash scripts/refresh-codex-artifacts.sh  # full re-sync (regen + audit)" >&2
-        echo "  Then: git add skills-codex/" >&2
-    fi
-fi
-
 # --- Dual changelog sync (auto-copy new release entries to docs/CHANGELOG.md) ---
 if git diff --cached --name-only -- 'CHANGELOG.md' 2>/dev/null | grep -q '^CHANGELOG.md$'; then
     if [[ -f "$REPO_ROOT/docs/CHANGELOG.md" ]]; then

.github/workflows/fresh-install-conformance.yml

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ on:
       - 'scripts/install*'
       - 'scripts/fresh-install-conformance.sh'
       - 'cli/**'
-      - 'skills-codex/**'
+      - 'skills/**'
       - '.github/workflows/fresh-install-conformance.yml'
   schedule:
     # Nightly at 08:15 UTC (late evening Pacific) — a periodic drift detector.

.github/workflows/validate.yml

@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ jobs:
       skills: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.skills }}
       hooks: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.hooks }}
       docs: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.docs }}
-      codex: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.codex }}
       shell: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.shell }}
       bats: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.bats }}
       ci: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release == 'true' || steps.filter.outputs.ci }}
@@ -85,8 +84,6 @@ jobs:
               - 'tests/windows/**'
             skills:
               - 'skills/**'
-              - 'skills-codex/**'
-              - 'skills-codex-overrides/**'
               - 'tests/skills/**'
             hooks:
               - 'lib/**'
@@ -97,9 +94,6 @@ jobs:
               - 'CHANGELOG.md'
               - 'PRODUCT.md'
               - 'SKILL-TIERS.md'
-            codex:
-              - 'skills-codex/**'
-              - 'skills-codex-overrides/**'
             shell:
               - '**/*.sh'
               - 'scripts/**'

AGENTS.md

@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ See [the skill menu](docs/SKILL-ROUTER.md) for optional guidance. Plan states ob
 | Path | What it is |
 |---|---|
 | `cli/` | the Go `ao` tool |
-| `skills/` | the shipped product; one `SKILL.md` contract per skill |
-| `skills-codex/` | a generated projection of `skills/` — never hand-edit |
+| `skills/` | the shipped product; one `SKILL.md` contract per skill, loaded directly by every runtime |
 | `workflows/` | Claude Code workflow scripts |
 | `scripts/check-*.sh` | the deterministic gates |
 | `tests/` | bats suites |
@@ -41,7 +40,7 @@ cd cli && go build ./... && go vet ./... && go test ./...
 During Go edits, run focused package tests and `bash scripts/check-go-lint.sh`
 from the repository root before broad integration and final review. A passing Go test does not establish the repository's lint contract.
 
-Run the gates with `ao gate check` (`--full` for the whole registry). Regenerate every metadata-owned projection — `skills-codex/` included — with
+Run the gates with `ao gate check` (`--full` for the whole registry). Regenerate every metadata-owned projection with
 `scripts/regen-all.sh` (`--check` to verify without writing); edit `skills/`, then regenerate. `tests/run-all.sh` is the local aggregate runner and must be green.
 CI is authoritative (`.github/workflows/validate.yml`) and runs the bats suites as
 `bats --jobs 4 --no-parallelize-within-files --print-output-on-failure tests/scripts/*.bats`, plus the Go bar above with `go test -race -shuffle=on ./...`.
@@ -238,7 +237,7 @@ AgentOps work ownership.
 | RPI traversal or evidence-contract change | `docs/architecture/rpi-traversal.md`, `schemas/*.schema.json` |
 | CLI command or flag | `cli/cmd/ao/` composition, `cli/internal/commands/<family>/` implementation, then generated `cli/docs/COMMANDS.md` |
 | Skill behavior or inventory | `skills/<slug>/SKILL.md`, generated `docs/SKILL-ROUTER.md` |
-| Codex projection | `docs/contracts/codex-skill-api.md`, `skills-codex-overrides/catalog.json` |
+| Codex skill loading or invocation policy | `docs/contracts/codex-skill-api.md`, `skills/<slug>/agents/openai.yaml` |
 | Deterministic checks | `docs/CI-CD.md`, `cli/internal/gates/` |
 
