Three ways Trama works with Codex
- Codex as a step in your automations. Trama hands a task to Codex and delivers its answer. This is the main use, and the rest of this page is about it.
- Codex as Trama’s AI. In onboarding or Settings → General → AI Provider, pick Codex. Trama uses it to build your automations and for its AI steps, through the account you already signed in with. No API key.
- Trama as a tool for Codex. Turn on Settings → General → “Let coding agents use Trama”, and Codex can list, run, switch on and off, and create your automations over MCP. New automations still open in Trama for you to review.
What to type
Press Cmd+Option+X from any app and name Codex in your description. A few that work well:
“When I copy a GitHub pull request link, have Codex review it and post the review to Slack.”
“When I copy an error message, ask Codex what it means in my project ~/code/shop and show me the answer.”
“Every Monday at 9am, have Codex research what changed this week in the React ecosystem and save a report to my Desktop.”
“When I select a bug report and press Cmd+Shift+B, have Codex fix it in ~/code/shop. Let me watch it in Terminal.”
If anything is unclear — which project, which channel, which commands — Trama asks before it builds. You see every step before anything runs.
The two Codex steps
A step runs on Codex when you name Codex in your description, when Codex is Trama’s AI, or when it is the only coding agent on your Mac. You can also switch any step to Codex in its Agent setting.
| Ask Codex | Start Codex agent | |
|---|---|---|
| For | Quick questions whose answer the next step uses: “what does this error mean here?”, “which file handles login?” | Work that takes minutes: reviewing a pull request, research across several sources, a report, fixing a bug. |
| How it runs | The automation waits for the answer, up to 2 minutes. | In the background. The automation finishes right away, and the answer arrives when Codex is done. |
| Where the answer goes | Into the next step. | To the automation’s outputs: Slack, a file, the clipboard or a notification. |
| Sandbox | Read-only. | Read-only, or can write inside the project folder. |
| Follow along | — | Don’t show, watch in Trama, watch in Terminal, or talk to it in Terminal. |
What Codex can and can’t do
- It runs in Codex’s sandbox. Read-only by default. With edit access it can write only inside the project folder, and Trama shows you the task, the folder and the commands before every run.
- Its shell has no network. In either mode, commands Codex runs in its sandbox can’t reach the internet. It can still search the web.
- Allowed commands go through Trama. You list commands like
gh pr view. Codex calls them through Trama, which checks each call against your list and runs it with no shell, so;, pipes and variables are passed as plain text. General-purpose commands that could do anything on their own —git,gh api,curl, shells,sudo— are dropped. - Your Codex setup stays out of it. Trama starts Codex without your config, rules, MCP servers, hooks or plugins, and with extras like browser and computer use off.
- In Terminal, Codex asks. When you choose to talk to it in Terminal, Codex asks you before anything outside its sandbox, network commands included.
Connect Codex to Trama
To let Codex run and create your automations, turn on Settings → General → “Let coding agents use Trama”, then add this to ~/.codex/config.toml:
[mcp_servers.trama]
command = "/Applications/Trama.app/Contents/MacOS/Trama"
args = ["--mcp"]Codex then has six tools: list your workflows, show one, run one, list recent runs, switch one on or off, and create one from a description. Only apps running under your Mac user can connect, and there is no network port.
What you need
Codex CLI 0.162 or later, installed and signed in; with an older version Trama asks you to update instead of running it without its sandbox settings. Trama finds Codex even if it is not on the PATH a Mac app sees. Any Trama plan, Free included: Codex steps run on your Mac and do not count toward the daily integration steps. Trama runs on macOS 15.7 or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Prefer Claude Code? See Trama and Claude Code.
Questions
Do I need an OpenAI API key to use Codex with Trama?
No. Trama runs the Codex CLI already installed on your Mac, signed in with your own account, so there is no key to paste into Trama.
Can Codex change my files or reach the internet when Trama starts it?
Codex runs in its sandbox. Read-only steps can’t write anything; steps with edit access can write only inside the folder you chose, and Trama shows you the task before every run. Its shell never has network access. It can search the web, and the commands you allow run outside the sandbox through Trama, which checks each one.
Does Trama load my Codex settings, MCP servers or plugins?
No. Trama runs Codex with your own config, rules, MCP servers, hooks and plugins switched off, so a workflow behaves the same on any Mac and can’t reach tools you didn’t give it.
Which Trama plan do I need?
Any plan, including Free. Codex steps run on your Mac, so they do not count toward the daily integration steps.
Is Trama made by OpenAI?
No. Trama is an independent Mac app that works with the Codex CLI you install from OpenAI.