Codex Desktop on Windows/WSL spikes CPU on startup and appears correlated with ChatGPT “Too many requests”

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

Unknown. I could not find the exact version in the About Codex dialog.

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

_No response_

What issue are you seeing?

When I launch Codex Desktop on Windows with WSL enabled, before asking it to perform any task, Windows Task Manager shows Codex spawning many processes and consuming high CPU.

I observed process groups such as Codex(113) and Codex(60), with one child Codex process using around 20–40% CPU. At times, total CPU usage reached near 100%.

At the same time, ChatGPT began showing a “Too many requests / You are sending requests too quickly” message. This appears correlated with launching Codex Desktop.

What I checked:

• In WSL, this command showed no high-CPU process:

ps -eo pid,ppid,comm,%cpu,%mem,args --sort=-%cpu | head -30

• WSL was basically idle.
• The workspace does not appear to be large. A quick check showed about 1,544 files under .git, around 2.2 MB.
• The last access/read time I observed for the Git/GitHub-related folder was from the previous day, not from the time Codex spiked CPU.
• Codex reportedly only ran git status --short --branch.
• Local Codex log DB at %USERPROFILE%\.codex\logs_2.sqlite contains keyword matches for terms such as .env, .env.example, crypto_auto_trading_bot, BITHUMB, TELEGRAM, TOSS, and KIS.
• However, exact path checks for the real .env file and related path variants returned false, so I cannot confirm that the actual .env file content was read.
• I am not attaching logs because they may contain sensitive paths or tokens.

Expected behavior:
Codex Desktop should not consume high CPU or trigger account/rate-limit errors immediately on startup when no task is running. If Codex is restoring sessions, indexing, or sending background requests, the app should expose that activity clearly and avoid repeatedly consuming quota/rate limits.

Actual behavior:
Codex appears to perform background activity immediately after launch, with high CPU usage and possible correlation with ChatGPT/Codex rate-limit messages.

Security concern:
The previous workspace was a parent folder containing multiple projects, including a project with a .env file. I had instructed Codex not to inspect .env or personal files, but I’m concerned that startup indexing/session restore may still scan or log sensitive filenames/keywords.

Questions:

1. Does Codex Desktop index or scan workspace files on startup?
2. Can startup/session restore send file contents or metadata to the model before a user submits a task?
3. Can Codex Desktop background activity consume ChatGPT/Codex usage or rate limits?
4. How can I fully remove a previous workspace/session and prevent automatic restoration or scanning?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows 10 with the agent environment set to Windows Subsystem for Linux.
2. Let Codex restore the previous workspace/session.
3. Do not submit any task or prompt.
4. Observe Windows Task Manager.
5. Codex spawns many processes, such as Codex(113) or Codex(60).
6. One Codex child process uses around 20–40% CPU, and total CPU usage can reach near 100%.
7. Check WSL with:

ps -eo pid,ppid,comm,%cpu,%mem,args --sort=-%cpu | head -30

1. WSL shows no high-CPU process and appears idle.
2. Around the same time, ChatGPT shows a “Too many requests / You are sending requests too quickly” message.
3. The issue appears immediately after launching Codex Desktop, before any user task is submitted.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex Desktop should remain mostly idle when no task is running.

It should not spawn many background processes, consume high CPU, or appear to trigger ChatGPT/Codex rate-limit messages immediately after startup.

If Codex is restoring a previous session, indexing a workspace, or sending background requests, that activity should be visible to the user, controllable, and should not repeatedly consume rate limits.

Codex should also provide a clear way to remove a previous workspace/session and prevent automatic restoration or scanning.

Additional information

Additional information:

I am intentionally not attaching the local Codex log database, raw logs, screenshots containing sensitive paths, .env files, API keys, tokens, or account-related information.

I only checked the local Codex log database for keyword presence, not raw contents. Keyword checks returned matches for terms such as .env, .env.example, crypto_auto_trading_bot, BITHUMB, TELEGRAM, TOSS, and KIS. However, exact path checks for the real .env file returned false, so I do not have evidence that the actual .env file content was read.

The workspace had previously been a parent folder containing multiple projects. I have since stopped using that parent folder as a Codex workspace and plan to use only a single project-specific WSL folder going forward.

Please let me know if there is a safe way to export a redacted diagnostic bundle or session ID without exposing secrets.