Allow interactive prompts to wait indefinitely instead of auto-selecting a recommended answer
Problem
When Codex CLI asks an interactive question that requires user preference (for example, choosing between implementation options), it will eventually time out and automatically continue with a recommended answer.
This is problematic if the user steps away from their computer for a few minutes. By the time they return, the decision has already been made on their behalf.
Expected behavior
Once Codex asks a question that requires user input, it should be possible to configure it to wait indefinitely (or for a user-configurable timeout) before proceeding.
Examples:
- Wait forever until the user responds.
- Configurable timeout (5 min, 15 min, 1 hour, Never).
- Disable automatic selection of a recommended answer after a timeout.
Why this would help
Many users are happy for Codex to make technical implementation decisions autonomously, but when it explicitly asks for a preference, that indicates the decision belongs to the user.
Automatically answering its own question defeats the purpose of asking it in the first place and makes it easy to lose control of architectural or stylistic decisions after stepping away from the keyboard.
This feature would preserve the current autonomous workflow while giving users who prefer interactive control the option to keep pending questions open until they respond.
2 Comments
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This would be extremely useful for unattended or long-running Codex sessions. I often step away while Codex is working, and when it asks a planning question, I may not return before it automatically selects an answer.
I’d strongly prefer a configurable timeout with options such as 15 minutes, 1 hour, or “wait indefinitely.” When Codex explicitly asks for my preference, it should not make that decision for me simply because I was temporarily AFK.