feat(cliproxy): add model-specific reasoning effort caps

Add maxLevel field to ThinkingSupport interface to cap reasoning
effort at model's maximum supported level. This fixes Issue #344
where gpt-5-mini fails with xhigh reasoning (only supports high).

- Add Codex provider to model catalog with gpt-5.2-codex and gpt-5-mini
- Add capLevelAtMax() and capEffortAtModelMax() for runtime capping
- Update UI presets with new Codex models and tier mappings

src/cliproxy/codex-reasoning-proxy.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import * as http from 'http';
 import * as https from 'https';
 import { URL } from 'url';
+import { getModelMaxLevel } from './model-catalog';
 
 export type CodexReasoningEffort = 'medium' | 'high' | 'xhigh';
 
@@ -51,10 +52,32 @@ const EFFORT_RANK: Record<CodexReasoningEffort, number> = {
   xhigh: 3,
 };
 
+/** All valid codex effort levels in rank order */
+const EFFORT_BY_RANK: CodexReasoningEffort[] = ['medium', 'high', 'xhigh'];
+
 function minEffort(a: CodexReasoningEffort, b: CodexReasoningEffort): CodexReasoningEffort {
   return EFFORT_RANK[a] <= EFFORT_RANK[b] ? a : b;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Cap effort at model's max level from catalog.
+ * Returns the capped effort (or original if no cap applies).
+ */
+function capEffortAtModelMax(model: string, effort: CodexReasoningEffort): CodexReasoningEffort {
+  const maxLevel = getModelMaxLevel('codex', model);
+  if (!maxLevel) return effort;
+
+  // Map maxLevel to CodexReasoningEffort (only medium/high/xhigh are valid)
+  const maxEffort = EFFORT_BY_RANK.find((e) => e === maxLevel);
+  if (!maxEffort) return effort;
+
+  // Cap if effort exceeds max
+  if (EFFORT_RANK[effort] > EFFORT_RANK[maxEffort]) {
+    return maxEffort;
+  }
+  return effort;
+}
+
 export function buildCodexModelEffortMap(
   models: CodexReasoningModelMap,
   defaultEffort: CodexReasoningEffort = 'medium'
@@ -85,7 +108,9 @@ export function getEffortForModel(
   defaultEffort: CodexReasoningEffort
 ): CodexReasoningEffort {
   if (!model) return defaultEffort;
-  return modelEffort.get(model) ?? defaultEffort;
+  const effort = modelEffort.get(model) ?? defaultEffort;
+  // Apply model-specific cap from catalog
+  return capEffortAtModelMax(model, effort);
 }
 
 export function injectReasoningEffortIntoBody(

src/cliproxy/model-catalog.ts

@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ export interface ThinkingSupport {
   max?: number;
   /** Valid level names (for levels type) */
   levels?: string[];
+  /** Maximum reasoning effort level (caps effort at this level for levels type) */
+  maxLevel?: 'minimal' | 'low' | 'medium' | 'high' | 'xhigh';
   /** Whether zero/disabled thinking is allowed */
   zeroAllowed?: boolean;
   /** Whether dynamic/auto thinking is allowed */
@@ -135,6 +137,35 @@ export const MODEL_CATALOG: Partial<Record<CLIProxyProvider, ProviderCatalog>> =
       },
     ],
   },
+  codex: {
+    provider: 'codex',
+    displayName: 'Copilot Codex',
+    defaultModel: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+    models: [
+      {
+        id: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+        name: 'GPT-5.2 Codex',
+        description: 'Full reasoning support (xhigh)',
+        thinking: {
+          type: 'levels',
+          levels: ['medium', 'high', 'xhigh'],
+          maxLevel: 'xhigh',
+          dynamicAllowed: false,
+        },
+      },
+      {
+        id: 'gpt-5-mini',
+        name: 'GPT-5 Mini',
+        description: 'Capped at high reasoning (no xhigh)',
+        thinking: {
+          type: 'levels',
+          levels: ['medium', 'high'],
+          maxLevel: 'high',
+          dynamicAllowed: false,
+        },
+      },
+    ],
+  },
 };
 
 /**
@@ -208,6 +239,18 @@ export function getModelThinkingSupport(
   return model?.thinking;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Get the maximum reasoning effort level for a model.
+ * Returns undefined if model has no cap or is not in catalog.
+ */
+export function getModelMaxLevel(
+  provider: CLIProxyProvider,
+  modelId: string
+): ThinkingSupport['maxLevel'] | undefined {
+  const thinking = getModelThinkingSupport(provider, modelId);
+  return thinking?.maxLevel;
+}
+
 /**
  * Check if model supports thinking/reasoning
  */

src/cliproxy/thinking-validator.ts

@@ -40,12 +40,40 @@ export const THINKING_LEVEL_BUDGETS: Record<string, number> = {
   xhigh: 32768,
 };
 
