Attention / A native interface for a terminal task
A Mac answer
returns to the terminal.
Codex is building a workshop page. It needs a layout choice. Attention brings the question into the Mac app, then carries the native answer back to the same running task.
Watch the 46-second round tripActual execution / 46 seconds
Both ends of the same task.
Codex runs in a terminal. The native app supplies its question interface. The selected layout changes the file that the waiting task builds.
Live exchange: mac-v1.1.8 / build121. Final check: mac-v1.1.14 / build128, after the upgrade.
Narrow masks hide private workspace paths and the specific terminal hostname. No terminal text is replaced.
Real Attention call. Real native answer. Automated participant. Intel Computer Helper chooses Session cards in the native UI. David chose the Mac capture route; the layout selection is automated.
Jump to a recorded moment
Chapter controls pause and seek this recording. They send no new question or answer.
The round trip, in words
A choice in the app.
A consequence in the terminal.
This is the recorded outcome. The page does not run an agent, ask a new question or submit an answer.
Codex reaches a decision.
The terminal has prepared two layouts for a fictional Lantern Makers workshop. Before creating the final page, it calls Attention MCP’s ask_user and waits.
The question reaches the Mac.
The native app presents Schedule first and Session cards. Intel Computer Helper selects Session cards and sends the answer in that actual card.
The original call returns.
The selected option returns to the waiting terminal task. Its output shows attention/ask_user (completed), then acknowledges Session cards.
The choice becomes a page.
That same task creates index.html from the prepared Session cards reference, updates the badge and footer, and verifies all three sessions.
The actual native card
The question.
The returned choice.
The screenshots preserve the native pixels. The text alongside them keeps the question and result readable on a small screen.
Original question
[Portfolio demo] Which layout should I build for Lantern Makers?
The terminal waits for the answer. Only Session cards has a recorded outcome here.
View the original capture
Actual returned answer
Session cards
Intel Computer Helper selects the option and presses Send Answer in the actual native card. The shared Attention MCP returns that choice to the original caller.
Text from the actual terminalView the original captureYou selected “Session cards.” I’ll build index.html from that reference and verify that all three sessions are present.
A real file, created after the answer
The chosen layout.
Ready at every width.
The same Codex task creates the final page from the prepared cards reference. Its badge names the choice; its footer says “Built after your native answer.”
Keep the file the task actually wrote.
Standalone HTML with an inline SVG lantern. The download preserves the original bytes. It is served as plain text here and saved as an HTML file.
2,733 bytes · three sessions · checked at 1280, 768 and 390 px
Follow the evidence
One waiting call.
One continuing task.
The original CLI recording contains one task start, one layout question call and one task completion. The durable native request points to the exact owned pane, and the actual returned option matches the generated page.
Inspect the public receiptActual Attention result
{
"status": "answered",
"route": "remote",
"answers": [
{
"otherText": null,
"questionId": "workshop-layout",
"selectedOptionIds": [
"cards"
]
}
]
}The result is the recorded shared MCP return. Opaque original identities remain private. The production session field is blank; no cross-system session ID match is claimed.
Recording, delivery and version details
What was observed
Actual Codex CLI 0.162.0 used gpt-6.1-sol with high reasoning and the installed shared Attention MCP. The released native Mac app displayed the question and submitted the selected option. This path used the actual durable production card.
Mac card arrival was observed. APNs accepted the question and resolution pushes for five installations, returning HTTP 200. Provider acceptance does not establish arrival on every device; iPhone and iPad arrival were not observed.
The question arrived before the later live terminal attachment. The film begins with that original question still pending. Its first 35 seconds are continuous synchronized source footage, with focused crops that exclude unrelated inbox rows and narrow masks over private workspace paths and the terminal hostname. No terminal text is replaced. The next six seconds are a still browser render of the resulting file.
Two app observations, clearly separated
The pending original round trip was preserved on mac-v1.1.8 / build121 when the update instruction arrived. After completion, verified signed and notarized mac-v1.1.14 / build128 was installed and reopened the same persisted answered card. The final five seconds show that separate check; they do not repeat the original live exchange on build128.
Intel Computer Helper performed the layout selection under explicit authorization. The native badge’s generic “CLAUDE’S QUESTION” label remains in the real pixels; the caller here is Codex.
Private evidence preserves the CLI thread, durable request and exact pane correlation. Production session_id is blank, so the public receipt reports that limitation rather than inventing an ID equality.