# Codex Context Budget Audit > Audit Codex initial-context budget and token overhead from a specific workdir or Codex home. Use when the user asks to inspect, compare, reduce, or visualize initial prompt/token usage from skills, plugins, MCP servers, memories, AGENTS.md, or runtime configuration. Includes a CLI that reports phase-separated estimates and an ASCII prompt-composition chart. Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/codex-context-budget-audit` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/codex-context-budget-audit` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/codex-context-budget-audit/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/codex-context-budget-audit --- # Codex Context Budget Audit Use this skill when the task is about measuring or comparing Codex startup/context overhead from local configuration sources. ## Workflow 1. Identify the execution location. - Use the user's requested path as `--workdir`. - Default Codex home is `$env:USERPROFILE\.codex` unless the user provides another path. 2. Run the bundled CLI first: ```powershell python "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\skills\codex-context-budget-audit\scripts\context_budget_audit.py" --workdir ``` 3. If comparing runs, save a baseline JSON and compare a later run: ```powershell python "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\skills\codex-context-budget-audit\scripts\context_budget_audit.py" --workdir --json-out \codex-context-before.json python "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\skills\codex-context-budget-audit\scripts\context_budget_audit.py" --workdir --baseline \codex-context-before.json ``` 4. Report the result by phase: - Config state: memory, plugin, MCP enabled counts. - Memory summary estimate. - AGENTS/instructions estimate. - Local skill manifest estimate. - Plugin skill manifest estimate. - MCP enabled surface. - Optional triggered skill body upper bound. 5. State limits clearly: - Platform system/developer/tool-schema tokens are not fully observable from local files. - Existing sessions do not shrink after config changes; a new Codex session is required. - Token counts are estimates based on character ratios, not tokenizer telemetry. ## ASCII Prompt Ratio Sketch Use the CLI dashboard as the main visualization. The visual style should stay pure ASCII and terminal-safe while borrowing these interface cues: - Claude Code style: compact statusline-like metrics for subtotal, memory, MCP, and platform-base state. - Gemini CLI style: terminal-first source rows that expose tools, MCP, and local workspace surfaces clearly. - Codex audit requirement: keep unobservable platform prompt/tool-schema tokens separate from measured local estimates. - Color is allowed when the terminal supports ANSI. Use `--color auto` by default, `--color always` for screenshots/log demos, and `--color never` for plain logs. - For Codex-visible colored output, prefer `--render codex`; it emits Markdown/HTML inline colors instead of ANSI escape codes. - Keep long vertical separators in source rows so the chart stays readable even without color. If summarizing manually, use this shape: ```text +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | CODEX CONTEXT BUDGET local estimate / startup surface | | STYLE RAIL | dense statusline | clear tool surface | measured-local estimate | +==================================================================================================+ | STATUS | LOCAL SUBTOTAL 10.9k-14.6k tok MEMORY OFF | MCP 0 enabled | | RUNTIME | PLATFORM BASE unknown system + developer + native tool schema | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | ID | SOURCE | BAR | TOKENS | % | STATE | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | SYS | platform system/developer/tools | [????????????????????????] | unknown | n/a | runtime-owned | | MEM | memory summary | [------------------------] | 0-0 tok | 0% | config-gated | | DOC | AGENTS/workspace instructions | [==========--------------] | 2.7k-3.6k tok| 42% | local files | | SKL | local skill manifests | [#############-----------] | 3.5k-4.7k tok| 55% | local roots | | PLG | plugin skill manifests | [+-----------------------] | 180-241 tok | 3% | enabled plugins | | MCP | enabled MCP tool surface | [------------------------] | 0-0 tok | 0% | tool schema hidden | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ``` Never present the sketch as exact telemetry. Label it as an estimate or measured-local subset. Keep `SYS` with question marks unless runtime telemetry exists. ## CLI The script is intentionally self-contained and uses only Python standard library modules. Useful options: - `--workdir PATH`: target execution location. - `--codex-home PATH`: Codex home directory. - `--config PATH`: explicit config file. - `--json-out PATH`: save report for future comparison. - `--markdown-out PATH`: save the Codex-friendly colored Markdown/HTML dashboard. - `--baseline PATH`: compare against a saved report. - `--color auto|always|never`: control ANSI colors. - `--render terminal|codex|both`: choose the ASCII/ANSI terminal dashboard, the Codex Markdown/HTML dashboard, or both. - `--include-skill-bodies`: estimate full SKILL.md body size as an upper-bound, not startup cost. --- > Source: [pingqLIN/UniText](https://github.com/pingqLIN/UniText) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).