Codex app terminal renders with extreme letter spacing after update on macOS

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Apr 21, 2026 by hacksurvivor Closed Apr 21, 2026

Summary

After updating the Codex app, the embedded terminal in the desktop app renders text with extreme letter spacing, making commands and output look broken and hard to read.

Environment

  • Product: Codex desktop app
  • Platform: macOS
  • Date observed: April 21, 2026
  • Version: latest available update at the time of filing

Actual behavior

Terminal text in the app is spaced out character-by-character. In the affected session, commands and output looked roughly like this:

c d  "/ U s e r s / m a c / C o d i n g / H e r m e s / h e r m e s - a g e n t"

The rest of the prompt and shell output show the same exaggerated spacing, so the terminal becomes difficult to use.

Expected behavior

The terminal should render using normal monospace spacing, with commands and output displayed exactly as typed.

Reproduction

  1. Open the Codex desktop app on macOS.
  2. Open a project/thread with the embedded terminal visible.
  3. After the recent update, observe terminal input/output rendering.

Notes

  • This looks like a rendering/font regression in the app rather than a shell issue.
  • The Codex app settings expose theme and UI/code font controls, but there does not appear to be a terminal-specific spacing setting.
  • Restarting the app did not appear to be the intended fix from the user perspective.

If useful, I can add a screenshot of the broken rendering in a follow-up comment.

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