 ## Closeout

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,28 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Changed
 
+- The Codex plugin now loads `skills/` directly. `.codex-plugin/plugin.json`
+  ships `./skills`, the same tree `ao skills link` and `npx skills` already
+  install, instead of a generated copy. Skill names, descriptions and bodies are
+  unchanged. Codex plugin users should refresh the marketplace and re-add the
+  plugin. Checked against codex-cli 0.156.1: a plugin install and a linked
+  install each load all 28 skills with no load errors.
+- `interview` now carries its Codex invocation policy in
+  `skills/interview/agents/openai.yaml`. The generator used to derive that file
+  from `disable-model-invocation: true`; it is now hand-maintained in each
+  explicit-only skill, and `scripts/validate-codex-api-conformance.sh` fails when
+  one is missing or does not parse.
+- `scripts/validate-codex-api-conformance.sh` checks `skills/` against what the
+  Codex loader enforces (unique frontmatter keys, a non-empty description, a
+  name of at most 64 characters, no nested `SKILL.md`) and the explicit-only
+  policy. It no longer enforces the portable Agent Skills field allowlist.
+- `ao skills check` audits `skills/` only. Its JSON no longer has `parity_drift`
+  or a per-skill `codex_parity`, and `--strict` fails on errors alone.
+  `skills/catalog.json` no longer has `codex_override_present`.
+- The `skill-eval` fixtures moved from `skills/_fixtures/` to
+  `tests/fixtures/skill-eval/`. Codex loads every `SKILL.md` under the plugin's
+  skill tree, so the fixtures would have shipped as a skill and a load error.
+
 - Install narrowed to three paths: the Claude Code plugin, the Codex plugin, and
   `npx skills@latest add boshu2/agentops` for every other agent (Cursor,
   OpenCode, Gemini CLI/Antigravity, Pi, Grok Build, OpenClaw). Grok Bot takes
@@ -18,6 +40,33 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Removed
 
+- The generated Codex copy of the skills: `skills-codex/` (278 files) and
+  `skills-codex-overrides/catalog.json`, with the generator and everything that
+  only policed the copy. Gone: `scripts/codex-sync.sh`, `regen-codex-hashes.sh`,
+  `register-new-codex-skill.sh`, `append-codex-override-entry.sh`,
+  `mirror-codex-references.sh`, `refresh-codex-artifacts.sh`,
+  `audit-codex-parity.{py,sh}`, `check-codex-parity-drift.sh`,
+  `lint-codex-native.sh`, `smoke-test-codex-skills.sh`,
+  `export-claude-skills-to-codex.sh`, the `validate-codex-generated-*`,
+  `-install-bundle`, `-override-coverage`, `-runtime-sections` and
+  `-skill-parity` validators, `scripts/lint/`, their tests, and the gates
+  `skill.codex-parity-drift`, `skill.codex-runtime-sections`,
+  `skill.codex-override-coverage` and `skill.codex-generated-artifacts`.
+  `scripts/regen-all.sh` no longer takes `--skills`, and
+  `scripts/test-ci-deterministic-gates.sh` no longer takes `--skip-codex`.
+- What Codex plugin users lose with the copy. Each skill's `prompt.md`,
+  `.agentops-generated.json` and the `.agentops-manifest.json` inventory are no
+  longer shipped; Codex did not read them (the string `prompt.md` does not occur
+  in the codex-cli 0.156.1 binary, and skills load without it). The plugin now
+  ships the full AgentOps frontmatter instead of only `name` and `description`;
+  Codex ignores the extra fields, but the packages are no longer strict portable
+  Agent Skills frontmatter. Skill text is shipped as written: the generator's
+  rewrites (`Claude Code` to `Codex`, `~/.claude` to `~/.codex`, `/skill` to
+  `$skill`) no longer run. They changed nothing in the current 28 bodies.
+- `ao doctor` no longer has the `fm-skills-stale-codex-sync` failure mode, and
+  its fixers can no longer write to `~/.codex/plugins/cache/agentops-marketplace`
+  or `~/.codex/.agentops-codex-install.json`.
+
 - Bundled Flywheel tool skills (`account-rotation`, `agent-mail`, `cass`, `cc-hooks`, `dcg`,
   `ms`, `ntm`, `rch`, `sbh`, `using-flywheel`) and their generated Codex copies.
   Obtain tools and skills from their upstream authors; see the README

PROGRAM.md

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ authority. Repository Git and release procedures remain separate.
 
