[Bug]: Massive CPU usage (100%+) and overheating (100°C) on M4 Mac Air - Version 260208.1016
Open 💬 7 comments Opened Feb 8, 2026 by via007
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (etraut-openai, contributor)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
260208.1016
What subscription do you have?
no
What issue are you seeing?
Immediately upon launching the Codex desktop app, the CPU usage spikes to over 100% and system temperature reaches 100°C+, even when the app is idle and no tasks are running. This makes the app unusable and causes severe thermal throttling on the M4 chip.
Environment
Codex Version: 260208.1016
Device: MacBook Air (M4, 2025/2026)
OS: macOS Sequoia (or your current version)
Installation Method: Auto-update
Steps to Reproduce
Launch Codex App version 260208.1016.
Observe CPU usage in Activity Monitor immediately (without entering any prompts).
System temperature rapidly climbs to 100°C+.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
launch
What is the expected behavior?
_No response_
Additional information
_No response_
7 Comments
same device, same issue after updating to this version.
Encountering the same issue on 260208.1016 on M4 MacMini. Running macOS Squoia 15.7.3
<img width="1204" height="447" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/60fa9fa2-002e-4a96-acbf-a208e31f98fb" />
Same issue with macOS Sequoia version 15.7.3, M4 Max Macbook.
Tried downgrading to 260206.1448, issue still persisted.
EDIT:
Downgraded to 260205.1301 (554) - Issue is not present in this version. So it was the 260206.1448 update that introduced the issue for me.
<img width="1928" height="1604" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/cfcac37a-2caf-4482-8e83-d6d6fb443331" />
We've made a number of perf improvements in the past week. Are you still seeing this with the latest version of the app?
I see similar issues in a project that contains a data folder with a large number of files/artifacts. In a smaller project, everything works well and remains stable.
<html><head></head><body><p>Same issue here. Ran some diagnostics and found a clear reproduce + workaround.</p>
<p><strong>Setup:</strong> Codex desktop app sitting idle at a "Do you want to make these changes?" confirmation dialog. "Thinking" label visible. No active generation, no file operations — completely static UI.</p>
<h3>CPU with window visible</h3>
Process | CPU%
-- | --
Codex Helper (Renderer) | ~35%
Codex Helper | ~31%
WindowServer (elevated by Codex compositing) | ~44%
Total Codex | ~66%
<h3>Key finding</h3>
<p>Minimizing drops Codex from <strong>~66% to ~2.5% CPU</strong>. The UI was completely static both times — this confirms it's a render loop that only stops when macOS skips compositing for minimized windows.</p>
<h3>Likely cause</h3>
<p>A <code>requestAnimationFrame</code> or CSS animation loop (probably the "Thinking" indicator and/or streaming text renderer) that runs continuously even when nothing is changing on screen. The app doesn't appear to use the Page Visibility API to throttle when idle.</p>
<h3>Workaround</h3>
<p>Minimize the Codex window when you're not actively looking at it.</p>
<h3>Environment</h3>
<ul>
<li>macOS Tahoe 26.3 (Build 25D125)</li>
<li>Mac16,8 (M4 Pro, 14 cores, 48GB)</li>
<li>Codex desktop app (latest as of 2026-02-15)</li>
<li>On battery power</li>
<li>Measured with <code>ps -eo pid,pcpu,pmem,comm -r</code> and <code>sudo powermetrics</code></li>
</ul></body></html>
Hey did you find any solution to this? If I don't command-H my Codex window (no matter what it's doing) my macbook air because extremely hot to the point that it's physcially unsuable (it stops even playing audio and completely freezes).