Add persistent user preference recall across Codex CLI conversations

Codex Codex CLI
,
1

Summary
I would like Codex CLI to remember recurring user preferences across new conversations, especially formatting and workflow preferences that I currently have to restate each time. Examples include my preferred GitHub commit message style and my preferred PR description structure. This would make Codex feel more continuous and reduce repeated setup instructions at the start of new chats.

Problem
At the moment, Codex CLI behaves as if each new conversation starts from zero. Even when I repeatedly use the same preferred format for common tasks, I still have to remind Codex in each new chat. This creates unnecessary repetition and slows down routine workflows.

A common example is when I ask Codex to:

  • generate a GitHub commit message
  • generate a PR description from a PR title

In both cases, I often have to restate my preferred format, even though those preferences are stable and reused across many sessions. When prior preferences are not retained, Codex becomes less efficient for recurring engineering workflows.

Proposed Feature
Add persistent user preference recall across Codex CLI conversations.

This could allow Codex to remember lightweight working preferences such as:

  • preferred GitHub commit message format
  • preferred PR description structure
  • preferred documentation layout
  • preferred response style for recurring tasks

The feature should allow Codex to apply remembered preferences by default in new chats, while still letting the user override them whenever needed.

Why This Would Help
Persistent preference recall would create continuity across separate Codex sessions. That would help the product:

  • reduce repetitive user instructions across chats
  • improve workflow efficiency for recurring tasks
  • make Codex feel more like a persistent assistant than a stateless tool
  • support users with stable personal or team conventions
  • lower friction in common engineering tasks such as commits, PR descriptions, and docs

Expected Benefits
This feature would improve the product in several ways.

First, it would save time by removing the need to repeat the same instructions in every new chat. Second, it would improve consistency by making Codex more likely to produce outputs in the user’s established preferred format. Third, it would create a smoother user experience by carrying forward useful context between sessions. Finally, it would make Codex CLI better suited to repeated real-world engineering workflows, where conventions are often stable over time.

Suggested Design Principles
The feature would be strongest if it is:

  • easy for users to set and update
  • transparent about when remembered preferences are being applied
  • optional rather than automatic without visibility
  • scoped appropriately at user level and possibly repo level
  • easy to override in any single conversation
  • lightweight for common preferences, not overly complex

Conclusion
Persistent preference recall across Codex CLI conversations would be a small but high-value improvement. It would reduce repetition, improve consistency, and make Codex more effective for users who rely on stable formatting and workflow conventions across multiple sessions. This would strengthen usability and make Codex feel more adaptive to real working habits.

2

have you tried setting up an AGENTS.md file?

3

AGENTS.md helps, but it is not the same thing as what I’m asking for.

My request is about persistent preference recall across new Codex CLI conversations, especially for user-level habits that repeat across repos and sessions. An AGENTS.md file is repo-scoped and project-specific. That makes it useful for things like build commands, test workflow, architecture constraints, and repo conventions, but it is a weaker fit for personal preferences such as:

  • my preferred commit message style
  • my default PR description structure
  • my preferred response format for recurring tasks

There are a few reasons I see them as different:

  1. AGENTS.md is tied to a repository, while many preferences are tied to the user.
  2. It requires creating and maintaining files in each repo, even when the preference is global.
  3. It is better for project instructions than for lightweight personal defaults.
  4. It does not really solve continuity across unrelated projects or fresh workspaces.

So yes, AGENTS.md is a reasonable workaround today, and I would probably use it for repo-level conventions. But I still think there is a product gap: Codex CLI should ideally support explicit, persistent user preferences separately from repo instructions.

A strong model would be:

  • AGENTS.md for repository or team rules
  • persistent profile/preferences for user-level defaults
  • per-chat overrides when needed

That separation would be cleaner and closer to how engineers actually work.

4

Hi @adrian.a.adewunmi

Thanks for the clear write-up, the distinction you’re making between repo-level instructions (AGENTS.md) and user-level preferences across sessions is spot on.

Right now Codex CLI is stateless, so things like commit style or PR structure need to be reintroduced or handled per-repo, which creates the friction you’re describing.

The idea of separating repo conventions, user defaults, and per-chat overrides makes a lot of sense and fits well with real workflows.

~SD

2 Likes