›_ Codex Issues
Codex Issues / #23651

Zellij scrollback does not capture Codex transcript over SSH, even with `--no-alt-screen` and raw output mode

Resolved 💬 9 comments Opened May 20, 2026 by yangshuo-1 Closed May 28, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of Codex CLI is running?

0.132.0

What subscription do you have?

API

Which model were you using?

gpt-5.5

What platform is your computer?

Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64 x86_64

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

zellij vscode

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

When running Codex CLI inside Zellij over SSH, Codex output cannot be reviewed through Zellij scroll mode / pane scrollback.

Other commands in the same Zellij pane scroll correctly, so the issue appears specific to Codex TUI transcript rendering rather than Zellij scrollback itself.

Normal command output such as seq 1 300 can be scrolled correctly with Zellij scroll mode. However, Codex transcript output does not appear in Zellij scrollback correctly. The pane appears to contain only the current/redrawn TUI screen rather than the full Codex conversation history.

This still happens after trying:

codex --no-alt-screen

The issue reproduces in VS Code Remote SSH and also in a normal terminal SSH session.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. SSH into a remote machine.
  1. Start Zellij:

```bash
zellij

  1. In a Zellij pane, verify normal scrollback works:

seq 1 300

  1. Enter Zellij scroll mode:

Ctrl+s
PageUp / k

This works correctly for normal command output.

  1. In the same Zellij pane, start Codex:

codex --no-alt-screen

  1. Generate enough Codex output to exceed the pane height.
  2. Try to inspect previous Codex output using Zellij scroll mode:

Ctrl+s
PageUp / k

  1. The full Codex transcript is not available in Zellij scrollback.
  2. Enable raw output mode inside Codex:

/raw-output

  1. Try Zellij scroll mode again. The issue still reproduces.

What is the expected behavior?

_No response_

Additional information

This may be related to Codex TUI transcript rendering/reflow still using screen rewriting even when alternate screen is disabled.

Zellij scrollback seems to capture the rewritten screen state rather than the full transcript text.

Related existing issues / PRs:

  • #10331
  • #14277
  • #2558
  • #9115
  • #11192

This still reproduces on:

  • codex-cli 0.132.0
  • zellij 0.44.1
  • SSH remote session
  • VS Code Remote SSH and normal terminal SSH

View original on GitHub ↗

9 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 2 months ago

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

  • #22953
  • #23280

Powered by Codex Action

yangshuo-1 · 2 months ago

This appears to be a regression: the same workflow displayed and scrolled correctly with codex-cli 0.128.0.

chyezh · 2 months ago

0.130.0 works correctly.
since 0.131.0, doesn't work.

dipta10 · 1 month ago

Are there any workarounds available in the newer versions? Without proper scrollback support, Codex is very difficult to use inside Zellij.

SylvainWinning · 1 month ago

One small triage detail that may help narrow the regression window: the reports in this thread point to 0.130.0 still working and 0.131.0+ failing, while the original report is on 0.132.0.

Given the local TUI code now has both inline mode (--no-alt-screen) and raw scrollback mode paths, I would test this as a regression specifically around how finalized history rows are inserted/reflowed into the normal terminal scrollback inside a multiplexer, rather than treating it as only an alternate-screen issue.

Useful acceptance test shape:

  • run Codex under Zellij with --no-alt-screen;
  • generate enough finalized transcript output to exceed pane height;
  • enter Zellij scroll mode and verify the full transcript history is present, not just the current redrawn viewport;
  • repeat after toggling raw scrollback mode.

That would cover the failure mode users are reporting here and avoid a fix that only works in a plain terminal or tmux.

fcoury-oai contributor · 1 month ago

What is your zellij --version? Are you on zellij 0.44.1+?

dipta10 · 1 month ago

I was facing this issue on zellij 0.43.1 with codex-cli 0.134.0.

After updating to zellij 0.44.1, I no longer seem to have this issue in my setup.

fcoury-oai contributor · 1 month ago

Yes, we had a code path to specifically address a shortcoming of zellij < 0.44.1. On version 0.44.1, they addressed the shortcoming so we no longer need to carry and maintain that zellij specific code path, and newer codex versions started to have this bad behavior with older versions.

Let me know if that's the case for others in this thread.

alphaben-ch · 1 month ago

upgrading to zellij 0.44.1 fixed it - thanks!