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Codex Issues / #16615

Open Codex Chat in a New Window in VS Code

Resolved 💬 9 comments Opened Apr 2, 2026 by rafaself Closed Aug 13, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What variant of Codex are you using?

IDE Extension

What feature would you like to see?

Enable opening one or more Codex chat sessions in a separate window within VS Code.

Additional information

Suggested UI options:

  • Add a “+” button to the left of the existing Maximize and Close buttons.
  • Or add a three-dot menu with an option to open the current chat in a new window.

View original on GitHub ↗

9 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 4 months ago

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

  • #14922
  • #15807
  • #15552
  • #16081

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YGY10 · 3 months ago

this is a solution

Ctrl + Shift + P
Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)

[
{
"key": "ctrl+alt+c",
"command": "chatgpt.newCodexPanel"
}
]

just press this shortcut key.

colewan-design · 2 months ago
this is a solution Ctrl + Shift + P Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON) [ { "key": "ctrl+alt+c", "command": "chatgpt.newCodexPanel" } ] just press this shortcut key.

why did they have to hide there? lol

shizongcai123 · 1 month ago
this is a solution这是一个解决方案 Ctrl + Shift + P Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)首选项：打开键盘快捷键（JSON） [ { "key": "ctrl+alt+c",  键："ctrl+alt+c", "command": "chatgpt.newCodexPanel""命令": "chatgpt.newCodexPanel" } ] just press this shortcut key.只需按下这个快捷键。

sad, not work for me, it just create only one window even I excute it more time.

buttererror · 26 days ago

I fixed this by duplicating the workspace, then maximizing codex sidebar by pressing on the maximizing button icon on the top right corner.
To duplicate the workspace, from menu bar, File -> Dublicate Workspace

isCopyman · 22 days ago

A built-in workaround is available for opening multiple existing Codex chats, without duplicating the workspace or patching the extension:

  1. Open VS Code's built-in Chat / Agent Chat view.
  2. Open the Sessions list (or Session History).
  3. Select an existing Codex session.
  4. Repeat for other sessions. Each session opens as a separate editor tab, which can be split or moved using VS Code's normal editor controls.

Caveat: this works for existing sessions. It does not make repeated Codex: New Codex Agent commands create multiple fresh panels.

The same route is documented with screenshots in #20951: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/20951#issuecomment-4517980706

ashfaq92 · 21 days ago

The Claude Code VS Code extension already implements exactly this, so it's clearly feasible with the stable extension API. Their chat opens as an editor-area webview (WebviewPanel) rather than being locked to a sidebar WebviewView. Because it lives in the editor area, users get all of VS Code's native window management for free: the tab can be dragged into any editor group, right-clicked → "Move into New Window", or floated onto a second monitor via the auxiliary window feature (VS Code 1.85+). They also expose explicit "Open in New Tab" and "Open in New Window" commands in the Command Palette.

Codex could keep the current sidebar view as the default and simply add a command that opens the same chat session in a WebviewPanel. No custom windowing code is needed; VS Code handles the floating window natively once the webview is in the editor area. Given that a directly comparable agent extension ships this today, I'd ask that this be reconsidered.

YGY10 · 17 days ago
A built-in workaround is available for opening multiple existing Codex chats, without duplicating the workspace or patching the extension: 1. Open VS Code's built-in Chat / Agent Chat view. 2. Open the Sessions list (or Session History). 3. Select an existing Codex session. 4. Repeat for other sessions. Each session opens as a separate editor tab, which can be split or moved using VS Code's normal editor controls. Caveat: this works for existing sessions. It does not make repeated Codex: New Codex Agent commands create multiple fresh panels. The same route is documented with screenshots in #20951: #20951 (comment)

good!

ashfaq92 · 15 days ago
A built-in workaround is available for opening multiple existing Codex chats, without duplicating the workspace or patching the extension: 1. Open VS Code's built-in Chat / Agent Chat view. 2. Open the Sessions list (or Session History). 3. Select an existing Codex session. 4. Repeat for other sessions. Each session opens as a separate editor tab, which can be split or moved using VS Code's normal editor controls. Caveat: this works for existing sessions. It does not make repeated Codex: New Codex Agent commands create multiple fresh panels. The same route is documented with screenshots in #20951: #20951 (comment)

<img width="965" height="66" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dd8b07b1-e7ad-400c-a83b-d46103a6195b" />

Just found a pencil icon on the top right corner and it opens new chat in the new tab, opening a fresh panel. So it looks like the caveat is no more.