Codex Desktop: voice dictation shortcut starts in both main chat and side chat

Open 💬 0 comments Opened May 19, 2026 by bumbuboon

Summary

In Codex Desktop, when a side chat is open, pressing the voice dictation shortcut starts voice input in both the main chat composer and the side chat composer.

Only the currently focused/active composer should enter dictation mode.

Environment

  • App: Codex Desktop for macOS 26.513.31313 (2867)
  • Bundle ID: com.openai.codex
  • Platform: macOS 26.3.1 (a) / build 25D771280a
  • Architecture: Apple Silicon / arm64

Reproduction

  1. Open Codex Desktop.
  2. Open a normal/main chat.
  3. Open a side chat so that both the main chat and side chat are visible.
  4. Press the voice dictation shortcut (Ctrl+M).

Observed behavior

Both the main chat and the side chat start voice dictation at the same time.

This makes it unclear which composer owns the recording/transcription result, and it can accidentally capture input into the wrong chat context.

Expected behavior

Only one composer should start dictation:

  • If focus is inside the side chat composer, only the side chat should start dictation.
  • If focus is inside the main chat composer, only the main chat should start dictation.
  • If focus is ambiguous, Codex should pick the active composer or ignore the shortcut rather than starting multiple dictation sessions.

Duplicate search performed

I searched existing openai/codex issues for combinations of:

  • "side chat" voice
  • "side chat" dictation
  • "side chat" "voice dictation"
  • "Ctrl+M" "side chat"
  • "voice" "side chat"
  • "voice dictation"
  • "Ctrl+M"

I found related side-chat issues and related dictation issues, but did not find an issue for this specific behavior where both the main chat and side chat begin dictation from a single shortcut press.

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