Magic Keywords
Phrases the keyword-detector hook recognises to auto-route prompts to OMX skills — autopilot, ralph, team, ralplan, ulw, and more.
Magic keywords are phrases that trigger OMX skill routing without requiring an explicit slash command. The keyword-detector hook scans every UserPromptSubmit event for these phrases and writes skill activation state before the model sees the prompt. The model then finds its skill instructions ready to execute.
What it is
The keyword registry (src/hooks/keyword-registry.ts) defines a priority-ordered list of phrase-to-skill mappings. Detection supports both explicit $skill invocations (matched left-to-right) and implicit phrase matching with word-boundary guards. Some keywords — team, ralph, parallel — require additional intent context to avoid firing on incidental prose.
Keyword table
| Phrase(s) | Routes to | Priority |
|---|---|---|
ralplan, consensus plan | ralplan | 11 |
autopilot, build me, I want a | autopilot | 10 |
ultrawork, ulw, parallel | ultrawork | 10 |
ralph, don't stop, must complete, keep going | ralph | 9 |
deep interview, interview me, gather requirements, don't assume, ouroboros | deep-interview | 8 |
ultraqa | ultraqa | 8 |
team, swarm, coordinated team | team | 8 |
plan this, plan the, let's plan | plan | 8 |
code review, review code | code-review | 6 |
tdd, test first | tdd | 6 |
fix build, type errors | build-fix | 6 |
analyze, investigate | analyze | 7 |
wiki query, wiki add, wiki lint | wiki | 5 |
cancel, stop, abort | cancel | 5 |
Higher priority wins when multiple keywords match. Explicit $skill references always beat implicit phrase matches.
Example
Implicit trigger — the phrase alone routes to autopilot:
codex
> build me a REST API for bookstore inventory in TypeScriptExplicit invocation — use $ prefix to force a specific skill:
codex
> $ralplan design the new auth systemRelated
Context Hooks
Hooks that inject project memory, directives, reminders, and notepad content into Codex prompts via system-reminder tags.
Codex-Native Hooks
How OMX wires directly into Codex CLI's native hook surface instead of a shell wrapper, and which lifecycle events are covered natively versus via runtime fallback.