openai / openai/codex

Codex App: allow the browser panel to be docked on the left (← → side toggle, persisted per workspace)

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app browser enhancement
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
125k
Forks
19.4k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

What variant of Codex are you using?

Codex App (Desktop), current release.

What feature would you like to see?

Please allow the browser panel (side panel) to be docked on either side of the conversation, with a quick way to swap.

This is a narrow, shippable subset of #32444 (configurable workspace layouts); it also touches #37429 (persist layout) and #20236 (browser panel width per workspace).

Ideally:

  • A visible ← → toggle in the browser panel header to swap sides instantly
  • View → Browser panel position → Left / Right
  • Remember the choice globally or per workspace
  • Preserve the panel width when switching sides
  • Expose the action in the command palette
Why

I'm doing a lot of work with WebMCP and preparing an entry for the OpenAI WebMCP Hackathon. For this workflow I strongly prefer the browser panel on the left and the conversation on the right: it makes the website the primary working surface, with ChatGPT/Codex acting as the agent sidebar — the interaction model people already understand from browser extensions.

The current chat-left/browser-right arrangement makes the browser feel like supporting material. During WebMCP use, however, the browser is the object being operated on: users need to watch page state, Site Tool activity, changes and confirmations while continuing the conversation alongside it.

I think this would materially improve the human–agent experience for WebMCP, rather than being merely cosmetic customization.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the Codex App browser panel header and the existing workspace-layout and command-palette entry points; the issue names no files or tests. Done means the panel can switch between left and right, the position can be selected from View and the command palette, the choice is persisted, and the width is preserved when moving it.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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