 - product and doctrine: `README.md`, `PRODUCT.md`, `GOALS.md`, `PROGRAM.md`, `AGENTS.md`;
 - implementation: `cli/**`, `skills/**`, `schemas/**`, `scripts/**`, `tests/**`;
-- generated projections: `skills-codex/**`, registries, routers, maps, CLI docs;
+- generated projections: registries, routers, maps, CLI docs;
 - repository checks and docs: `.github/workflows/**`, `docs/**`, `evals/**`.
 
 Secrets, credentials, user configuration outside the repository, production

cli/cmd/ao/workflows_composition.go

@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ func init() {
 // newWorkflowsCommand wires the workflows command module to its host seams.
 // The global --dry-run flag drives link/unlink; checkout resolution, target
 // resolution, and the link/unlink filesystem sweeps are host effects delegated
-// to internal/workflowsapp. Workflows are a Claude-only runtime adapter (the
-// skills-codex doctrine, Claude-side), grouped under Knowledge next to skills.
+// to internal/workflowsapp. Workflows are a Claude-only runtime adapter,
+// grouped under Knowledge next to skills.
 // Like skills, the family attaches no capabilities contract.
 func newWorkflowsCommand() *cobra.Command {
 	module := workflowscommands.NewModule(clicontract.HostOptions{

cli/cmd/ao/workflows_composition_test.go

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ func TestWorkflowsCompositionRegistersExactlyOneRootOwner(t *testing.T) {
 func mkWorkflowsFixtureCheckout(t *testing.T, scripts ...string) string {
 	t.Helper()
 	root := t.TempDir()
-	for _, d := range []string{"skills", "skills-codex", "workflows"} {
+	for _, d := range []string{"skills", "workflows"} {
 		if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(root, d), 0o755); err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}

cli/docs/COMMANDS.md

@@ -1005,7 +1005,7 @@ ao provenance verify-verdict [flags]
 
 ### `ao skills`
 
-Tooling for the skills/ source-of-truth and its skills-codex/
+Tooling for the skills/ source-of-truth, the one tree every runtime
 
 ```
 ao skills [command]
@@ -1051,7 +1051,7 @@ ao skills build <from-scratch|from-template|absorb-external> <slug> [flags]
 
 #### `ao skills check`
 
-Walk skills/ and skills-codex/, validating each skill's YAML
+Walk skills/, validating each skill's YAML frontmatter (name +
 
 ```
 ao skills check [flags]

cli/internal/commands/skills/link_selection_test.go

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 func selectionFixture(t *testing.T) string {
 	t.Helper()
 	root := t.TempDir()
-	for _, dir := range []string{"skills/alpha", "skills/beta", "skills/not-a-skill", "skills-codex"} {
+	for _, dir := range []string{"skills/alpha", "skills/beta", "skills/not-a-skill"} {
 		if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(root, dir), 0o755); err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}

cli/internal/commands/skills/module.go

@@ -113,10 +113,10 @@ func (m *Module) Command() *cobra.Command {
 		Use:     "skills",
 		Short:   "Inspect and validate the skills/ tree",
 		GroupID: "knowledge",
-		Long: `Tooling for the skills/ source-of-truth and its skills-codex/
-parity sibling. Subcommands surface health (frontmatter completeness,
-broken reference links, codex parity drift) without mutating either
-tree.`,
+		Long: `Tooling for the skills/ source-of-truth, the one tree every runtime
+loads. Subcommands surface health (frontmatter completeness, broken
+reference links) and query the catalog without mutating skills/; link
+and unlink change only runtime skill directories.`,
 	}
 	root.AddCommand(m.checkCommand())
 	root.AddCommand(m.buildCommand())
@@ -136,15 +136,13 @@ tree.`,
 func (m *Module) checkCommand() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "check",
-		Short: "Audit skills/ frontmatter, references, and codex parity",
-		Long: `Walk skills/ and skills-codex/, validating each skill's YAML
-frontmatter (name + description present, name matches dir), checking
-that every references/*.md is linked from SKILL.md (and vice versa),
-and reporting parity drift against skills-codex/.
+		Short: "Audit skills/ frontmatter and references",
+		Long: `Walk skills/, validating each skill's YAML frontmatter (name +
+description present, name matches dir) and checking that every
+references/*.md is linked from SKILL.md (and vice versa).
 
