Context window usage appears to grow unexpectedly during long sessions
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 12, 2026 by bagher007
What version of Codex CLI is running?
0.144.1
What subscription do you have?
GPT Plus
Which model were you using?
gpt - 5 . 6-sol (high reasoning)
What platform is your computer?
_No response_
What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?
_No response_
Codex doctor report
{
"schemaVersion": 1,
"generatedAt": "1783852435s since unix epoch",
"overallStatus": "ok",
"codexVersion": "0.144.1",
"checks": {
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"category": "app-server",
"status": "ok",
"summary": "background server is not running",
"details": {
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"daemon state dir": "/home/bagher/.codex/app-server-daemon",
"mode": "ephemeral",
"pid file": "/home/bagher/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server.pid (missing)",
"settings": "/home/bagher/.codex/app-server-daemon/settings.json (missing)",
"status": "not running",
"update-loop pid file": "/home/bagher/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server-updater.pid (missing)"
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"summary": "auth is configured",
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"auth storage mode": "File",
"stored API key": "false",
"stored ChatGPT tokens": "true",
"stored agent identity": "false",
"stored auth mode": "chatgpt"
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"cwd": "/home/bagher",
"enabled feature flags": "shell_tool, unified_exec, shell_snapshot, code_mode_host, terminal_resize_reflow, sqlite, memories, hooks, enable_request_compression, multi_agent, apps, tool_search_always_defer_mcp_tools, tool_suggest, plugins, in_app_browser, browser_use, browser_use_full_cdp_access, browser_use_external, computer_use, remote_plugin, plugin_sharing, image_generation, resize_all_images, skill_mcp_dependency_install, mentions_v2, steer, guardian_approval, goals, collaboration_modes, tool_call_mcp_elicitation, auth_elicitation, personality, fast_mode, tui_app_server, remote_compaction_v2, workspace_dependencies",
"feature flag overrides": "memories=true",
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"installation": {
"id": "installation",
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"summary": "installation looks consistent",
"details": {
"PATH codex #1": "/home/bagher/.local/bin/codex",
"PATH codex #2": "/home/bagher/.nvm/versions/node/v20.20.0/bin/codex",
"PATH codex #3": "/home/bagher/.nvm/versions/node/v20.20.0/bin/codex",
"PATH codex #4": "/home/bagher/.local/bin/codex",
"PATH codex entries": "4",
"current executable": "/home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases/0.144.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin/codex",
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"managed by bun": "false",
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"mcp.config": {
"id": "mcp.config",
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"durationMs": 0
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"network.env": {
"id": "network.env",
"category": "network",
"status": "ok",
"summary": "network-related environment looks readable",
"details": {
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"summary": "active provider endpoints are reachable over HTTP",
"details": {
"ChatGPT base URL": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/ reachable (HTTP 403)",
"reachability mode": "ChatGPT auth"
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"durationMs": 1867
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"network.websocket_reachability": {
"id": "network.websocket_reachability",
"category": "websocket",
"status": "ok",
"summary": "Responses WebSocket handshake succeeded",
"details": {
"DNS": "2 IPv4, 2 IPv6, first IPv4",
"auth mode": "chatgpt",
"connect timeout": "15000 ms",
"endpoint": "wss://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted>",
"handshake result": "HTTP 101 Switching Protocols",
"model provider": "openai",
"models etag present": "true",
"provider name": "OpenAI",
"proxy env vars present": "HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, ALL_PROXY, NO_PROXY, http_proxy, https_proxy, all_proxy, no_proxy",
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"runtime.provenance": {
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"status": "ok",
"summary": "running standalone on linux-x86_64",
"details": {
"commit": "unknown",
"current executable": "/home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases/0.144.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin/codex",
"install method": "standalone (unix, package /home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases/0.144.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl, bin /home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases/0.144.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin, resources /home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases/0.144.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-resources, path /home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases/0.144.1-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-path)",
"platform": "linux-x86_64",
"version": "0.144.1"
