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Add gpt-5.5 model overlay (OpenAI, 2026-04-23 release)#1230

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Add gpt-5.5 model overlay (OpenAI, 2026-04-23 release)#1230
amargandhi wants to merge 1 commit intogarrytan:mainfrom
amargandhi:pr/gpt-5.5-overlay

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Summary

OpenAI shipped GPT-5.5 on 2026-04-23. This PR adds the matching model overlay so gstack users on Codex CLI / Cursor / OpenCode running 5.5 get model-specific guidance baked into generated SKILL.md files.

Naming trap up front: the model ID is gpt-5.5, NOT gpt-5.5-codex. OpenAI collapsed the naming — one model sits at the top of both ChatGPT and Codex CLI. scripts/models.ts defensively aliases gpt-5.5-codex*gpt-5.5 because users will type the suffix from muscle memory.

gpt-5.3-codex and gpt-5.3-codex-spark remain first-class — not superseded. No Cerebras variant shipped for 5.5.

What this adds

  1. model-overlays/gpt-5.5.md (68 lines, inherits from gpt):

    • reasoning_effort ladder: low | medium | high | xhigh + when to use each
    • Migration gotcha: Codex 0.124.0+ resets reasoning_effort on model swap; users muscle-memorying codex -m gpt-5.3-codex -c 'model_reasoning_effort=\"xhigh\"' need to re-pass -c explicitly when swapping to 5.5
    • 1M API context / 400K Codex CLI throughput cap
    • Honest cross-provider read: where Opus 4.7 still edges 5.5 (SWE-bench Pro 64.3 vs 58.6, HLE no-tools 46.9 vs 41.4, MCP-Atlas 79.1 vs 75.3)
    • Skill-by-skill recommendations: when 5.5 wins (long-horizon agentic, 1M context retrieval), when to stay on 5.4 / 5.3-codex-spark (sub-second iteration, mechanical tasks)
    • Mentions auto-review hook stable in Codex 0.124.0 (pairs nicely with /review)
    • Hallucination caveat: AA-Omniscience reports 86%; verify aggressively for citation-heavy work
  2. scripts/models.ts: adds gpt-5.5 to ALL_MODEL_NAMES and two heuristics (gpt-5.5-codex*gpt-5.5, gpt-5.5*gpt-5.5). Order matters: 5.5 matchers come first because the codex-suffix alias would otherwise fall through to the generic gpt matcher.

Test plan

  • bun test test/skill-validation.test.ts test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts — 689/689 pass
  • bun run gen:skill-docs --host all — clean regen, no warnings
  • Default --host all generation unchanged (no model flag = no overlay baked, no per-skill drift)
  • Built against upstream/main at v1.15.0.0 — minimal surface area, no preamble or skill template touched

Notes for review

  • This PR is intentionally small. The other contributions on my fork (/challenge, /glossary, canonical engineering vocabulary) are larger and I'm happy to PR them separately if there's interest — wanted to start with the lowest-risk one.
  • Some claims in the overlay are marked UNVERIFIED (e.g. default reasoning_effort value at launch, gpt-5.5-pro general API availability) — happy to update once OpenAI publishes definitive docs.

OpenAI shipped GPT-5.5 on 2026-04-23. Naming trap up front: the model
ID is `gpt-5.5`, NOT `gpt-5.5-codex`. OpenAI collapsed the line — one
model sits at the top of both ChatGPT and Codex CLI. `gpt-5.3-codex`
and `gpt-5.3-codex-spark` remain first-class (not superseded — no
Cerebras variant shipped for 5.5).

What this PR adds:

1. `model-overlays/gpt-5.5.md` (68 lines) — inherits from `gpt`. Covers:
   - reasoning_effort ladder: low | medium | high | xhigh
   - Migration gotcha: Codex 0.124.0+ resets reasoning_effort on model
     swap; users muscle-memorying `codex -m gpt-5.3-codex -c
     'model_reasoning_effort="xhigh"'` need to re-pass the `-c`
     explicitly when they swap to 5.5.
   - 1M API context / 400K Codex CLI throughput cap
   - Honest cross-provider read: where Opus 4.7 still edges 5.5 (SWE-bench
     Pro 64.3 vs 58.6, HLE no-tools 46.9 vs 41.4, MCP-Atlas 79.1 vs 75.3)
   - Skill-by-skill recommendations (when 5.5 wins; when to stay on 5.4
     or 5.3-codex-spark)
   - auto-review hook stable in Codex 0.124.0 (pairs with /review)
   - Hallucination caveat: AA-Omniscience reports 86%; verify aggressively
     for citation-heavy work or prefer the gpt-5.5-pro variant
     (UNVERIFIED for general API availability)

2. `scripts/models.ts` — adds `gpt-5.5` to `ALL_MODEL_NAMES` and a
   defensive heuristic so `gpt-5.5-codex*` inputs alias to `gpt-5.5`
   (users will type the `-codex` suffix from muscle memory; the real
   model ID has no such suffix).

Generated SKILL.md files for all hosts (Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor,
Factory, Slate, Kiro, Hermes, GBrain, OpenClaw) updated via
`bun run gen:skill-docs --host all`. Tests: 689/689 pass.

Built and tested against upstream/main at v1.15.0.0.
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