VScode input box markdown should be optional

Open 💬 4 comments Opened Aug 11, 2026 by dannystaple

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

26.803.61601

What subscription do you have?

Corporate

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code

What platform is your computer?

Linux 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64 x86_64 , Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

The input box has now become a wysiwyg markdown box.
Entering text here is being markdown rich text formatted as i type - this causes a lot of the frustration seen with rich text editing, where format characters are, what parts are in or not in. Pasting can be worse with unexpected markup occuring. Without being able to see the actual characters, this is then very awkward to edit.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Typing or pasting with common markdown items.

What is the expected behavior?

The input box is plain text, an option to enable/disable the new behavior is present or code/preview selections are available.

Additional information

Related to - but not a duplicate of https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/32539. This relates to the whole typed and pasted input, not solely pasted input.

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

dannystaple · 17 days ago

This is definitely a bug - codex introduced a feature - it's now causing problems. Perhaps rollback the feature until it can be delivered with less frustration to users?

crimx · 10 days ago

<img width="861" height="329" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7340f3c7-0608-41b8-81fa-6007185cf63f" />

Plain text option is added.

dannystaple · 10 days ago

Thanks - I'm looking forward to seeing that in a release.

D00mch · 7 days ago

Strong +1 from a technical user. The rich-text/WYSIWYG composer is actively hostile to code-oriented input. Typing three backticks should leave the literal characters in the buffer, not mutate the editor state or hide Markdown syntax.

Please make plain text the default—or at minimum provide a global opt-out across all Codex surfaces, including Desktop—and preserve typed and pasted text exactly as entered. Rich text should be opt-in, not the only mode for developer workflows.