What

Adds Codex app-server support for context-engine-owned thread-bootstrap projection epochs. When an owning context engine provides a bootstrap projection, Codex binds that projection metadata to the backend thread and starts a new backend thread when the context-engine epoch or compatible runtime policy changes.

Why

Lossless/context-engine compaction should own the compacted context that gets projected into Codex. Re-projecting the full context every turn wastes prompt space, while continuing the same Codex backend thread after context-engine compaction leaves Codex and the context engine out of sync.

Changes

• Bind context-engine projection epochs
• Start new Codex threads on epoch rollover
• Redact/summarize projected tool payloads before Codex bootstrap
• Route compaction pressure through owner
• Adopt rotated successor transcript handles after owning context-engine compaction
• Add lifecycle binding tests
• Document Codex context-engine behavior

Testing

• git diff --check HEAD~1..HEAD
• CI=true pnpm test -- extensions/codex/src/app-server/compact.test.ts extensions/codex/src/app-server/run-attempt.context-engine.test.ts extensions/codex/src/app-server/context-engine-projection.test.ts

Focused local regression output:

RUN  v4.1.6
Test Files 3 passed (3)
Tests 39 passed (39)
[test] passed 1 Vitest shard in 12.02s

Real behavior proof

Behavior addressed: Lossless Claw can project Codex app-server context using thread-bootstrap epochs, reuse a matching bootstrap binding without re-projecting full context, start a fresh Codex backend thread when the runtime binding becomes incompatible, and invalidate the Codex thread binding after context-engine-owned compaction. The Clawsweeper successor-transcript compaction finding is addressed in code and covered by the focused regression test.

Real environment tested: Live OpenClaw gateway on Josh's Telegram OpenClaw topic, using the OpenAI Codex app-server runtime with Lossless Claw active as the context engine. Runtime evidence came from today's gateway log. The live checkout was branch josh/context-engine-bootstrap-projection at cca60ade0e during the manual compaction; the latest successor-handle fix commit a3f06bf160 was verified locally in the PR worktree.

Exact steps or command run after this patch: Inspected today's runtime log around Josh's manual compact at 2026-05-15 18:25 PDT and searched for Lossless/Codex context-engine compaction, projection, and binding events. Also reran focused local verification with git diff --check HEAD~1..HEAD and CI=true pnpm test -- extensions/codex/src/app-server/compact.test.ts extensions/codex/src/app-server/run-attempt.context-engine.test.ts extensions/codex/src/app-server/context-engine-projection.test.ts.

Evidence after fix: Redacted runtime log excerpts from the live gateway showing manual context-engine-owned compaction:

2026-05-15T18:25:17-07:00 [lossless-claw]
[lcm] LCM compaction leaf pass (normal): 90357 -> 72788
conversation=[redacted] summary=[redacted]

2026-05-15T18:25:24-07:00 [lossless-claw]
[lcm] LCM compaction leaf pass (normal): 72788 -> 55960
conversation=[redacted] summary=[redacted]

2026-05-15T18:25:24-07:00 [lossless-claw]
[lcm] compact: done conversation=[redacted]
session=[redacted] sessionKey=agent:main:telegram:group:[redacted]:topic:3731
ok=true compacted=true reason=compacted
tokensBefore=90357 tokensAfter=55960 duration=15672ms

2026-05-15T18:25:24-07:00 [lossless-claw]
[lcm] maintain: session queue acquired
queueKey=agent:main:telegram:group:[redacted]:topic:3731 queuedAhead=0 wait=0ms

2026-05-15T18:25:24-07:00 [agent/embedded]
completed context-engine-owned Codex app-server compaction
engineId=lossless-claw ok=true compacted=true reason=compacted
codexThreadBindingInvalidated=true

Redacted runtime log excerpt from the next live topic turn showing the invalidated binding caused a fresh thread-bootstrap projection and new Codex binding:

2026-05-15T18:25:32-07:00 [lossless-claw]
[lcm] assemble: done conversation=[redacted]
contextItems=132 summaryContextItems=4 hasSummaryItems=true
inputMessages=306 outputMessages=131 tokenBudget=258000 estimatedTokens=56296
contextProjectionMode=thread_bootstrap
contextProjectionEpoch=summary-prefix-v1:[redacted]

2026-05-15T18:25:33-07:00 [agent/embedded]
codex app-server context-engine projection decision
engineId=lossless-claw mode=thread_bootstrap
projected=true reason=missing-thread-binding
assembledMessages=131 originalHistoryMessages=306 projectedPromptChars=228176

2026-05-15T18:25:33-07:00 [agent/embedded]
codex app-server wrote context-engine thread binding
engineId=lossless-claw action=started
epoch=summary-prefix-v1:[redacted]

Earlier redacted live runtime excerpt from the same branch showing a matching bootstrap binding can be reused without re-projecting:

2026-05-15T16:12:10-07:00 [lossless-claw]
[lcm] assemble: done ... tokenBudget=258000 estimatedTokens=26227
contextProjectionMode=thread_bootstrap
contextProjectionEpoch=summary-prefix-v1:[redacted]

2026-05-15T16:12:10-07:00 [agent/embedded]
codex app-server context-engine projection decision
engineId=lossless-claw mode=thread_bootstrap
previousEpoch=summary-prefix-v1:[same redacted epoch]
projected=false reason=matching-thread-bootstrap-binding
assembledMessages=134 originalHistoryMessages=351 projectedPromptChars=107372

2026-05-15T16:12:11-07:00 [agent/embedded]
codex app-server wrote context-engine thread binding
engineId=lossless-claw action=resumed epoch=summary-prefix-v1:[same redacted epoch]

Focused local regression output for the successor-transcript compaction path:

RUN  v4.1.6
Test Files 3 passed (3)
Tests 39 passed (39)
[test] passed 1 Vitest shard in 12.02s

Observed result after fix: The live gateway logs show Lossless Claw performing context-engine compaction, Codex completing context-engine-owned app-server compaction with codexThreadBindingInvalidated=true, the next turn projecting because the thread binding was missing, and Codex writing a fresh context-engine thread binding. The earlier live logs also show Codex reusing a matching bootstrap binding without re-projecting. The focused regression verifies the Clawsweeper P2 contract surface: owning context-engine compaction sends successor sessionId/sessionFile to maintain() and clears both original and successor Codex app-server bindings.

What was not tested: The live manual compact did not return a successor transcript in the observable logs, and the deployed checkout was not yet at a3f06bf160. The successor-handle behavior is covered by the focused regression because it is the ContextEngine.compact() contract surface Clawsweeper flagged.