HOW TO: Authorize codex in vscode-server, docker, remote ssh

[mgscox]

How to get codex working if OAUTH flow doesn't work for you (at least until the option to enter a code is implemented, like for claude)

Option 1: Easy

• install codex on any machine where authorization will work, and login (run and complete codex login in CLI)
• copy contents of file ~/.codex/auth.json
• create same file on remote (headless, vscode-server,, docker) machine and paste in contents
• for codex VSCode extension:
  • IMPORTANT: Extension uses a version number in filename, so check your actual path locally and adjust folder name as needed (i.e. chatgpt-0.4.15-universal may actually be chatgpt-0.5.01-universal, etc. when you read this)
  1. Code server / WSL / Docker
     - IMPORTANT: If you used a variant of code-server, it may install to a different folder than code-server under ~/.local/share (you may need to dig around in folders a bit)
     - paste auth.json contents to ~/.local/share/code-server/extensions/openai.chatgpt-0.4.15-universal/auth.json
  2. Windows
     - paste auth.json content so %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\openai.chatgpt-0.4.15-universal\auth.json

Option 2: Port forwarding

• port forward :1455 to localhost (even easier, if you know what you're doing)
• run codex login and complete authentication flow

Option 3: CLI only (not for headless)

• run codex login in CLI and copy the URL it displays for authentication
• in any browser (except Safari) open up dev-tools, go to network tab, turn on option to preserve logs
• paste in the URL and go through the authentication process until redirect to localhost is shown in browser
• scroll to bottom of network dev-tools and find the erroring GET to http://localhost:1455...
  • right-click that line
  • select copy as CURL (important)
  • create a new terminal session on your dev box - do NOT kill codex login
• paste and run the CURL command in the new terminal window