[Codex App] Context usage is hidden behind slash commands instead of visible in the chat toolbar

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened May 22, 2026 by iddictive Closed May 22, 2026

💡 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)?

26.519.22136

What subscription do you have?

Not provided.

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 24.6.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

The context counter / context usage indicator that used to appear under the chat composer is no longer visible in the Codex App.

This is a usability regression for long coding sessions: without the always-visible context signal near the chat input, it is harder to know when a thread is approaching the context limit, whether to compact, or whether to start a new thread before the session becomes unreliable.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Open the Codex App.
Open an existing or new chat thread.
Look under the chat composer where the context counter / context usage indicator previously appeared.

Actual result: no context counter is visible under the chat composer.

What is the expected behavior?

The app should continue showing a context counter or equivalent context usage indicator near the chat composer, as before, so users can manage long-running sessions without guessing.

Additional information

Observed on May 21, 2026. This appears to be feedback about a recent UI regression in the Codex desktop app, not a CLI issue.

View original on GitHub ↗

2 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

#23960
#23928
#23794
#23591

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iddictive · 3 months ago

Additional clarification with screenshots:

The context usage indicator is not simply missing; it has been moved into less discoverable places:

/ command menu shows context indirectly via the Compact row, for example Compact this thread's context (78% full).
/status opens a separate Status panel with the detailed context line, for example Context: 84% left (40,971 used / 258K).

The issue is that context usage used to be lightly visible in the chat function bar, near the controls where Custom appears. That was the right level of visibility: always near the composer, low-friction, and easy to glance at while deciding whether to continue, compact, or fork.

Now the user has to either know the slash command menu exposes it through Compact, or run /status and open a separate panel. That makes an important session-health signal feel hidden even though there is room in the composer/function row.

Expected behavior: restore a lightweight always-visible context indicator in the chat controls row near Custom / model controls, while keeping /status available for detailed limits and session metadata.