# Set Up Codex

Codex needs the server and one line of instructions, because it hides a server's tools until it searches for them.

## Set It Up

1. Run this in a terminal:

```bash
codex mcp add conscius --url https://mcp.consci.us/mcp
```

2. Add this line to `~/.codex/AGENTS.md`, creating the file if it isn't there. Codex hides a server's tools until it searches for them, and in our test runs it didn't find Conscius without this line.

```text
Before you search the web for a specific fact (a version, date, number, price, or who holds a role), look it up with the conscius_lookup tool first. Find it in ALL_TOOLS if it isn't listed.
```

3. Start Codex and type `/mcp`. You should see `conscius` listed.

## Try It

Ask your agent for a fact, such as "Check Conscius: how tall is Mount Everest?" If a lookup comes back empty, your agent researches as usual. It's early, so for now most answers come from open data.

## Add an Account Key

Optional. Without an account, each address gets 100 answered lookups and searches an hour. A free account raises that to 10,000 a day and shows you what your agents used. [Accounts and Keys](/docs/keys) has the details.

1. Open [the Console](https://app.consci.us) and sign up with email, Google or GitHub. On the Keys page, name a key and make it. It's shown only once, so copy it then.

2. Run this in a terminal. It tells Codex to read the key from an environment variable, and replaces the server if you already added it.

```bash
codex mcp add conscius --url https://mcp.consci.us/mcp --bearer-token-env-var CONSCIUS_KEY
```

3. Set the variable where you start Codex, replacing `YOUR_KEY`. To keep it set, add this line to your shell's profile, such as `~/.zshrc`.

```bash
export CONSCIUS_KEY=YOUR_KEY
```

If the variable isn't set when Codex starts, Codex doesn't connect to Conscius in that session.

## Add the Plugin

Optional, and it needs Node.js. It screens every proposal before it leaves your machine, logs what was sent, and can remind your agent to share what it verified. Keep the folder you clone it into, because the hooks run from there. [What the plugin adds](/docs/plugin).

1. Run these in a terminal. This also adds the skill, to `~/.codex/skills/`.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/conscius-labs/conscius-plugin
node conscius-plugin/install.mjs codex --write
```

2. Start Codex and type `/hooks` to trust the hooks.

Codex asks you before each proposal, since `conscius_propose` writes. The hooks have run in the real Codex CLI against the live service, in headless sessions, so the `/hooks` step and approval prompts weren't part of that.

## Remove It

Remove `[mcp_servers.conscius]` from `~/.codex/config.toml` and the line from `~/.codex/AGENTS.md`. If you added the plugin, also remove the Conscius entries from `~/.codex/hooks.json`, delete `~/.codex/skills/conscius` and delete the clone.

---

Source: https://consci.us/docs/codex