Codex CLI 0.164: /presets and Inline /model Flags

If you switch Codex between a cheap fast setup and a slow careful one several times a day, 0.164 is the release that removes the menu walking. OpenAI tagged Codex CLI 0.164.0 on October 23, 2026, one week after 0.163. The headline features are ten saved /presets slots and /model and /permissions commands that take arguments.

Last updated: October 23, 2026

Search interest in "codex cli" is the strongest in the Codex cluster. On a 30-day Google Trends pull today it averaged 67 on the index, against 34 for "codex model", 26 for "claude code skills" and 12 for "codex update". "codex presets" rounded to 0, so nobody is searching for the feature by name yet. People already search for the problem it solves, which is changing the model quickly.

What 0.164.0 ships#

From the release notes, the user-facing features are:

• Save reusable prompts and slash commands in ten numbered /presets slots, with a keyboard menu for quick access.
• Set model, reasoning effort, speed and permission profiles directly with inline /model and /permissions arguments.
• Preview viewed and generated images in the fullscreen transcript on terminals that support Kitty or Sixel graphics.
• Authenticate enterprise MCP connections using eligible Codex account grants or a dedicated sign-in, including OAuth clients that require secrets.
• Mask credentials during supported remote Bash commands and Zsh snapshot sessions, including credentials from custom providers.
• The Amazon Bedrock setup wizard is now on by default.

The bug-fix list is long. The lines worth reading if you run Codex on long tasks: failed compaction no longer leaves partial summaries in conversation history, background compaction failures fall back without panicking, queued prompts wait for pending permission selections to resolve, and sandbox checks were hardened for case-variant metadata paths on macOS and for replaceable symlinks used to locate executables.

The angle: presets are a model switcher with a prompt attached#

The word "presets" undersells it. Two pull requests show what the feature does.

PR #54380 says presets can be created from composer text, or from the current model, reasoning effort and speed settings. Saved inputs run "through the normal queued submission path while preserving the composer draft", so firing a preset does not destroy what you were typing. They persist under tui.presets in the active user configuration, and in-memory settings stay unchanged if the write fails. A related line in the release notes, #54385, lets you save current permission settings as a preset.

PR #54378 describes the inline form: /model [model] --reasoning <level> --speed <tier>. It updates the current session without changing saved defaults. Both --flag value and --flag=value work, omitting the model applies the settings to the current model, and bare /model still opens the picker. The PR also says Codex validates model availability, supported reasoning levels and speed tiers before applying anything, and rejects unknown flags, duplicates and missing values.

What this means on a Monday morning:

• Per-task switching gets cheap. One slot for a high-effort review pass, one for a fast edit loop. You change both with a keystroke instead of three picker screens.
• Session-only is the safe default. An inline /model change does not rewrite your saved defaults, so a one-off --reasoning bump does not leak into tomorrow's sessions. Per the PR, each thread restores its own speed when you switch threads.
• Presets live in your user config. That makes them a file you can diff and back up, which matters if you keep dotfiles. I have not inspected the exact tui.presets schema, so open the file after saving one rather than hand-writing entries from this post.
• Validation is up front. A typo in a reasoning level should fail before it reaches a request, which beats finding out mid-run.

I have not run 0.164 myself. Everything above comes from the release notes and the pull request descriptions, not from my own testing, and I cannot confirm the exact flag values your account supports. Run /model bare once to see what your build offers.

Presets and spend#

Reasoning effort and speed are the two settings that move cost and latency most, and presets make them one keypress. That is convenient and slightly risky: it is now easy to leave a high-effort preset selected and burn through a window. If you watch your limits, pair this release with our notes on Codex usage limits and pricing and how resets work. The resource budgets post covers the caps that still apply regardless of preset.

For provider-specific model entries you still edit config by hand, see custom model providers.

Permissions and credentials#

Inline /permissions follows the same pattern as /model: select a permission profile without opening a menu. If you already think carefully about what an agent may touch, our Claude Code permissions guide is the closest comparison for the Claude side. The credential masking item is narrower: it covers supported remote Bash commands and Zsh snapshot sessions. The notes do not say which remote setups are "supported", so do not assume your own setup is covered without checking it.

What people are actually saying#

Reddit blocks direct page reads here, so these are paraphrases of search excerpts, not full threads.

• A r/codex thread from before the release asks for "a customizable list of presets in Codex for quickly switching between model + reasoning + speed combinations". That is nearly the feature as shipped, which suggests the demand predates the code.
• The r/CodexAutomation feed summarizes 0.164.0 as adding reusable presets and inline controls and fixing compaction and resume. It tracks the official notes.
• The counter-case: a r/codex thread on selective pre-prompts shows people reaching for a second Codex binary with a custom home directory to get different setups. Ten slots in a TUI picker will not replace that for anyone who needs fully separate configurations, such as different auth or instructions per project.
• Another r/codex thread is people trading system-prompt tricks. Presets save a prompt, not a methodology, and the useful ones will still come from you.

My read: presets are a small, correct convenience that answers a request people made in public. They are not a configuration system, and the notes do not claim they are.

Do this before you upgrade#

1. Record codex --version before and after.
2. Run bare /model to see which models, reasoning levels and speed tiers your account lists, then try one inline change and confirm your saved defaults did not move.
3. Save one preset for each of your two most common setups and look at what tui.presets wrote to your config.
4. If you rely on long sessions, reread your resource budgets and decide which preset you want as the default.
5. Coming from 0.162 or earlier? The 0.163 notes and 0.162 notes cover the steering default and worktree tools that precede this release.

FAQ#

What is new in Codex CLI 0.164.0?#

Ten numbered /presets slots for reusable prompts and slash commands, inline /model and /permissions arguments, image previews on Kitty and Sixel terminals, enterprise MCP authentication, credential masking for supported remote commands, and a default-on Bedrock setup wizard, plus compaction, resume and sandbox fixes.

How do I change the model and reasoning effort inline in Codex?#

Per the pull request, use /model [model] --reasoning <level> --speed <tier>. It changes the current session only and leaves saved defaults alone. Bare /model still opens the picker.

Where does Codex store presets?#

Under tui.presets in the active user configuration, according to the pull request that added /presets.

Do presets overwrite what I am typing?#

No. The pull request says saved inputs run through the normal queued submission path while the composer draft is preserved.

Does 0.164.0 fix failed compaction?#

The release notes say a failed compaction no longer leaves partial summaries in conversation history and that background compaction failures fall back without panicking.

Continue Reading#

• Codex CLI 0.163: Instant Steering Is Now the Default - the previous stable release
• Codex CLI 0.162: Managed Worktrees and Pinned Tasks - the worktree tools before that
• Codex Custom Model Providers - config blocks you still edit by hand
• Codex Usage Limits and Pricing - what high-effort presets cost you
• Claude Code Permissions Settings Guide - the Claude-side permission model

Sources#

• Codex CLI 0.164.0 release notes - OpenAI, October 23, 2026
• Add /presets for reusable prompts and slash commands (#54380) - pull request description
• Support inline model, reasoning, and speed selection in /model (#54378) - pull request description
• r/codex: It would be great to have presets in the Codex app - search excerpt only
• r/codex: What is the correct codex feature for selective pre prompts? - search excerpt only
• r/codex: Best system prompt for codex - search excerpt only
• r/CodexAutomation - search excerpt only
• Google Trends, 30-day comparison of "codex cli", "codex model", "claude code skills", "codex update", "codex presets" - pulled October 23, 2026