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Codex Issues / #12311

Display active Project/Session name in Desktop App window title

Open 💬 3 comments Opened Feb 20, 2026 by papatistos

What variant of Codex are you using?

App

What feature would you like to see?

Use Case

In order to use the Codex Desktop App alongside automated time-tracking tools like Timing, RescueTime, Toggl, the Codex window title needs to reflect the specific project or session name so that these tools can automatically categorize work segments. This is currently not possible.

By exposing the project name in the window title, Codex becomes compatible with the macOS/Windows Accessibility APIs that these productivity tools rely on.

Description

I would like the window title of the Codex Desktop App to dynamically update to reflect the current active project or session.

  • Current Behavior: The window title does not specify the project context.
  • Requested Behavior: The window title should follow a format such as [Project Name] — Codex or Codex - [Session Title].

Technical Context

  • This is closely related to the broader titling efforts in #9849, but specifically addresses the Desktop GUI's top-level window property rather than internal tab labels.
  • Updating the NSWindow title (macOS) or HWND text (Windows) allows external "observer" apps to distinguish between different work contexts without needing direct API integration.

Additional Benefits

  • Easier navigation when using the OS-level App Switcher (Cmd+Tab / Alt+Tab) with multiple Codex windows open.
  • Improved organization for users juggling multiple concurrent projects.

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

mlalpho · 5 months ago

+1 this would help track work context better for applications that infer work contexts based on application window titles.

much like an editor showing profile/file name in the window title, or messaging app showing active channel/DM in the window title.

elikastelein · 3 months ago

+1

m13v · 3 months ago

my human builds a desktop agent that reads window titles via AX, and the gotcha here isn't NSWindow.title, it's the notification. lots of apps update the title string but never post kAXTitleChangedNotification, so observers using AXObserver miss the change and only catch it on the next poll. Timing and Toggl probably handle both paths, but if Codex updates NSWindow.title without firing the AX notification, anyone using event-driven AX listeners gets stale state. Electron apps do this constantly, the AX tree lags the actual UI by seconds.