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atman-33/kiro-for-codex: VS Code extension for spec-driven development with Codex CLI. Manage specs, steering docs, and prompts visually, tightly integrated with Codex.

Published: Aug 30, 2026

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VS Code extension for spec-driven development with Codex CLI. Manage specs, steering docs, and prompts visually, tightly integrated with Codex. - atman-33/kiro-for-codex

Summary

Spec for Codex is a VS Code extension that adds a visual, spec-driven development layer on top of OpenAI's Codex CLI. It provides sidebar views for managing requirements/design/tasks documents, steering guidelines, reusable Markdown prompts, and an in-editor chat, so engineers can drive Codex from the IDE rather than a terminal. The project is written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license.

What it is useful for

The extension is aimed at engineers who want to plan AI-assisted changes more deliberately before code is written:

  • Spec workflow: generate requirements.md, design.md, and tasks.md for a feature, with a review gate at each step before proceeding.
  • Visual explorer: browse specs in a sidebar tree view and open the corresponding Markdown files.
  • CodeLens on tasks: from tasks.md, run an individual task via Codex and have it auto-checked off once finished.
  • Steering documents: create project-level guidance (product.md, tech.md, structure.md) that influence AI behavior.
  • Prompt library: scaffold and run reusable prompts stored as plain Markdown under .codex/prompts/<name>.md (no front-matter required), with an inline ▶ run button.
  • Sidebar chat: send one-off messages or stream a conversation with Codex in a dedicated terminal session, with a Stop button.

It is helpful when feature work benefits from a written plan first, when a team wants a shared location for AI instructions, or when running Codex straight from the editor is preferable to copy-pasting into a terminal.

How engineers can use it

The README documents the following setup:

  1. Install Codex CLI v0.28.0 or later and make sure it is on PATH.
  2. Use VS Code 1.84.0 or later.
  3. Install from the marketplace by searching "Spec for Codex" in the Extensions view, or run: 
    code --install-extension atman-33.spec-for-codex
    Alternatively, download the latest .vsix from GitHub Releases and code --install-extension spec-for-codex-{version}.vsix.

Typical usage, per the README:

  • Click the Spec for Codex icon in the activity bar, then + Create New Spec in the SPEC view. Describe the feature in the webview editor; Codex CLI generates requirements, then design, then tasks.
  • In tasks.md, use the CodeLens action to execute a single task.
  • Use the PROMPTS view to create .codex/prompts/<name>.md, click to open, then press the ▶ button to run it.
  • Use the CHAT view for ad-hoc questions, choosing one-shot or streaming mode.

Configuration lives in .codex/settings/specCodex-settings.json (paths only) and in VS Code settings under the specCodex.* namespace (UI visibility, approval modes such as full-auto and yolo, and specCodex.codex.windowsShellPath).

Documented limitations to be aware of: Windows PowerShell support is marked beta, and the AGENTS, HOOKS, and MCP views, plus the "New Spec with Agents" flow, are explicitly disabled in this build. The README also notes that future development is moving to a separate project, spec-for-codex-ide, so users may want to evaluate both.