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"summary": "search is OK (bundled)",
"details": {
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"search command readiness": "file exists",
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"durationMs": 0
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"status": "ok",
"summary": "sandbox configuration is readable",
"details": {
"approval policy": "OnRequest",
"codex-linux-sandbox helper": "/home/bagher/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg0uI42ZH/codex-linux-sandbox",
"execve wrapper helper": "/home/bagher/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg0uI42ZH/codex-execve-wrapper",
"filesystem sandbox": "restricted",
"network sandbox": "restricted"
},
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"durationMs": 0
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"state.paths": {
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"status": "ok",
"summary": "state paths and databases are inspectable",
"details": {
"CODEX_HOME": "/home/bagher/.codex (dir)",
"active rollout files": "51 files, 60382209 total bytes, 1183964 average bytes",
"archived rollout files": "0 files, 0 total bytes, 0 average bytes",
"goals DB": "/home/bagher/.codex/goals_1.sqlite (file)",
"goals DB integrity": "ok",
"log DB": "/home/bagher/.codex/logs_2.sqlite (file)",
"log DB integrity": "ok",
"log dir": "/home/bagher/.codex/log (dir)",
"memories DB": "/home/bagher/.codex/memories_1.sqlite (file)",
"memories DB integrity": "ok",
"sqlite home": "/home/bagher/.codex (dir)",
"standalone release cache": "6 entries in /home/bagher/.codex/packages/standalone/releases",
"state DB": "/home/bagher/.codex/state_5.sqlite (file)",
"state DB integrity": "ok"
},
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"durationMs": 623
},
"state.rollout_db_parity": {
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"category": "threads",
"status": "ok",
"summary": "rollout files and state DB thread inventory agree",
"details": {
"default model provider": "openai",
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"rollout DB active rows": "51",
"rollout DB archive mismatches": "0",
"rollout DB archived files": "0",
"rollout DB archived rows": "0",
"rollout DB duplicate DB paths": "0",
"rollout DB duplicate rollout thread ids": "0",
"rollout DB malformed file names": "0",
"rollout DB missing active rows": "0",
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"rollout DB model providers": "openai=51",
"rollout DB rows": "51",
"rollout DB scan cap reached": "false",
"rollout DB scan errors": "0",
"rollout DB sources": "cli=37, subagent:thread_spawn=14",
"rollout DB stale rows": "0"
},
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"system.environment": {
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"category": "system",
"status": "ok",
"summary": "OS language C",
"details": {
"EDITOR": "not set",
"LANG": "C.UTF-8",
"VISUAL": "not set",
"os": "Ubuntu 22.4.0 (jammy) [64-bit]",
"os language": "C",
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"durationMs": 51
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"terminal.env": {
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"status": "ok",
"summary": "terminal metadata was detected",
"details": {
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"stderr is terminal": "true",
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"terminal.title": {
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"summary": "terminal title default",
"details": {
"terminal title activity": "true",
"terminal title items": "activity, project-name",
"terminal title project source": "git repo root",
"terminal title project value": "bagher",
"terminal title source": "default"
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"durationMs": 0
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"updates.status": {
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"status": "ok",
"summary": "update configuration is locally consistent",
"details": {
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"check for update on startup": "true",
"last checked at": "2026-07-12T10:19:33.803349039Z",
"latest version": "0.144.1",
"latest version status": "current version is not older",
"update action": "standalone installer",
"version cache": "/home/bagher/.codex/version.json"
},
"remediation": null,
"durationMs": 2404
}
}
}What issue are you seeing?
During long coding sessions, the reported context window usage appears to keep growing even after tasks are completed. In one session, the context usage reached roughly 270K tokens (about 76% of the window) even though earlier work had already been finished. The large context size makes the session slower and increases token consumption. Feedback thread: 019f55d6-e4cf-7563-8a1f-07feb83fbeef
What steps can reproduce the bug?
Uploaded thread: 019f55d6-e4cf-7563-8a1f-07feb83fbeef
What is the expected behavior?
The CLI should efficiently manage context during long sessions.
Completed work should be summarized or compacted automatically so context usage remains stable and performance does not degrade significantly.
Additional information
Project involved three repositories (Flutter, FastAPI and Node.js microservices), but the issue appears related to context management rather than any specific codebase.