Support multi-line status line

This is working as intended. The status line is limited to a single line. If your terminal is too narrow, it is truncated with .... You can either make your terminal window wider or configure fewer items in the status line.

I'm changing this from a bug report to a feature request, and we can see if others upvote it.

yes please add feature of multi line statusline so we can arrange stuff properly without it being cut off even when in fullscreen

This is a good QOL improvement. Would love to see that in.

Yeah +1, why have so many options if you can't even display them.

+1, i need this for my split window terminal (pi supports it already via extensions)

+1 ...

Codex

<img width="879" height="58" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6c9e7356-8245-499f-97b0-bb96b26462af" />

Claude

<img width="664" height="108" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7e69213f-7ea3-48ac-a2d7-e2bfce28dd1c" />

Multi-line is just better, especially when using multi-pane CLIs like Kitty

+1

+1

really need the feature, the one that claude has is amazing, hoping codex can have the same thing

+1

is anyone working on this? if not, i can make an implementation.

+1

You can either make your terminal window wider or configure fewer items in the status line.

This reminds me of the good ol' Steve Jobs style jabs like Don't hold it that way 😂 But hardware engineering is a tiny bit more complicated than software engineering.

I'm not an expert Rust engineer, but it doesn't seem like such a big or complicated change; in any case, you can find my version in this branch over here with the following:

• Responsive status-line wrapping based on terminal width.
• Segment-aware wrapping between configured items and · separators.
• Preserved item order, styles, and Unicode/display-width handling.
• Automatic footer-height recalculation on resize.
• Configurable [tui].status_line_max_rows, defaulting to 2; any positive value is supported.
• Bounded fallback behavior: overflow beyond the configured row count is merged and ellipsized.
• Wide individual items still use existing truncation behavior.
• Active-agent labels participate as status-line segments.
• Contextual indicators such as Plan mode and IDE context remain on the first row when the status line wraps.

P.S. Luna Max did a pretty good job!

Hi maintainers — I have an implementation ready for this enhancement and would appreciate an invitation to submit it as a PR if the approach is aligned with the project.

The implementation:

• preserves status-line fields as structured styled values;
• dynamically allocates all footer rows required by the current terminal width;
• wraps at field boundaries, splitting only individually oversized fields at extended grapheme boundaries;
• preserves CJK/emoji display widths, ANSI styles, and PR hyperlinks;
• recomputes layout on terminal resize and reflows right-side Plan/Goal/IDE indicators;
• includes snapshot and behavior coverage for narrow terminals, resizing, multiline footers, Unicode, and indicator placement.

The branch is rebased onto the current openai/codex main (e38290846c), with no merge conflicts: https://github.com/StillTogether/codex/tree/feature/statusline-multiline-footer

Focused status-line/footer tests pass 70/70, just fix -p codex-tui passes, and there are no pending snapshots. The full codex-tui run passes 3,645 tests; its 23 failures are sandbox-local app-server/WebSocket/Responses/Wiremock tests in unchanged paths.

I read the invitation-only contribution policy and have not tried to bypass it. GitHub currently rejects CreatePullRequest for my account, so please let me know if this implementation can be invited for submission.

My own two cents on why this feature is needed: the status line becomes basically unusable on a narrow display. "Widen your terminal" feels therefore like a hacky workaround, which would unnecessariy distract the developer.
Not everyone has a lot of screen estate at their disposal, many people use Codex with one screen (so narrow terminal window), or they might like their CLI on a portrait-oriented screen.
Older or visually impaired devs might also need to use larger fonts.

My own two cents on why this feature is needed: the status line becomes basically unusable on a narrow display. "Widen your terminal" feels therefore like a hacky workaround, which would unnecessariy distract the developer. Not everyone has a lot of screen estate at their disposal, many people use Codex with one screen (so narrow terminal window), or they might like their CLI on a portrait-oriented screen. Older or visually impaired devs might also need to use larger fonts.

I totally understand your point, but supporting multi-line formatting doesn't mean forcing everyone to use it. Developers who prefer a single line can still write it that way. Currently, when multiple statuses are selected, excess information is hidden and replaced with ellipses. Multi-line support remains optional: selecting only the currently displayed statuses will still maintain a single-line layout. It simply offers an additional option without impacting narrow terminal displays or older environments.

I totally understand your point

You misunderstood it completely :) I was literally advocating for the feature and listing sensible reasons for adoption, nor I ever mentioned forcing anything on anyone.

You misunderstood it completely :) I was literally advocating for the feature and listing sensible reasons for adoption, nor I ever mentioned forcing anything on anyone.

I‘m so sorry, I misunderstood you. lol