Do you want to make these changes? code changes prompt is absolutely useless!

Open 💬 5 comments Opened Mar 5, 2026 by Rawalanche

💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

0.4.79

What subscription do you have?

Plus

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 25H2

What issue are you seeing?

The Do you want to make these changes? code changes prompt is absolutely useless.

The prompt requests user to review possibly extensive change to the code while displaying only 3 lines of the code at the same time with no option to enlarge or fullscreen the diff widget. How TF am I supposed to review and approve changes if I can only read them 3 (short) lines at a time?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Ask Codex to perform code changes.
Once Codex makes the changes, it will show a changes approval widget.

What is the expected behavior?

The widget is designed in a way that actually makes it feasible to review the changes.

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 5 months ago

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

#13481
#12082

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albertocubeddu · 4 months ago

Feyfa · 4 months ago

I agree with this issue. The current “Do you want to make these changes?” approval diff is useful for small edits, but it becomes very hard to review safely when the proposed change is larger or touches multiple files.

I made a small UI concept to explain the kind of improvement I would love to see.

My suggestion is not to replace the current compact approval prompt. The compact prompt is still good for quick, small changes. However, there should be an “Expand review” or “Open full diff” button that opens a larger review view before the changes are applied.

Ideally, this expanded view could reuse the same full diff/review experience that Codex already provides after changes are applied, but make it available earlier in the approval flow. That way, users can properly inspect the proposed changes before accepting them.

For example:

Keep the current compact prompt for quick approvals.
Add an Expand review button.
When expanded, show a full diff viewer with the changed file list and side-by-side diff.
Keep the same actions: Approve, Reject, and Ask Codex to revise.
For multi-file edits, show the changed files clearly in the sidebar.
For simple edits, keep the experience lightweight.

This would make strict approval mode much more useful, because users could actually review the proposed changes safely before allowing Codex to modify files.

RE-codes · 3 months ago

Please fix this! It completely botches anything resembling a smooth workflow and makes the tool undesirable to use.

Feyfa · 2 months ago

I just tested this again, and it seems this is already possible now in the Codex desktop app on macOS.

When the approval prompt only shows a small diff preview, I can open Review → Last turn to inspect the full proposed diff before approving. After that, I can go back and click Yes / Submit.

It is not exactly an “Expand review” button inside the prompt, but it seems to solve the main issue: reviewing the full changes before approval.

Tested on macOS with Codex desktop app version 26.611.62324.

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