Enable and inspect local Codex memories

Codex can carry useful context from earlier chats into later work through local memory. The CODEXMEM post covered CLI 0.165.0, which introduced the v2 default for fresh profiles and imports from other agents ^[2].

Enable local memory

Local Codex memories are off by default. Add this to ~/.codex/config.toml, merging it into an existing [features] section if you already have one ^[1]:

toml

[features]
memories = true

In an interactive chat, open the memory controls:

text

/memories

Choose whether this chat can use existing memories and contribute to future ones. These controls apply to the chat; they do not replace the global setting ^[1].

Check the storage location

Fresh CLI profiles normally use ~/.codex/memories_v2/. An existing memories/ store continues to be used by default. Explicit version settings can change that behavior; the desktop app has migration behavior that can involve both directories ^[1].

Memory generation runs in the background and may wait after a chat becomes idle. Review generated files before sharing them. Keep required project rules in AGENTS.md or checked-in documentation ^[1].

Other changes in 0.165.0

The October 27 release also added GPT-6.1 Terra to the model catalog, reasoning-effort changes during a conversation for supported models, and a repository filter for sessions across linked worktrees. It added the built-in Google Cloud Vertex AI provider configured with model_provider = "gcp" ^[2].

Treat those as release-specific changes. Follow the current memory documentation when configuring a newer client, particularly if it already has a memory store.