Preserve agent cwd through Codex app server

README.md

@@ -204,14 +204,16 @@ prompt_delivery = "exec"        # {kickoff}=prompt file, {session}=session name,
 
 For an `"arg"` backend the flag *templates* are configurable (so you can point at a non-claude
 CLI): `resume_flag` (default `--resume '{id}'`), `model_flag` (default `--model '{model}'`),
-`remote_control_flag` (default `--remote-control '{session}'`), and `remote_addr_flag` (default
-`--remote '{addr}'`). A backend that sets `process_name`
+`remote_control_flag` (default `--remote-control '{session}'`), `remote_addr_flag` (default
+`--remote '{addr}'`), and `remote_cwd_flag` (default `-C {dir}` whenever `remote_addr` is set).
+A backend that sets `process_name`
 participates in backend-mismatch healing; one that doesn't (e.g. `demo`) never does.
 An optional `preamble` runs first and must succeed before the TUI starts; it supports `{bin}`,
 `{session}`, `{model}`, and `{dir}` templates. The Codex backend uses it to idempotently start the
 shared Remote Control daemon, then uses `remote_addr = "unix://"` to connect each tmux-hosted Codex
-TUI to that daemon. This keeps the app-server as the sole thread-store writer while local and
-Remote clients share the session.
+TUI to that daemon. The accompanying `-C` is required because the daemon's process directory is
+independent of the agent's. This keeps the app-server as the sole thread-store writer while local
+and Remote clients share the session in the configured project directory.
 For an unattended TUI with a deterministic first-run gate, `startup_prompt_re` opts into one
 screen check after `startup_prompt_delay` seconds; on a match, the harness types the explicitly
 configured `startup_prompt_response` and `submit_key`. Codex uses this to trust the agent's

agents.py

@@ -350,10 +350,15 @@ def start_agent(cfg, agent, *, force=False):
             parts.append(_render_template(backend.get("remote_control_flag",
                                           "--remote-control '{session}'"), {"session": session}))
         if backend.get("remote_addr"):
-            parts.append(_render_template(backend.get("remote_addr_flag", "--remote '{addr}'"), {
+            remote_values = {
                 "addr": backend["remote_addr"], "session": session, "model": model,
                 "dir": shlex.quote(cwd),
-            }))
+            }
+            parts.append(_render_template(
+                backend.get("remote_addr_flag", "--remote '{addr}'"), remote_values))
+            remote_cwd_flag = backend.get("remote_cwd_flag", "-C {dir}")
+            if remote_cwd_flag:
+                parts.append(_render_template(remote_cwd_flag, remote_values))
         if model:
             parts.append(_render_template(backend.get("model_flag", "--model '{model}'"), {"model": model}))
         if backend.get("flags"):

tests/smoke_codex.sh

@@ -96,6 +96,12 @@ else
   fail "Codex probe did not complete (cmd=${cmd}); tail: $(echo "$pane" | grep -vE '^\s*$' | tail -5)"
 fi
 
+if echo "$pane" | grep -Fq "$REPO"; then
+  pass "daemon-created Codex thread uses the requested project directory"
+else
+  fail "Codex thread did not use requested directory $REPO"
+fi
+
 if python3 "$REPO/agents.py" --config "$CFG" status \
     | grep -E '^\s*probe\b' | grep -q RUNNING; then
   pass "agents.py status reports probe RUNNING"

tests/test_unit.py

@@ -279,8 +279,9 @@ class TestExampleConfig(unittest.TestCase):
             cmd = launched[0]
             self.assertTrue(cmd.startswith(
                 "codex remote-control start --json >/dev/null && "
-                "codex --remote 'unix://' --model 'gpt-test' "))
+                "codex --remote 'unix://' -C "))
             self.assertEqual(cmd.count("--remote 'unix://'"), 1)
+            self.assertIn(f"-C {agents.shlex.quote(cfg['agents']['cx']['dir'])}", cmd)
             self.assertIn("--model 'gpt-test'", cmd)
             self.assertIn(
                 "--dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox --dangerously-bypass-hook-trust --no-alt-screen",