Summary
Codex CLI 0.144.5, released July 16, 2026, improved detection of dangerous shell commands, including additional forced 'rm' variants, and now gives clearer reasons when it rejects a command. The change hardens the guardrails around Codex's autonomous command execution.
What changed
On July 16, 2026 OpenAI shipped Codex CLI 0.144.5 with broader dangerous-command detection (more forced rm forms) and clearer rejection messaging.
Why it matters
As coding agents run more shell commands unattended, the blast radius of a missed destructive command grows, so catching more rm variants and explaining denials directly reduces both accidental data loss and developer confusion. Transparent rejection reasons also help users adjust prompts instead of disabling safeguards.
Evidence excerpt
Codex CLI 0.144.5 (July 16, 2026): improved dangerous-command detection, including more forced rm forms, with clearer rejection messaging when commands are denied.