+/**
+ * Level rank for comparison (higher = more intensive)
+ */
+export const THINKING_LEVEL_RANK: Record<string, number> = {
+  minimal: 1,
+  low: 2,
+  medium: 3,
+  high: 4,
+  xhigh: 5,
+};
+
 /**
  * Valid thinking level names
  */
 export const VALID_THINKING_LEVELS = ['minimal', 'low', 'medium', 'high', 'xhigh', 'auto'] as const;
 export type ThinkingLevel = (typeof VALID_THINKING_LEVELS)[number];
 
+/**
+ * Cap a level at the model's maximum supported level.
+ * Returns the capped level and whether capping occurred.
+ */
+export function capLevelAtMax(
+  level: string,
+  maxLevel: string | undefined
+): { level: string; capped: boolean } {
+  if (!maxLevel) return { level, capped: false };
+  const levelRank = THINKING_LEVEL_RANK[level] ?? 0;
+  const maxRank = THINKING_LEVEL_RANK[maxLevel] ?? 5;
+  if (levelRank > maxRank) {
+    return { level: maxLevel, capped: true };
+  }
+  return { level, capped: false };
+}
+
 /**
  * Special thinking values
  */
@@ -263,6 +291,24 @@ function validateLevelThinking(
   modelId: string
 ): ThinkingValidationResult {
   const validLevels = thinking.levels ?? [];
+  const maxLevel = thinking.maxLevel;
+
+  // Helper to apply maxLevel cap and build result
+  const applyMaxCap = (level: string, baseWarning?: string): ThinkingValidationResult => {
+    const { level: cappedLevel, capped } = capLevelAtMax(level, maxLevel);
+    const warnings: string[] = [];
+    if (baseWarning) warnings.push(baseWarning);
+    if (capped) {
+      warnings.push(
+        `Level "${level}" exceeds max "${maxLevel}" for ${modelId}. Capped to "${cappedLevel}".`
+      );
+    }
+    return {
+      valid: true,
+      value: cappedLevel,
+      warning: warnings.length > 0 ? warnings.join(' ') : undefined,
+    };
+  };
 
   // If numeric, try to map to closest level by budget
   if (typeof value === 'number') {
@@ -279,11 +325,10 @@ function validateLevelThinking(
       }
     }
 
-    return {
+    return applyMaxCap(
-      valid: true,
+      closestLevel,
-      value: closestLevel,
+      `Model ${modelId} uses named levels. Mapped budget ${value} to "${closestLevel}".`
-      warning: `Model ${modelId} uses named levels. Mapped budget ${value} to "${closestLevel}".`,
+    );
-    };
   }
 
   // String level
@@ -291,17 +336,16 @@ function validateLevelThinking(
 
   // Check if it's a valid level for this model
   if (validLevels.includes(normalizedLevel)) {
-    return { valid: true, value: normalizedLevel };
+    return applyMaxCap(normalizedLevel);
   }
 
   // Try to find closest match
   const closest = findClosestLevel(normalizedLevel, validLevels);
   if (closest) {
-    return {
+    return applyMaxCap(
-      valid: true,
+      closest,
-      value: closest,
+      `Level "${value}" not valid for ${modelId}. Mapped to "${closest}".`
-      warning: `Level "${value}" not valid for ${modelId}. Mapped to "${closest}".`,
+    );
-    };
   }
 
   // Try to map from standard level names to model's levels
@@ -321,11 +365,10 @@ function validateLevelThinking(
 
   const mapped = standardToModelLevel[normalizedLevel];
   if (mapped) {
-    return {
+    return applyMaxCap(
-      valid: true,
+      mapped,
-      value: mapped,
+      `Level "${value}" mapped to "${mapped}" for ${modelId} (available: ${validLevels.join(', ')}).`
-      warning: `Level "${value}" mapped to "${mapped}" for ${modelId} (available: ${validLevels.join(', ')}).`,
+    );
-    };
   }
 
   // Default to first level

ui/src/lib/model-catalogs.ts

@@ -114,12 +114,34 @@ export const MODEL_CATALOGS: Record<string, ProviderCatalog> = {
   codex: {
     provider: 'codex',
     displayName: 'Codex',
-    defaultModel: 'gpt-5.1-codex-max',
+    defaultModel: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
     models: [
+      {
+        id: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+        name: 'GPT-5.2 Codex',
+        description: 'Full reasoning support (xhigh)',
+        presetMapping: {
+          default: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+          opus: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+          sonnet: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+          haiku: 'gpt-5-mini',
+        },
+      },
+      {
+        id: 'gpt-5-mini',
+        name: 'GPT-5 Mini',
+        description: 'Fast, capped at high reasoning (no xhigh)',
+        presetMapping: {
+          default: 'gpt-5-mini',
+          opus: 'gpt-5.2-codex',
+          sonnet: 'gpt-5-mini',
+          haiku: 'gpt-5-mini',
+        },
+      },
       {
         id: 'gpt-5.1-codex-max',
         name: 'Codex Max (5.1)',
-        description: 'Most capable Codex model',
+        description: 'Legacy most capable Codex model',
         presetMapping: {
           default: 'gpt-5.1-codex-max',
           opus: 'gpt-5.1-codex-max-high',