Codex Desktop conversation output vertically jitters while reading results

Open 💬 4 comments Opened May 18, 2026 by thughy

💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of the Codex App are you using (From "About Codex" dialog)?

Version 26.513.31313 (2867)

Bundled Codex CLI from the running app bundle: codex-cli 0.131.0-alpha.9
Global codex --version: codex-cli 0.125.0

What subscription do you have?

Not included here. This appears to be a local Desktop UI/rendering issue rather than a plan-specific behavior.

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 24.6.0 arm64 arm

Additional environment:

macOS 15.6.1 (24G90)
MacBook Pro Mac16,1, Apple M4, 16 GB memory
Electron observed from Codex process metadata: 42.0.1
Displays connected:
Built-in Liquid Retina XDR display, 3024 x 1964 Retina
DELL SE2723DS external display, 2560 x 1440 @ 75 Hz
App language / locale observed locally: zh-Hans-CN

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex Desktop conversation/result pane can show persistent small vertical jitter while viewing assistant results. The output appears to move up and down by a few pixels repeatedly, as if the conversation area is continuously reflowing/repainting. It is not a one-time large jump; it is a subtle but continuous visual wobble that makes the rendered answer feel like it is twisting on screen.

This is a severe Desktop UX problem. The core job of Codex Desktop is to let users read, inspect, and reason about generated answers, tool output, diffs, and code changes. When the result pane is visually unstable, even by a small amount, it becomes uncomfortable and distracting to read long answers. This materially degrades the usability of the app and should be treated as a high-priority rendering/readability bug by the Desktop UI team.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Open Codex Desktop on macOS.
Open an existing conversation or run a prompt that produces a multi-paragraph assistant result / tool-heavy response.
Keep the main conversation result pane visible and try to read the generated output.
Observe the result area: the visible content can repeatedly shift slightly up/down, producing a continuous micro-jitter / wobble.

The issue is most noticeable because the movement is small but repeated. It is visually different from normal streaming text updates, normal scroll inertia, or a deliberate scroll position change.

What is the expected behavior?

The conversation/result pane should remain visually stable while a user is reading. Streaming, layout refreshes, side panels, sidebar state, or background updates should not cause the already-visible output to oscillate vertically.

What is the actual behavior?

The visible result content can jitter vertically by a small amount over and over. The text/output appears to shake or twist while reading, making the app feel unstable and causing eye strain during longer responses.

Related issues checked

I searched existing openai/codex issues before filing this. There are related Desktop rendering/scrolling reports, but they do not fully cover this exact symptom:

#11901: broad UI flickering while Codex is working
#22860: generated text flickers while a response is in progress
#22333: UI twitches/reflows on screen refresh when the sidebar is open
#17169: chat scroll jumps/bounces when scrolling in long conversations
#20788 / #20850: flicker/shake when switching threads or sessions

This report is specifically about persistent small vertical jitter of the conversation output while reading results, not only thread switching, a single refresh twitch, or a large scroll-position jump.

Additional information

No screen recording is attached yet, but the issue is visible during normal reading and has a high impact on the perceived quality and readability of Codex Desktop. Please prioritize this because a stable reading surface is a baseline requirement for a coding assistant UI.

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

#22860
#22333

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jazzyalex · 3 months ago

Adding another reproduction on the current macOS app build.

Environment:

Codex Desktop 26.513.31313 (2867)
macOS/Darwin 24.6.0 arm64
Original recording: 33.3s, 2490x1092, 60 fps

Observed behavior:

The main transcript/content pane jitters while reading a live/recent session.
In my recording the motion is most visible as a horizontal left/right shake of the transcript area, not only vertical scroll jitter.
The left recents/sidebar remains open.
Opening the right-side panel, such as the diffs/document view sidebar, appears to stabilize the main transcript: while that right panel is open, the main transcript stops jumping.
Closing/working without that right panel makes the transcript jitter visible again.

That right-panel workaround makes this look like a Desktop layout/reflow/rendering issue tied to available content-pane width or side-panel state, rather than normal streaming text updates.

I have a screen recording showing this exact behavior and can provide it if maintainers want it.

wasem-melhem · 3 months ago

Adding to this, this only happens to me when im zoomed in. Whem zoom level is reset, this doesn't happen.

javenfang · 3 months ago

Adding a more specific reproduction on a newer Codex Desktop build. This may be the same underlying Desktop layout/reflow issue, but the side-panel condition is clearer in this case.

Environment:

Codex Desktop: 26.519.41501 (3044)
Codex CLI: codex-cli 0.132.0
macOS: 26.3 (25D125)
Hardware/GPU: Apple M4 Pro
Displays:
External 4K display 3840 x 2160, UI looks like 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz, main display
Built-in Liquid Retina XDR 3024 x 1964
Displays were mirrored during the recording

Observed behavior:

When opening an existing conversation, the right-side information panel is open by default.
With that right info panel open, the center transcript/content pane jitters while reading. The movement is visible as small horizontal/vertical shifts of the text, and at some moments the leading characters in the center transcript are briefly clipped.
Closing/disabling the right-side info panel via the top-right info button makes the jitter disappear in the same conversation.
The side chrome/right info panel appears stable; the instability is localized to the center transcript/content area.
The issue appears more likely to reproduce on my external display / mirrored-display setup.

I checked a local screen recording frame-by-frame. The recording is 1282x720, 30fps, H.264. Extracted frames show the center transcript text itself shifts/clips at several moments, while surrounding UI is stable, so this does not look like a video player artifact.

This looks like a Codex Desktop layout/rendering/reflow problem tied to the right information panel being visible and the available transcript width/display scaling, rather than normal streaming updates.

I am not attaching the raw recording here because it contains private workspace/conversation text, but I can provide a sanitized crop or a redacted recording if maintainers need visual evidence.