Codex Attachment Manager

Choose which past images go to the model with your next message, without leaving the task.

Every image in the task is unchecked. Asked about v1's chat button, the model replies need IMG-002; the panel points to IMG-002, the user checks it, and the model answers from the image.

Why I built this

I was iterating on image generation with GPT in Codex. After a dozen or so images, the task started failing: the connection kept dropping, and the retries every few minutes never went through. Digging into it, I found that Codex sends every image in the task's history again with every request, and each request had grown to about 44 MB. The only way out was a new task, which meant losing the conversation.

So I wanted to keep the long conversation going and decide, turn by turn, which images the model still gets. Uncheck the ones you no longer need: from the next message on they become short placeholders, and the task and the conversation stay the same.

Features

Every image in one list: a Context Assets tab in Codex's side panel lists every image in the task, turn by turn: the ones you uploaded and the ones the model viewed or generated, with thumbnails, IDs and sizes. Click one to preview it.
One click to leave an image out: unchecked images become a short placeholder from the next message on. Toggle single images or a whole turn.
Duplicates handled: when an identical image is still being sent, the placeholder points to it.
The model knows why: a note tells the model the images were left out by you to save context, so its earlier answers still stand and it doesn't make up details it can't see.
The model asks, you decide: when it needs an image, it replies need IMG-xxx. The panel lists what it asked for and jumps to it in one click. A checked image goes back to its place in the conversation, marked with its ID.
See the savings: the panel estimates the size of the next request and how much you save compared with sending every image, and warns you when a request could not be rewritten.
English and Simplified Chinese: the panel, the tab name and the note for the model follow Codex's language.
Stays on your machine: the plugin sends nothing anywhere besides the requests Codex already makes to OpenAI.

How it works

The plugin runs a small local proxy, the engine, between Codex and OpenAI. Before a request goes out, the engine swaps unchecked images for placeholders and adds the note; everything else is forwarded as is.
Selections are saved per task. Only you can change them, not the model.
The panel is an MCP app you open from the side panel. It doesn't go through the model and costs no tokens.

Requirements

Codex desktop app. Tested on Windows with Codex 26.924.
macOS and Linux: CI installs the plugin with Codex's own CLI, starts it, and runs the install and uninstall scripts, but nobody has tried it in the desktop app on these platforms yet. Issues welcome.
No separate Node install: the plugin uses the Node 24 that ships with Codex, and falls back to node 24 or later on your PATH.

Install

In Codex, no terminal

On Codex's Plugins page, click Add a marketplace, enter chipfighter/codex-attachment-manager as the Source, leave the rest empty, and click Add marketplace.
Install Codex Attachment Manager from the list.
Open a task, click Toggle side panel at the top right, open a new tab with +, and choose Context Assets under Plugins and MCPs. If it isn't there, restart Codex once.
The panel says the plugin is not enabled yet. Click Enable plugin, then restart Codex.

One command

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://github.com/chipfighter/codex-attachment-manager/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

macOS and Linux:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/chipfighter/codex-attachment-manager/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

The command installs the plugin with Codex's own CLI and sets up the proxy. Restart Codex afterwards. Run it again later to upgrade.

What installing changes

Adds a marked proxy block to ~/.codex/config.toml, after backing the file up.
If a proxy is set in your environment variables, adds a marked NO_PROXY block with local addresses only to ~/.codex/.env.
Nothing else. If you have set openai_base_url yourself, installing stops without writing anything.

Usage

Open Context Assets in the side panel of a task. On a new chat you can open it before the first message; it switches to the task once you send.
Uncheck the images you don't want to send anymore. Each change is saved at once and applies from the next message.
When the model replies need IMG-xxx for an unchecked image, a bar at the top of the panel lists it. Click the ID to jump to the image and check it.

Uninstall

Disable first, then remove: click Disable plugin in the panel, remove the plugin on the Plugins page, and restart Codex.

Or run the uninstall command. It restores the direct connection and removes the plugin, and it works even when the plugin files are gone: