Codex Desktop: support VS Code-compatible file icon themes in the workspace file tree

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
45/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
vscode
Domain
desktop

Research direction

Start by locating the desktop FileTree's existing icons configuration surface, including spriteSheet, byFileName, byFileExtension, and remap. Define how a VS Code-compatible icon theme package is selected and persisted, then verify that file-tree rows use its mappings while retaining the builtin option and avoiding arbitrary extension code or marketplace support.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

app enhancement
What variant of Codex are you using?

App

What feature would you like to see?

Ask: Let users install/select third-party file icon themes for the workspace file tree (same job as VS Code “File Icon Theme”).

Examples users already have: Flow Icons, Material Icon Theme, vscode-icons, Symbols.

Why: Codex’s file tree already shows file-type icons, but only a small builtin set. People who live in Cursor/VS Code with a chosen icon pack lose that visual language in Codex, so file scanning is slower and the app feels less “their IDE.”

Desirable product shape (minimal):

  1. Settings → Appearance (or Files): File icon theme picker (Builtin + installed themes).
  2. Accept a VS Code-compatible icon theme package (the usual contributes.iconThemes JSON + SVG/iconPath maps: fileExtensions, fileNames, folderNames, light/dark).
  3. Apply to workspace file-tree rows (files first; folder glyphs nice-to-have if it doesn’t fight expand chevrons).
  4. Persist per-user; survive app updates without patching the app bundle.

Implementation hint for maintainers/agents: the desktop FileTree already has an icons config surface (spriteSheet, byFileName, byFileExtension, remap, builtin set: complete|standard|minimal|none). Official support can feed that API from an imported theme instead of growing the hardcoded builtin sprite forever. Full VS Code extension host is not required for v1.

Non-goals for v1: running arbitrary extension JS; marketplace inside Codex; restyling the whole app (see theming FR below).

Additional information

Related but different:

  • #33497 — theme packs / stylesheets (colors & décor), not file-type icons
  • #25448 / #19367 — per-project icons in the sidebar
  • #24244 — file-tree panel UX, not icon packs

Agent-readable summary: feature-request codex-desktop file-tree file-icon-theme vscode-compatible user-value: visual parity with Cursor/VS Code icon packs.

Dominant language
Rust
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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