Sticky prompt textbox when scrolling chat history
Resolved 💬 4 comments Opened Mar 9, 2026 by oxysoft Closed May 10, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
Summary
Codex should support a sticky prompt textbox/composer: it stays in the normal chat-list flow when the user is at the bottom, but docks to the bottom of the screen when the user scrolls upward through history.
Problem
When reading older parts of a long conversation, the prompt textbox can end up far away from the user's viewport. That makes it awkward to inspect history and continue typing at the same time.
A better behavior would preserve both:
- proximity to the latest messages when the user is at the bottom
- constant input reachability when the user scrolls away from the bottom
Requested behavior
- when the user is at the bottom of the chat, keep the prompt textbox in the normal chat layout near the latest messages
- when the user scrolls upward, make the prompt textbox stick to the bottom of the viewport
- when the user returns to the bottom, let the prompt textbox rejoin the normal chat-list layout
Why this is useful
- keeps input reachable while inspecting earlier context
- avoids losing the composer during long-thread navigation
- preserves the feel that the composer belongs to the chat flow rather than always being detached
Success criteria
- scrolling upward keeps the prompt textbox visible at the bottom of the screen
- returning to the bottom restores the normal inline chat-flow placement
- the transition feels stable and does not introduce cursor/composer drift or layout jank
Related context
Closest adjacent issue:
- #11063
That ticket is about bottom-pane anchoring instability / jank. This request is the intentional UX feature: a sticky-on-scroll composer behavior.
4 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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Relevant context https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/8344
If you're on Linux, you can just
script -q -f /tmp/codex.log -c codexAnd then in another terminal/pane/window
tail -f /tmp/codex.logThis feature request hasn't received enough upvotes, so I'm going to close it.
I ran into the same issue during long terminal sessions, especially when using Codex over SSH and inside tmux.
I implemented a lightweight community fork called Codex Sticky that adds this sticky-on-scroll composer behavior:
https://github.com/Jurio0304/codex-sticky
When scrolling back through older transcript content, the composer remains reachable at the bottom of the terminal. The fork is installed side by side as
codex-sticky, so it does not overwrite the officialcodexcommand.It is currently intended as a small, unofficial workaround for Linux x86_64 users while keeping the experience close to upstream. Feedback is very welcome.