New progress bar indicator for context remaining is a downgrade

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• #15883
• #16382

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This was changed in response to user feedback that we received about the old way this was displayed. Users reported that it was easy to confuse the old display with token usage rather than context window usage.

How about using sextants? 600% more granularity then. Or make it configurable as I'm sure many would prefer deciminal representation.

I strongly support this request. The new bar-only indicator is a clear usability regression. The old numeric percentage made context usage instantly understandable, while the current UI is ambiguous and forces users to guess.

Please restore the numeric percentage display. At the very least, make it an optional setting so users can choose between the visual bar and an exact percentage.

For people who actively manage context and decide when to run /compact, precise numbers are not a cosmetic detail, they are essential.

Yes, please restore the number percentage display.

Congrats everyone, codex has been "Claudecodified", that is, started to deliver bs "improvements" that are harder to implement (agents want to do something!) but simply net negative.

It is removing our control to track when compactions will happen. It's a downgrade prettified, pretending to be a an improvement. This needs to be reverted, or to give the option to choose.

Users reported that it was easy to confuse the old display with token usage rather than context window usage.

This is a real concern - I've had this plenty of times, but mostly because many times one of the two would not show (especially after starting a new session) potentially because the percentage is not available.

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like this change was a bad idea. I'd like to find a way to address the feedback in this thread along with the feedback that prompted the change in the first place. Here's a proposal:

1. Restore the old "context-used" and "context-remaining" options for /statusline.
2. Rather than displaying just X% used or X% remaining, display Context X% used or Context X% remaining for added clarity.
3. Do not display "context-used" by default in the /statusline, but keep it as a configurable option.

Thoughts?

Here's a PR that implements this proposal if any of you would like to play with it directly or review the code.

@etraut-openai I'd be happy with that. Just as a FYI, Gemini CLI does the same but does it very nicely

<img width="2568" height="483" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1fa730fd-317b-415c-925c-7bc8fc46095c" />

Their footer / status line area and the text entry area is very clean. They show context x% used but they use two rows to present the information. This solves the problem where codex instead is unable to fit all the items in the status line since everything is laid out horizontally next to each other.

<img width="2532" height="188" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9435839f-1592-4f83-8ae3-71e9c6cb4772" />

Gemini's 'column' based footer layout is clean and very readable. With Codex even though my status line has been the same for weeks, I spend 10 seconds scanning through the information being presented as I don't know where what is.

@etraut-openai Your PR looks good, thanks for bringing this back.

Thank you for adding it back, I was getting worried. Please, don't allow this to turn into Claude - this product is at a sweet spot.

codex-cli 0.120.0 on Windows here.

The precise session-context percentage was genuinely useful for deciding when to run /compact manually. The old at-a-glance 89% left style gave exact control during long sessions; the new coarse meter does not.

/status is not an adequate replacement because it is not ambient and requires interrupting the workflow just to check context pressure.

Please restore an exact, always-visible status-line option for session context, for example:

• Context 89% left
• Context 11% used

Keeping it as an opt-in status-line item would address the ambiguity concern without removing precision for users who actively manage compaction.

Thanks again for the feedback. This will be addressed in the next release.

imo I'd remove "Context" string as well as an opt-in option, so that you can see more statusline in thin terminals

It is now back, confirmed. I think the current look is decent now. I have both Context X% used as well as X% context left in the far right when there is text in the box. To me, this is sufficient atm.

I don't see how could anyone get confused on this, and if they do, I would ask for clarification, or add options, instead of removing what we have currently.

Still not back for me. Updated codex today.

@blackopsrepl, the "context remaining" item is no longer shown by default. You can use /statusline to select what you'd like to see in the status line.

Thank you!