> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/openai/codex/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contributing Overview

> Learn how to contribute to the Codex CLI project and get involved with the community

Welcome to the Codex CLI contributing guide! We're building Codex in the open with the community and value your input.

## Contribution Policy

<Warning>
  **External contributions are by invitation only**

  At this time, the Codex team does not accept unsolicited code contributions. Pull requests that have not been explicitly invited by a member of the Codex team will be closed without review.
</Warning>

### How You Can Help

While we don't accept unsolicited PRs, there are many ways to contribute:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Report Bugs" icon="bug">
    Open a bug report or verify that an existing report already covers the issue you encountered.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Share Analysis" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Contribute reproduction details, root-cause hypotheses, or high-level fix outlines in issue threads.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Propose Features" icon="lightbulb">
    Open an issue describing your proposal or upvote existing enhancement requests.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Join Discussions" icon="comments">
    Participate in GitHub Discussions to help shape the future of Codex.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## When PRs Are Invited

The Codex team may invite an external contributor to submit a pull request when:

* The problem is well understood
* The proposed approach aligns with the team's intended solution
* The issue is deemed high-impact and high-priority

<Info>
  The most valuable contributions consistently come from community members who demonstrate deep understanding of a problem domain. That expertise is most helpful when shared early through detailed bug reports, analysis, and design discussion in issues.
</Info>

## Why This Policy?

In the past, the Codex team accepted external pull requests for bug fixes. While we appreciated the effort and engagement from the community, this model did not scale well.

Many contributions were made without full visibility into:

* Architectural context
* System-level constraints
* Near-term roadmap considerations

Reviewing and iterating on these PRs often took more time than implementing the fix directly, and diverted attention from higher-priority work.

**We focus external contributions on discussion, analysis, and feedback**, and reserve code changes for cases where a targeted invitation makes sense.

## Getting Started

If you've been invited to contribute code, here's where to begin:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Set Up Your Environment">
    Follow the [development environment setup guide](/contributing/setup) to prepare your local workspace.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build the Project">
    Learn how to [build Codex from source](/contributing/building) for both Rust and TypeScript components.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run Tests">
    Familiarize yourself with the [testing workflows](/contributing/testing) to validate your changes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Follow Guidelines">
    Review our [contribution guidelines](/contributing/guidelines) for code style and commit conventions.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Community Values

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Be Kind" icon="heart">
    Treat others with respect; we follow the [Contributor Covenant](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Assume Good Intent" icon="handshake">
    Written communication is hard - err on the side of generosity.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Teach & Learn" icon="graduation-cap">
    If you spot something confusing, open an issue or discussion with suggestions.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Getting Help

If you run into problems setting up the project, would like feedback on an idea, or just want to say hi:

* Open a **Discussion** topic
* Jump into the relevant **issue**
* Reach out in the community channels

We are happy to help. Together we can make Codex CLI an incredible tool.

## Security & Responsible AI

<Warning>
  Have you discovered a vulnerability or have concerns about model output?

  Please email **[security@openai.com](mailto:security@openai.com)** and we will respond promptly.
</Warning>