Post-merge ChatGPT/Codex app regression: context usage donut missing again

What version of the Codex App are you using?

The newly merged ChatGPT/Codex desktop experience, observed immediately after the July 2026 product merge/update.

Windows package information:

• Codex package: OpenAI.Codex_26.707.3748.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Package version: 26.707.3748.0

What subscription do you have?

The issue is reproducible in the current account with access to the latest Codex models. It appears to be a desktop UI/upgrade regression rather than model- or subscription-specific behavior.

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 x64.

What issue are you seeing?

After upgrading to the newly merged ChatGPT/Codex desktop experience, the compact context-window usage indicator/donut is no longer visible in the composer.

This report is specifically about the post-merge app. It is not a duplicate report for the older 26.623 app builds.

The history makes this regression especially concerning:

• #23794 documented the original removal of the visible context indicator and received extensive user feedback.
• OpenAI staff subsequently restored the compact indicator as an opt-in Show context window usage / composer-footer setting, and #23794 was closed as completed.
• #30693 and #30728 reported another disappearance in the pre-merge 26.623 Windows and macOS apps.
• The indicator has now disappeared again after the separate July ChatGPT/Codex product merge/update on Windows 26.707.

The passive indicator is not equivalent to remembering to run /status. It provides continuous context-pressure awareness during long tasks and helps decide when to checkpoint, compact, fork, or start a fresh thread before context pressure affects the session.

This was an explicitly restored workflow feature with a large historical issue. Losing it again during a major product merge strongly suggests that the behavior and preference migration were not covered by an effective upgrade-path regression test.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Start with the pre-merge Codex desktop app where the compact context-window usage indicator is enabled and visible.
2. Upgrade to the newly merged ChatGPT/Codex desktop experience.
3. Open an existing or new Codex task.
4. Inspect the composer footer near the model selector.
5. Observe that the compact context-window usage donut is no longer visible.

What is the expected behavior?

The merged app should preserve the previously restored context-usage feature and its saved preference across the upgrade.

Specifically:

• An enabled show-context-window-usage preference should migrate into the merged app.
• The compact indicator should remain visible after upgrade, restart, and sign-out/sign-in.
• The corresponding Settings control should remain discoverable and functional.
• Existing users should not silently lose an enabled workflow feature during a product merge.

Regression-test request

Please add upgrade-path coverage that starts from a pre-merge installation with the indicator enabled, upgrades into the merged desktop app, and verifies both the persisted setting and rendered composer indicator. The same migration should be exercised on Windows and macOS.

Repeatedly losing a workflow-critical signal after it was explicitly restored is not acceptable release quality for a production coding tool. Given the visibility of #23794 and the time spent resolving it, this regression should have been caught during product-merge testing before rollout.

@etraut-openai @alexi-openai, could you please help route this post-merge regression to the owners of the merged desktop experience? You both participated in the original discussion and restoration in #23794.