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Codex Issues / #23953

Codex Remote/mobile reports quota exceeded while direct CLI works on same machines

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened May 21, 2026 by rowbotik Closed Aug 4, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

Summary

Codex Remote incorrectly reports Quota exceeded. Check your plan and billing details. across desktop and mobile remote sessions, even though Codex CLI works when run directly over SSH on the target machines.

Environment

  • Product: Codex Remote / Codex mobile remote session
  • Date observed: May 21, 2026
  • Error: Quota exceeded. Check your plan and billing details.

Machine where direct CLI works

codex --version && which codex && hostname && date
codex-cli 0.130.0
/usr/local/bin/codex
Ultron
Thu May 21 19:20:41 EDT 2026

Affected machine where Remote shows quota issue

codex --version && which codex && hostname && date
codex-cli 0.130.0
/opt/homebrew/bin/codex
cerebro.local
Thu May 21 19:21:15 EDT 2026

Steps to reproduce

  1. Use Codex Remote to connect to an affected machine, for example cerebro.local.
  2. Start or continue a Codex Remote session.
  3. Send a prompt such as Any updates?.
  4. Observe the quota error.
  5. SSH into the same target machine manually.
  6. Run Codex CLI directly.
  7. Observe that Codex CLI itself is installed and available, and direct CLI usage works.

Expected result

Codex Remote should continue the remote session normally, or use the same valid entitlement/account path as direct Codex CLI usage. If Remote intentionally uses a different identity/account/project/quota bucket, the UI should clearly show which one.

Actual result

Codex Remote fails with:

Quota exceeded. Check your plan and billing details.

The same failure also appears in the mobile Codex UI while viewing a remote conversation.

Evidence

Desktop screenshot captured locally:

  • Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 7.18.20 PM.png

Mobile screenshot captured locally:

  • IMG_3392.PNG

Screenshot-visible details include:

  • User prompts: Any updates?, repeated
  • Error: Quota exceeded. Check your plan and billing details.
  • Mobile context shown under title: .openclaw · ultron
  • Mobile model/control visible: 5.5 Medium

Impact

Codex Remote is unusable for affected machines despite Codex CLI being installed and functional locally. The quota message appears misleading because this seems specific to the Remote/mobile session path rather than actual account quota exhaustion.

Suspected area

Codex Remote/mobile may be using a different identity, billing project, organization, entitlement, or quota bucket than direct CLI execution on the target machine. It may also be session-specific, since the error appears while continuing an existing remote conversation.

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

  • #23659
  • #22601
  • #23258

Powered by Codex Action

rowbotik · 3 months ago

I reviewed the suggested duplicates and I do not think this is an exact duplicate:

  • #23659 is the closest: it covers Android Remote incorrectly forcing modelProvider=openai over the host provider config. This issue may share the same class of root cause, but my report is not about a custom/local provider setup or Android-only session creation. It reproduces as a Remote/mobile quota failure while direct CLI works on the same machines.
  • #22601 is a closed generic CLI quota report with an uploaded thread ID. It does not cover Remote/mobile vs direct SSH/CLI behavior.
  • #23258 is also quota/credits related, but it reports the inverse direction: Mac app blocked while iOS Remote can start tasks. My report is Remote/mobile failing while direct CLI works on the target.

Leaving this open because the distinguishing signal is Remote/mobile session entitlement or identity routing differing from direct CLI execution on the same target machines.

rowbotik · 3 months ago

Update: this is working for me now.

Root cause on my side appears to have been stale local Codex config on the connecting Mac, not actual quota on the remote host.

Setup:

  • Connecting Mac: Cerebro
  • Remote Mac: Ultron
  • Failing path: Codex Desktop on Cerebro -> remote session to Ultron -> new chat
  • Symptom: showed “Thinking” briefly, then UI displayed Quota exceeded. Check your plan and billing details.
  • Local/VNC Codex on Ultron worked.

Negative controls:

  • Direct Codex CLI on Ultron succeeded.
  • Direct app-server debug on Ultron succeeded.
  • Rate limit snapshot from Ultron app-server showed quota was healthy:
  • primary.usedPercent=5
  • secondary.usedPercent=22
  • rateLimitReachedType=null

Fix on Cerebro:

  • Changed [features].codex_hooks = true to [features].hooks = true
  • Changed approval_policy = "on-failure" to approval_policy = "on-request"

After that, Cerebro -> Ultron remote sessions started working again.

So the visible quota error seems to have been a misleading UI/error mapping for a remote Desktop/app-server/config incompatibility, not actual quota exhaustion.