fn-20-svm Codex Multi-agents Parity

fn-20-svm Codex Multi-agents Parity

Status: BLOCKED

Blocked on native custom subagent support in Codex.

Overview

Codex 0.88.0 (Jan 21, 2026) added experimental Multi-agents feature. This epic tracks bringing flow-next's subagent capabilities to Codex once the platform supports custom agent definitions.

Current Codex Multi-agents

Enable via /experiments → [x] Multi-agents

Collab tools (orchestrator only)

spawn_agent(prompt, agent_type)  → spawn worker
send_input(thread_id, message)   → send follow-ups
send_input(..., interrupt=true)  → stop + redirect
wait(thread_ids)                 → block until done
close_agent(thread_id)           → terminate

Built-in agent_type options

Gap Analysis

flow-next agents not portable to Codex

• practice-scout - best practices research
• docs-scout - documentation lookup
• repo-scout - codebase patterns
• github-scout - GitHub code search
• context-scout - RepoPrompt exploration
• docs-gap-scout - docs update detection
• memory-scout - memory system search
• epic-scout - epic dependencies
• flow-gap-analyst - requirements analysis
• quality-auditor - code review
• plan-sync - spec synchronization
• worker - task implementation

Workaround (not recommended)

The codex-subagents-mcp pattern:

1. Create temp workdir with custom AGENTS.md (scout persona)
2. Spawn worker in that dir via codex exec --profile
3. Worker inherits persona from AGENTS.md

Problems:

• Fragile temp directory management
• No native tool restrictions per agent
• No model override per agent
• Extra overhead per spawn

Blocked On

Track upstream progress:

• Issue #2604 - 261+ upvotes, main tracking issue
• Issue #8664 - spawn_subagents/chain_subagents proposal
• PR #3655 - multi subagent orchestration (in progress)

When Unblocked

Tasks

1. Update scripts/install-codex.sh to install agents/ directory
2. Create agent format converter (Claude Code → Codex)
3. Update flow-next skills to detect Codex + use spawn_agent
4. Test parallel scout execution during /flow-next:plan
5. Document Codex-specific limitations

Scope

• Planning phase scouts (practice, docs, repo, github)
• Worker agent for /flow-next:work
• Skip: memory-scout, plan-sync (require Claude Code features)

Quick commands

• ./scripts/install-codex.sh flow-next - current install
• .flow/bin/flowctl --help - CLI reference

Acceptance

• Custom agent definitions work in Codex
• Parallel scouts during planning phase
• Worker agent for task execution
• Install script copies agents/
• Documented in README

References

• Codex changelog: https://developers.openai.com/codex/changelog/
• Codex skills: https://developers.openai.com/codex/skills/
• Agents SDK: https://developers.openai.com/codex/guides/agents-sdk/
• Orchestrator template: codex-rs/core/templates/agents/orchestrator.md
• AgentRole enum: codex-rs/core/src/agent/role.rs
• codex-subagents-mcp: https://github.com/leonardsellem/codex-subagents-mcp