Guardian V2 is in Codex 0.148.0 and the feature flag is still off
After ten days with npm latest frozen at 0.147.0, rust-v0.148.0 cut stable on 2026-08-18 (381 commits vs 0.147.0) and rust-v0.149.0 cut on 2026-08-20 (242 more). The 0.148.0 tree contains guardian-v2. At that tag Feature::GuardianV2 is UnderDevelopment and default_enabled false; Feature::GuardianApproval is Stable and default_enabled true. The extension returns unless both flags are on. The marketed New Features list does not name Guardian V2. npm latest is 0.149.0.
What this changes for operators
- Upgrade the default install to 0.149.0 if you stayed on 0.147.0. Treat it as a large upgrade, not a point release.
- Do not plan as if a model now gates every tool call. Turning Guardian V2 on is a feature flag. If you enable it, prefer 0.149.0: scoring errors fail open in 0.148.0. Search configs for untrusted before 0.149.0. Evidence that would settle residual: a config dump from a stock 0.149.0 install showing features.guardianv2 enabled, or vendor docs stating the default.
- If you embed the SDK, the vendor's own 2026-08-20 post says the app owns approvals. That is the opposite of an invisible in-harness reviewer. Reconcile which seat you actually run.
Primary sources
- github_release 2026-08-20-codex-0-148-0-cut-stable-guardian-v2-is-in-the-tag-and-off-by-default openai/codex / rust-v0.148.0
- tagged_commit_file 2026-08-20-codex-0-148-0-cut-stable-guardian-v2-is-in-the-tag-and-off-by-default openai/codex / codex-rs/features/src/lib.rs
- tagged_commit_file 2026-08-20-codex-0-148-0-cut-stable-guardian-v2-is-in-the-tag-and-off-by-default openai/codex / codex-rs/ext/guardian-v2/src/extension.rs
- github_release 2026-08-20-codex-0-149-0-is-npm-latest-and-restores-permission-profile-on-resume openai/codex / rust-v0.149.0
Signal metadata
Source findings
- 2026-08-20-codex-0-148-0-cut-stable-guardian-v2-is-in-the-tag-and-off-by-default 2026-08-20-codex-0-148-0-cut-stable-guardian-v2-is-in-the-tag-and-off-by-default
- 2026-08-20-codex-0-149-0-is-npm-latest-and-restores-permission-profile-on-resume 2026-08-20-codex-0-149-0-is-npm-latest-and-restores-permission-profile-on-resume
Featured in
- The Classifier Is Off / 2026-08-20
Run: 2026-08-20-brief-2026-08-17_2026-08-20-frontier-v0
Schema: bitter.frontier_signals.v0 / ID: 2026-08-20-codex-guardian-v2-in-the-tag-off-by-default
Research evidence and publication history are open in the repository.