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Claude Code CLI and Codex CLI

Pro Feature

Upgrade to Phoenix Code Pro to access this feature.

If you already work with Claude Code from Anthropic or Codex from OpenAI, you can run them inside the AI panel. The CLI runs in a real terminal, started in your project folder, and is connected to the editor: it sees the file you are editing, your unsaved changes, and the Live Preview, and it can use Phoenix Code's tools to take screenshots, inspect the page, and open files.

Everything you type goes to the CLI itself. Its prompts, slash commands, permission questions, and model picker are its own. The CLI also uses its own login, so Claude Code bills your Claude account and Codex bills your ChatGPT or OpenAI account, unless a provider is active in AI Settings. Then the CLI uses that provider's key and endpoint.

Opening a CLI​

On the start screen, the Command-line tools rows list both CLIs. If you have not installed either CLI yourself, the rows are folded into a Use a CLI instead line. Click it to open them. Click a row to start that CLI. You can also pick it from the dropdown in the panel header.

The CLI rows

The terminal appears in the panel once the CLI is up, and the header changes to the CLI's name. Claude Code is bundled with Phoenix Code, so it starts right away. On the first run in a folder, the CLI may ask you to trust the folder. Codex also asks you to review Phoenix Code's hooks. Choose Trust all and continue so Codex receives the editor state with each prompt. The review comes back when an update changes the hooks.

Claude Code CLI running in the panel

Both CLIs can run at the same time, and they keep running while you look at the other one, at Visual AI, or at another sidebar tab. A green dot on the row marks a running CLI. When a CLI finishes a turn while you are looking at something else, a notification says it is done. Click View chat to go to the session.

Free users can still run the CLIs from the bottom Terminal panel. Pick a CLI row and click Open in Terminal. The CLI then runs on its own, without the Phoenix Code connection.

Setting Up a CLI​

When a CLI is not installed, its row reads Set up:

A CLI that is not installed

Click it to open the setup dialog:

Set up Codex CLI

  • Install it for me: Runs the official installer in the built-in terminal. Pick the row again when it finishes.
  • I already have it: Paste the full path to the CLI and click Use This Path. Phoenix Code checks that it runs before saving it.

The saved path is shown in AI Settings. Clear it to go back to automatic detection. If the saved path stops working, the dialog opens again with a Detect automatically instead link.

Running Several Sessions​

You can run more than one session of the same CLI, for example one per task. Click + Add CLI session above the rows and pick a CLI. The new session gets its own row, named like Claude Code CLI 2. Click the row to start it.

Several CLI sessions

Click the three-dot button on a row to rename the session, stop it, or remove its row. Removing a running session stops it too. The sessions are also listed by name in the dropdown in the panel header, and the Ask AI dialog sends to the one you are looking at.

Added sessions and their names last until you close Phoenix Code.

Connected to Phoenix​

The plug icon in the header shows the connection. Green means the CLI is connected. Click it to see what the connection gives the CLI, and to turn it off or on for this session:

Phoenix connection

While connected, the CLI:

  • Receives a line with every prompt that names the file you are editing, which open files have unsaved changes, and what the Live Preview shows while it is open.
  • Can take screenshots of the editor and the Live Preview, run JavaScript in the page, resize the preview, read lint problems, search your unsaved text, open files and move the cursor, change editor settings, search Unsplash and save photos into the project, show notifications, and ask you questions inside the Live Preview or with an interactive card in the panel. These appear in the terminal as phoenix-editor tools.
  • Works on what you see. Before the CLI reads or edits a file with its own file tools, Phoenix Code saves your unsaved changes to it. Edits made with shell commands skip this. After the CLI edits a file, the open document updates. If you typed in that file in the meantime, Phoenix Code asks which version to keep.

Nothing is written into your project or into the CLI's own configuration. The connection is set up for the session and removed when it ends.

Click Disconnect Phoenix to run the CLI on its own for the rest of the session, and Reconnect Phoenix to connect it again. To start CLIs without the connection, turn off Connect Claude Code to Phoenix or Connect Codex to Phoenix in AI Settings.

The connection shows Paused when a different project is open than the one the CLI started in. See Switching Projects.

If the plug is red, the connection could not be made: the CLI is too old, or Codex already has a server named phoenix-editor in its configuration. Click the plug for the reason. Fix it and start a new session.

Stopping and Restarting​

The header has three controls for the session:

  • Back: Returns to the start screen. The CLI keeps running, and the row shows a green dot. Click the row to come back.
  • New: Ends the session and starts a fresh one in the current project.
  • Stop: Ends the session and returns to the start screen.

Stop confirmation

New and Stop ask you to confirm while the CLI is running, because they also end whatever task it is working on. If the CLI exits on its own, for example after /exit, a banner at the bottom of the terminal offers Restart.

CLI sessions are not saved. They end when you close Phoenix Code, and the panel has no history for them.

Switching Projects​

A CLI session stays in the project it started in. When you open another project, a banner over the terminal says so, with two choices:

  • Switch to "NewProject": Restarts the CLI in the new project.
  • Stay on "OldProject": Keeps the session where it is. The Phoenix connection is paused until you return to that project.

Sending from Ask AI​

When the panel is showing a CLI, the Ask AI dialog transfers your question into the CLI's prompt instead of the chat. See Sending to a CLI.

Differences from Visual AI​

  • The CLI's own permission modes apply. The Phoenix Code permission bar, the model dropdown, and session history are not shown.
  • Edits made by a CLI do not get diff cards, Undo, or restore points. Use the CLI's own undo, or version control.
  • API usage of sessions started with the connection on is added to the usage card on the start screen, unless you have set up the CLI's own usage reporting. Codex costs are estimates.
  • Right-click in the terminal for Copy and Paste. Ctrl/Cmd + C copies when text is selected and interrupts the CLI otherwise. Phoenix Code shortcuts are off while the terminal has focus. Shift + Esc moves focus back to the editor.