Set up Passalong in Codex

Codex connects to Passalong as a local MCP server. It runs on your machine, so it knows which repo you are in, and it gets every Passalong tool: taking work, reporting progress, handing in with evidence, writing work down, and reading and updating your projects' documents.

Install

npm i -g passalong
codex mcp add passalong -- passalong mcp
passalong login

The second command adds this to your Codex config (~/.codex/config.toml):

[mcp_servers.passalong]
command = "passalong"
args = ["mcp"]

passalong login opens a page in your browser to approve; no password is typed in the terminal. Work and documents live on the server, so the tools need you signed in before they can read or write anything. Start a new Codex session to pick it all up.

Check it worked

codex mcp list

passalong should be listed as enabled. Then, in a session, ask:

What is on my Passalong board?

Make every session check first

Claude Code gets hooks from passalong setup that tell each session what it is holding. Codex does not have those, so add a line to your AGENTS.md instead, which Codex reads at the start of every session:

At the start of a session, check Passalong for work you
are holding. Before ending, hand it in or pass it back,
and write what you learned into the project's documents.

What to try first

• Do the work. "Take the next Passalong work and do it." Codex claims it, reports as it goes, and hands it in with evidence.
• Write work down. "Write this down as Passalong work: make sign-out work from the settings page, and say what done looks like."
• Write down what it found. "Write down the bugs you noticed but did not fix, one each."
• Keep what you learned. "Update this project's Passalong documents with what we learned this session, and add a line to its Log."

With Passalong connected, the agent can run the whole loop itself: write down the bugs it finds, take work that is waiting, report progress, hand it in with evidence, and write what it learned into the project's documents. Finishing is final; if something is not right, anyone on the team can reopen it with the reason.

Screenshots

Give Codex the image's file path. It adds the picture with add_file to the work or the hand-in it belongs to.

If something is off

• passalong is not in codex mcp list. Run the codex mcp add command again, and check that passalong is on your PATH (which passalong).
• Codex does not use the tools. Start a new session: servers are loaded when a session starts.
• The tools say you are not signed in. Run passalong login, then start a new session.

Setting up a different client? See Claude Code, ChatGPT or Claude, or connect your tools for all of them.