Codex plugins and Design Studio

Maude's design and flow plugins share their workflow procedures between Claude Code and Codex. Codex uses native plugin manifests and short skill entry points. It can read and edit the same project canvases that you see in Studio.

Install

Install the Maude CLI for rendering, screenshots, exports and other executable helpers. Installing a Markdown plugin alone does not provide these tools.

npm install -g @1agh/maude
maude --version
codex --version

Register the Maude checkout root, then install both plugins:

codex plugin marketplace add /absolute/path/to/maude
codex plugin add flow@maude
codex plugin add design@maude

Start a fresh Codex session in the project you want to work on. The Maude source checkout and your target project can be different directories. Design uses flow's question, debate and decision-memory skills, so install both for the full set.

Existing maude codex installations

Check type -a codex. If it resolves to a wrapper around maude codex, use the actual Codex binary for direct native installation. The updated Maude launcher preserves source-owned native packages; older launcher versions can rewrite mirrored command entries. Use one owner for each design@maude / flow@maude installation. Do not layer direct installation over a conflicting managed mirror or delete an existing cache without reviewing how it is installed.

After publishing a new revision, update the marketplace and plugins through the native host's plugin management, then start a new session. Updating only the npm CLI does not update Markdown plugins, and updating plugins does not update the CLI's renderer.

Project instructions

Codex reads AGENTS.md; Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md. Use the active host's built-in /init when you need its initial project instructions. Keep shared conventions in a common referenced document where the project already uses one; do not produce a Codex file by globally replacing names and URLs in CLAUDE.md.

Initialize Maude's project workspace from Codex:

$flow:source-command-init
$design:source-command-init

The first workflow creates/configures .ai/; the second prepares .design/. Design-system creation remains a separate workflow:

$design:source-command-setup-ds project "Your product and design-system brief"

Invoke the same workflows

Arguments and flags are the same. The complete design command reference and flow command reference show both host invocations on every command page. Codex's built-in /plan selects a host mode; it is not Maude's feature-planning workflow.

The 55 command entries are explicit-only in Codex, so invoke the named workflow when you want it. The 30 shared expertise skills remain available for relevant tasks. source-command-* preserves names from existing Maude Codex installations; short labels such as design:edit are shown in the skill interface.

Use Design Studio from terminal Codex

Studio renders the project files; Codex operates on those files and calls the same Maude helpers as Claude. This path does not require Codex inside the Studio chat panel.

1. Open the same project directory in Codex and Studio. A local working copy must be available to the terminal; a cloud-only workspace is not automatically mounted into Codex by installing the plugin.
2. Run $design:source-command-browse. It reuses the project's running Studio server or starts one through maude design server-up.
3. Open a canvas in Studio. Press V for Select and click the relevant element when you want a scoped edit. The server records the active canvas and selection in .design/_active.json.
4. Ask Codex for the edit. It reads that state, snapshots the canvas, modifies the source and checks the rendered output. Keep its configured critic and quality gates; an unavailable check is not a passing check.
5. Review the result in Studio or ask for a screenshot, critique or export.

$design:source-command-new "Checkout" "A two-screen checkout flow"
$design:source-command-edit "Make the selected primary button label clearer"
$design:source-command-screenshot --screen checkout
$design:source-command-critic

Replace the screenshot's checkout with the actual artboard ID. You can also start the renderer manually from the target project:

maude design serve --root /absolute/path/to/your-project

What Codex needs

• File access to the target project and permission to run the Maude CLI.
• A running local Studio renderer and working browser/screenshot tooling.
• A model with image input for visual review, plus native subagents when the selected workflow requires independent critics.
• Applicable dependencies for the specific task: browser automation, mobile SDKs, export tooling, or configured media-generation providers.

The plugin inherits your selected Codex model and reasoning settings. It does not map Claude model aliases onto guessed OpenAI model names. A text-only model can edit source but cannot establish visual correctness from a screenshot.

Verification boundary

Native installation and discovery were verified for all 85 entries on Codex CLI 0.154.0. A separate local probe on September 13, 2026 started the Studio renderer and received a healthy response. It exposed a startup-helper bug: denied process signalling could make a healthy server look stale. The checkout fixes reuse by checking the server's HTTP identity; three regression tests pass.

The same environment denied Chromium startup. Opening the canvas in automation, reading a real selection, making a scoped edit and checking its screenshot remain unverified end to end. The globally installed Playwright fallback also failed to resolve its module; the source checkout resolved it but encountered the browser permission denial. A working browser setup is a prerequisite for visual workflows. Installing the Markdown plugin does not grant browser or operating-system permissions.

These checks do not certify every design-generation, critic, video/export or mobile workflow on every model. Native Codex role prompts retain the role's restrictions, but Markdown is not an enforced per-role tool whitelist.

Studio's built-in ACP chat is a separate follow-up. design:chat opens the existing panel; it does not switch that panel to Codex. See the desktop guide for the current in-app chat behavior.

Dependencies, kgai and fallback behavior

dependencies.json is a Maude preflight inventory, not a host package installer. Hooks also require the host's support and trust; installing the plugin is not proof that a hook ran.

For kgai, both hosts perform explicit read/write checkpoints through flow:kgai-backend. They reuse the engine-resolved store and project capture rules. A pending trust decision is never auto-approved. Local-only stores do not sync to a remote. The separate kgai plugin's Claude JSONL Stop scanner has not been ported here; Codex capture must not depend on it recognizing Codex edits.

Skill size and maintenance

Large skills now use concise entry files with links to the relevant workflow stage, schema, example or troubleshooting section. Across the 30 shared skills, entry bytes decreased by about 67% and discovery-description characters by about 78%; every shared entry is under 8 KB. The procedures remain available in the references and applicable stages must still be followed.

Do not preload every reference or increase the global context budget as a substitute for selecting relevant instructions. Other installed plugins can still cause catalog-size warnings. These byte/character counts are not a benchmark of model quality or a promise of equivalent savings for a complete run.