fix: write Codex dev skills as files

src/specify_cli/agents.py

@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ def _build_agent_configs() -> dict[str, Any]:
             # when register_commands() resolves __SPECKIT_COMMAND_*__ tokens.
             if "invoke_separator" not in config:
                 config["invoke_separator"] = integration.invoke_separator
+            if integration.dev_no_symlink:
+                config["dev_no_symlink"] = True
             configs[key] = config
     return configs
 
@@ -641,6 +643,7 @@ def register_commands(
                 output_name,
                 agent_config["extension"],
                 link_outputs,
+                agent_config,
             )
 
             if agent_name == "copilot":
@@ -715,6 +718,7 @@ def register_commands(
                     alias_output_name,
                     agent_config["extension"],
                     link_outputs,
+                    agent_config,
                 )
                 if agent_name == "copilot":
                     self.write_copilot_prompt(project_root, alias)
@@ -731,9 +735,10 @@ def _write_registered_output(
         output_name: str,
         extension: str,
         link_outputs: bool,
+        agent_config: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         """Write a rendered agent artifact, optionally as a dev-mode symlink."""
-        if not link_outputs:
+        if not link_outputs or (agent_config or {}).get("dev_no_symlink"):
             dest_file.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")
             return
 

src/specify_cli/extensions.py

@@ -979,6 +979,7 @@ def _register_extension_skills(
         if not isinstance(selected_ai, str) or not selected_ai:
             return []
         registrar = CommandRegistrar()
+        agent_config = registrar.AGENT_CONFIGS.get(selected_ai, {})
         integration = get_integration(selected_ai)
 
         for cmd_info in manifest.commands:
@@ -1012,13 +1013,14 @@ def _register_extension_skills(
             skill_file = skill_subdir / "SKILL.md"
             cache_root = extension_dir / ".specify-dev" / "extension-skills"
             cache_file = cache_root / skill_name / "SKILL.md"
+            use_dev_symlink = link_outputs and not agent_config.get("dev_no_symlink")
             CommandRegistrar._ensure_inside(cache_file, cache_root)
             if skill_file.exists() or skill_file.is_symlink():
                 # Do not overwrite user-customized skills, but allow dev-mode
                 # symlinks that point back to this extension's generated cache
                 # to be refreshed on a subsequent dev install.
                 if not (
-                    link_outputs
+                    use_dev_symlink
                     and self._is_expected_dev_symlink(skill_file, cache_file)
                 ):
                     continue
@@ -1089,7 +1091,7 @@ def _register_extension_skills(
                     skill_content
                 )
 
-            if link_outputs:
+            if use_dev_symlink:
                 try:
                     cache_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
                     cache_file.write_text(skill_content, encoding="utf-8")

src/specify_cli/integrations/base.py

@@ -113,6 +113,9 @@ class IntegrationBase(ABC):
     invoke_separator: str = "."
     """Separator used in slash-command invocations (``"."`` → ``/speckit.plan``)."""
 
+    dev_no_symlink: bool = False
+    """Whether dev-mode registration should write files instead of symlinks."""
+
     multi_install_safe: bool = False
     """Whether this integration is declared safe to install alongside others.
 

src/specify_cli/integrations/codex/__init__.py

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ class CodexIntegration(SkillsIntegration):
         "extension": "/SKILL.md",
     }
     context_file = "AGENTS.md"
+    dev_no_symlink = True
     multi_install_safe = True
 
     def build_exec_args(

tests/test_agent_config_consistency.py

@@ -217,6 +217,12 @@ def test_skills_agents_have_hyphen_invoke_separator_in_agent_configs(self):
                 "expected '-' (propagated from SkillsIntegration.invoke_separator)"
             )
 
+    def test_codex_dev_no_symlink_policy_in_agent_config(self):
+        """Codex dev installs must expose the no-symlink policy as metadata."""
+        cfg = CommandRegistrar.AGENT_CONFIGS
+
+        assert cfg["codex"].get("dev_no_symlink") is True
+
     def test_skills_agent_command_token_resolves_with_hyphen(self, tmp_path):
         """__SPECKIT_COMMAND_*__ tokens in extension commands resolve to /speckit-<cmd>
         when registered for a skills-based agent (e.g. claude).

tests/test_extensions.py

@@ -4619,6 +4619,42 @@ def test_add_dev_links_copilot_agent_when_supported(
         else:
             assert not agent_file.is_symlink()
 
+    def test_add_dev_writes_codex_skills_as_files(self, extension_dir, project_dir):
+        """Codex dev skills should be written as files so Codex can load them."""
+        from typer.testing import CliRunner
+        from unittest.mock import patch
+        from specify_cli import app
+
+        init_options = project_dir / ".specify" / "init-options.json"
+        init_options.write_text(
+            json.dumps({"ai": "codex", "ai_skills": True}), encoding="utf-8"
+        )
+
+        runner = CliRunner()
+        with patch.object(Path, "cwd", return_value=project_dir):
+            result = runner.invoke(
+                app,
+                ["extension", "add", str(extension_dir), "--dev"],
+                catch_exceptions=True,
+            )
+
+        assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+
+        skill_file = (
+            project_dir
+            / ".agents"
+            / "skills"
+            / "speckit-test-ext-hello"
+            / "SKILL.md"
+        )
+        assert skill_file.exists()
+        assert not skill_file.is_symlink()
+
+        content = skill_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        assert "name: speckit-test-ext-hello" in content
+        assert "metadata:" in content
+        assert "source: test-ext:commands/hello.md" in content
+
     def test_add_dev_falls_back_to_copy_when_windows_symlinks_unavailable(
         self, extension_dir, project_dir, monkeypatch
     ):