Claude Code Directive MCP

claude-code-directive-mcp is a local stdio MCP server that lets an agent temporarily add a global Codex AGENTS directive requiring Claude Code usage until a configured expiry date.

It is designed for temporary, opt-in delegation policy:

• Adds one clearly marked block to the effective global Codex instruction file.
• Uses Codex precedence: non-empty AGENTS.override.md, otherwise AGENTS.md.
• Skips project-local .codex directories unless explicitly opted in.
• Records a manifest and creates a user-level cleanup timer.
• Removes only the exact marked block recorded in the manifest.
• Adds guardrails for Claude context, Main Codex context, retries, parallelism, and rate limits.
• Never asks for or stores secrets.

Install

git clone <repo-url>
cd claude-code-directive-mcp
npm install
npm run install:codex

Restart Codex after installation so the new MCP server is loaded.

The installer writes a user wrapper to:

~/.local/bin/codex-claude-code-directive-mcp

and registers this MCP server in:

${CODEX_HOME:-~/.codex}/config.toml

MCP Tools

claude_directive_enable

Enable or update the temporary directive.

Example arguments:

{
  "expiresAt": "2026-08-17T23:59:59",
  "timezone": "Europe/Berlin",
  "cleanupDelayMinutes": 5,
  "maxClaudePromptChars": 60000,
  "maxClaudeOutputChars": 20000,
  "maxClaudeRuntimeSeconds": 900,
  "maxClaudeRetries": 1,
  "mainContextReservePercent": 25,
  "maxClaudeCallsPerTask": 3,
  "maxParallelClaudeAgents": 2,
  "minSecondsBetweenClaudeCalls": 30
}

claude_directive_status

Reports discovered Codex homes, effective global instruction files, marker counts, scheduler state, manifest content, and optional Claude CLI status.

claude_directive_disable

Runs the idempotent cleanup and disables/removes the one-time user scheduler.

Cleanup

On Linux with a working user systemd, the MCP creates a user timer named:

codex-claude-code-directive-cleanup.timer

The timer executes:

${CODEX_HOME:-~/.codex}/maintenance/cleanup-temporary-claude-code-directive.py

The cleanup script uses the manifest to remove only the exact marked directive block. It is safe to run repeatedly.

Budget And Rate Guardrails

The directive generated by this MCP tells the main agent to:

• keep a Main Codex context reserve,
• cap Claude prompt and output size,
• cap Claude runtime and retries,
• limit per-task Claude calls and parallel Claude agents,
• wait between separate Claude calls unless parallelism is justified,
• stop fast retry loops on rate limits, context limits, timeouts, or overload.

The MCP writes these rules into the global instruction block; it does not have privileged access to live provider token counters.