 Exits 0 by default. With --strict, exits 1 if any finding (missing
-frontmatter, broken reference, parity drift) is reported, suitable for
-CI gating.`,
+frontmatter, broken reference) is reported, suitable for CI gating.`,
 		RunE: m.runCheck,
 	}
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&m.checkJSON, "json", false, "Emit machine-readable JSON")
@@ -154,10 +152,8 @@ CI gating.`,
 }
 
 func (m *Module) runCheck(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
-	skillsDir, codexDir := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoots()
 	opts := skillshealth.Options{
-		SkillsDir: skillsDir,
-		CodexDir:  codexDir,
+		SkillsDir: skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoot(),
 		OnlySkill: m.checkOnly,
 		Strict:    m.checkStrict,
 	}
@@ -175,8 +171,7 @@ func (m *Module) runCheck(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 		fmt.Fprintf(out, "Skills audit (%s)\n", report.Generated)
 		fmt.Fprintf(out, "================\n")
 		fmt.Fprintf(out, "Skills audited: %d\n", len(report.Skills))
-		fmt.Fprintf(out, "Errors:         %d\n", len(report.Errors))
-		fmt.Fprintf(out, "Parity drift:   %d\n\n", len(report.ParityDrift))
+		fmt.Fprintf(out, "Errors:         %d\n\n", len(report.Errors))
 
 		if len(report.Errors) > 0 {
 			fmt.Fprintln(out, "Errors:")
@@ -185,22 +180,15 @@ func (m *Module) runCheck(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 			}
 			fmt.Fprintln(out)
 		}
-		if len(report.ParityDrift) > 0 {
-			fmt.Fprintln(out, "Codex parity drift:")
-			for _, e := range report.ParityDrift {
-				fmt.Fprintf(out, "  - %s\n", e)
-			}
-		}
-		if len(report.Errors) == 0 && len(report.ParityDrift) == 0 {
+		if len(report.Errors) == 0 {
 			fmt.Fprintln(out, "All skills healthy.")
 		}
 	}
 
-	if m.checkStrict && (len(report.Errors) > 0 || len(report.ParityDrift) > 0) {
+	if m.checkStrict && len(report.Errors) > 0 {
 		// Use SilenceUsage to avoid printing usage on this expected non-zero exit.
 		cmd.SilenceUsage = true
-		return fmt.Errorf("skills check failed: %d errors, %d parity-drift",
-			len(report.Errors), len(report.ParityDrift))
+		return fmt.Errorf("skills check failed: %d errors", len(report.Errors))
 	}
 	return nil
 }
@@ -230,7 +218,7 @@ suitable for a CI dedup gate.`,
 }
 
 func (m *Module) runResolve(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
-	skillsDir, _ := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoots()
+	skillsDir := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoot()
 	report, err := skillsresolve.Resolve(skillsresolve.Options{SkillsDir: skillsDir})
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -313,7 +301,7 @@ func (m *Module) runFind(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	}
 
 	query := joinArgs(args)
-	skillsDir, _ := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoots()
+	skillsDir := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoot()
 	metas, err := skills.Load(skillsDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		cmd.SilenceUsage = true
@@ -653,7 +641,7 @@ func (m *Module) runUnlink(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 
 // loadCatalogOrErr loads skills/catalog.json with a remediation hint on failure.
 func (m *Module) loadCatalogOrErr(cmd *cobra.Command) (*skills.Catalog, error) {
-	skillsDir, _ := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoots()
+	skillsDir := skillsapp.ResolveSkillsRoot()
 	cat, err := skills.LoadCatalog(skillsDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		cmd.SilenceUsage = true