Day 04 of 21
Open a project without breaking anything
Goal: Find the correct project folder, open a terminal inside it, and confirm you are in the right place before Codex touches a single file.
What to do
Find the real project folder on your computer
In GitHub Desktop, click your repository name in the top-left drop-down. Click "Show in Explorer" (Windows) or "Show in Finder" (Mac). A file explorer window opens at the exact folder GitHub Desktop uses. This is your project folder — the one Codex must open in. Note the full path shown in the address bar at the top of that window.
Open a terminal inside the project folder
Windows: In the file explorer window that is already open at your project folder, click the address bar at the top, type "powershell" or "cmd", and press Enter. A terminal window opens directly in that folder. Mac: Right-click anywhere inside the Finder window, choose "New Terminal at Folder" (if available), or drag the folder icon from the title bar into the Terminal app.
Confirm you are in the right place with one command
Type this command and press Enter — Mac/Linux: pwd — Windows PowerShell: cd — then press Enter. The terminal will print the full path to the folder it is currently inside. Compare that path to the one you saw in the file explorer address bar. They must match exactly. If they do not match, type: cd "FULL PATH TO YOUR FOLDER" replacing the text in quotes with the real path, then press Enter and run pwd or cd again to verify.
Start Codex in inspect-only mode
Now that you are in the right folder, start Codex. When the session opens, paste this exact prompt: "Inspect this project folder. List the main files and folders you can see. Do NOT change anything — this is a read-only inspection. After the list, write two or three sentences explaining what kind of project this appears to be." Wait for Codex to respond before doing anything else.
Check GitHub Desktop for unexpected changes
Switch to GitHub Desktop without closing Codex. Look at the left panel — it shows any files that have been modified since your last commit. If the panel shows "No local changes" or is empty, Codex respected the inspect-only instruction. If any files appear there, click each one and read the diff on the right side to see what changed.
Expected result
You found your project folder using GitHub Desktop, opened a terminal inside it, confirmed the path with a one-line command, ran an inspect-only Codex session, and verified in GitHub Desktop that no files were changed.
Key takeaway
- The folder you open Codex in controls everything it can see and touch. Always confirm the path before you start, and always check GitHub Desktop after every session — even an inspect-only one.