Regression after v26.227.1448 (747): streaming UI updates don’t render while app is focused (updates appear only after focus change)
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
Version 26.227.1448 (747)
What subscription do you have?
Pro
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 25.3.0 arm64 arm
What issue are you seeing?
After updating to Codex App v26.227.1448 (747), the app no longer shows streaming / incremental progress (step-by-step actions and changes) while an operation is running.
Instead, the UI stays “stale” and then shows the full result all at once only when the operation completes.
However, if I switch focus away from Codex (Cmd+Tab to another app) and then return to Codex, the streaming updates suddenly appear and continue showing incrementally. This makes it feel like the underlying stream is happening, but the UI is not repainting/updating while the app window is focused.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Update Codex App to v26.227.1448 (747).
- Start any action that normally streams intermediate steps (e.g., multi-step coding action that streams progress/output).
- Keep the Codex App window focused while it runs.
- Observe that no incremental updates appear; only the final combined result appears when done.
- Repeat, but during the run:
- Cmd+Tab to another app (Codex loses focus),
- Cmd+Tab back to Codex.
- Observe that streaming updates appear after returning to Codex.
What is the expected behavior?
Streaming/incremental updates should render in real time while Codex App is focused, without requiring focus changes or window activation to refresh the UI.
Additional information
This appears to be a regression introduced in v26.227.1448 (747).
The behavior looks like UI rendering/flush is tied to focus/activation (updates buffered until the app regains focus).
Workaround: switch focus away from Codex and back to force streaming updates to show.
18 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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This bug is serious, please fix it ASAP..
I encountered the same problem.
Same issue on macOS 26.2, Codex 26.227.1448 (747).
New messages consistently fail to render until after clicking the chat pane. Feedback filed already. Its far more of an impactful issue than you would think until you have to deal with it.
Very annoying issue
same, same
same here same
same
Additional investigation from an affected machine (same app build
26.227.1448 (747), macOS26.3):I inspected the desktop logs for a session where the UI appeared stale until interaction:
~/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex/2026/02/28/codex-desktop-49866aad-...-t0-i1-160225-0.logWhat I found:
16:02:25.921Zconnecting16:02:26.079Zconnected16:50:26.391Zmethod=turn/start16:50:52.689Z[desktop-notifications] show turn-complete16:51:55.328Znextmethod=turn/startt1log).Interpretation: backend/transport appears to continue processing turns while the UI fails to repaint/update incrementally, consistent with a renderer invalidation/focus-refresh regression rather than a streaming backend outage.
Same. Frozen until scroll/click in the ui. Seems like a frontend render problem.
This Is also happening to me, just stuck on thinking until switching project.
Same thing for me on Codex App Mac and in Visual Studio Code with IDE extension. Just Thinking and full message appear after completion. We don't see all the step like before.
I'm having the exact same issue and it needs to be fixed ASAP. This is beyond annoying.
Update: I just upgraded to Version 26.228.1430 (760) and the issue appears to be resolved on my side. Streaming/incremental updates now render in real time while the Codex App is focused (no longer need to Cmd+Tab away/back). I can see the model’s step-by-step updates as it streams changes.
Closing since resolved for me in 26.228.1430 (760). Please reopen if anyone still sees it.
still occurring on windows 11 vscode codex extension
seem to only happen on vs code extention 0.4.79, moving back to 0.4.78 work for now until new version is pushed.
It's still happening in the VS Code extension. I also confirmed that it's in the pre-release version. It needs to be fixed urgently.