Codex CLI 0.161.0 adds in-session MCP login and voice device choice

Codex CLI 0.161.0 was published on October 7, 2026, as the rust-v0.161.0 release. The notes add a terminal command for MCP sign-in, local voice-device selection, and Amazon Bedrock catalog options. Daybreak on the CLI is opt-in. Unless that opt-in is set, its controls stay hidden.

You can sign in to an MCP server from an active terminal session with /mcp login <name>. Authentication guidance in the same release now accounts for keyring storage, instead of implying credentials always reside in auth.json.

Voice hardware, saved locally

For voice conversations, you can choose the microphone, the speaker, and the microphone input channels. The preference is saved locally.

Bedrock flags, including GovCloud

Amazon Bedrock supports multi-agent V2 and Ultra reasoning on compatible models. The notes do not name those models. Bedrock Mantle also accepts AWS GovCloud regions. The same list names GPT-6.1 Sol as the default model in the bundled and Amazon Bedrock catalogs.

Daybreak stays opt-in

Daybreak is opt-in through --enable cli_daybreak or features.cli_daybreak=true. daybreak=true alone is not enough. By default, controls and indicators are hidden, /daybreak is unavailable, and automatic Cyber routing is omitted, even for saved Daybreak threads. Saved preferences remain intact. Opt-in routing requires eligible ChatGPT sign-in, the OpenAI provider, and advertised model or program support.

You can select a Cyber access program per turn with codex exec --cyber-access-program or the TypeScript SDK's cyberAccessProgram option. The explicit exec override remains available with cli_daybreak disabled and leaves the saved choice unchanged.

Fixes in the same tag

Approved filesystem escalation can grant broader write access while preserving denied reads and network restrictions. Background tasks retain their originating turn's permissions. Explicit launch permissions survive terminal reconnects and new sessions. Implicit client settings no longer overwrite server or saved-thread web-search settings.

Elevated Windows terminal sessions can start using an embedded server, and sandboxed PowerShell preserves relative paths beneath protected user profiles. Enter submits buffered input after paste detection expires, including in Vim insert mode. Thread resume includes the latest committed history. Startup detects recoverable SQLite corruption earlier and preserves damaged databases as backups. Responses retries and WebSocket-to-HTTP fallback honor server retry guidance, which the notes say reduces premature failures during overload. Publishing an older alpha or hotfix no longer moves npm alpha tags backward.

If you use MCP from the terminal, open an active session and run /mcp login with the server name. If you use voice, set the microphone, speaker, and microphone input channels and expect that choice to persist locally. Before enabling Daybreak, read the 0.161.0 notes: only --enable cli_daybreak or features.cli_daybreak=true turns it on, and controls stay hidden by default.

Sources

Codex CLI 0.161.0 release notes