Allow collapsing "Edited File" panel by default in VS Code Codex chat UI
What variant of Codex are you using?
IDE Extension (VS Code Codex extension)
What feature would you like to see?
Feature request
Please add an option to have the "Edited File" information panel collapsed by default in the VS Code Codex chat UI.
Problem
When using Codex inside VS Code, the chat window automatically expands the "Edited File" section whenever changes are made. This frequently takes up significant vertical space and distracts from the actual chat conversation.
Currently, the panel must be manually collapsed every time, which becomes repetitive during active coding sessions.
Proposed solution
Add a configuration setting (for example in VS Code settings) such as:
codex.ui.collapseEditedFileByDefault: true
This would allow users to choose whether the panel should start collapsed or expanded.
Use case
For users working in fast iteration loops, especially when making many small edits, having this panel collapsed by default would significantly reduce UI clutter and improve focus.
Alternatives / workarounds
Currently, the only workaround is manually collapsing the panel every time it appears.
Additional information
_No response_
5 Comments
The real issue for me is that a few 100 lines diffs put a 20 core 4ghz machine on its knees (a few seconds to refresh UI on Ubuntu w/3090 and 64GB of ram) and if you don't constantly fold diffs as they appear the codex tab quickly becomes unusable.
Much worse hardware but same problem here. If I leave them all opened, after a few big prompts/executions by codex, codex will just crash. If I manually collapse them all every time , the crash doesn't seem to happen.
I’m experiencing the same issue.
The “Edited File” section auto-expands every time Codex makes a change, even when I don’t need to inspect the diff immediately. In my case, this is not just a minor UX annoyance — it also causes noticeable UI lag.
When the edited file view expands, the chat panel becomes less responsive, and sometimes it gets difficult to type the next prompt smoothly. This is especially disruptive during fast edit / prompt iteration loops.
A setting to keep the “Edited File” section collapsed by default would be very helpful. It would improve focus, reduce unnecessary panel movement, and may also help with the performance impact caused by repeatedly rendering the expanded view.
Sorry if my English is awkward.
<img width="626" height="59" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0700f244-91a3-48a6-ac9d-9649f125fd55" />
cursor knew about this issue and they fixed it with their parser. i think openai should do the same, i dont get it yet
This feature request hasn't received any upvotes or comments in over four months, so I'm going to close it.