Voice transcription (hold-Space) types literal spaces instead of recording on macOS (arm64, multiple terminals)
Open 💬 0 comments Opened Aug 19, 2026 by LastMohikkan
What version of Codex CLI is running?
codex-cli 0.146.1 & 0.148.0
What subscription do you have?
Pro
Which model were you using?
_No response_
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 25.6.0 arm64 arm
What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?
tested in iTerm2, Terminal.app, and Ghostty
Codex doctor report
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}What issue are you seeing?
Voice transcription (hold-Space push-to-talk) does not activate recording. Instead of starting audio capture and showing the level meter, holding the Space key behaves like normal repeated character input — the cursor advances and literal spaces are inserted into the composer. No microphone prompt or recording indicator ever appears.
This occurs consistently across:
- Multiple terminal emulators: iTerm2, macOS Terminal.app, and Ghostty (which natively supports the Kitty keyboard protocol)
- Both codex-cli 0.146.1 and 0.148.0
- Both a custom model provider profile and the default ChatGPT Pro login/profile
voice_transcription = true is correctly set in ~/.codex/config.toml (confirmed via grep).
Microphone permission for Codex has been explicitly granted in macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone (granted via the ChatGPT desktop app permission prompt, since Terminal/iTerm2 cannot be added manually to that list).
Binary is a native arm64 Mach-O executable (no Rosetta), installed via Homebrew.
No third-party dictation/voice apps (e.g. Gemini) were running during testing.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Ensure voice_transcription = true is set under [features] in ~/.codex/config.toml
- Grant microphone permission to Codex in macOS System Settings (via the ChatGPT desktop app's permission prompt)
- Launch Codex CLI: codex
- With the composer field empty and focused, press and hold the Space key for 1-2 seconds
- Release Space
- Observe: no audio level meter/sparkline appeared during the hold, and the composer now contains multiple literal space characters instead of a transcribed prompt
What is the expected behavior?
Holding Space with an empty composer should trigger push-to-talk voice recording: an audio level indicator should appear while held, and releasing Space should stop recording, transcribe the audio via Whisper, and insert the transcribed text into the composer — per the documented behavior for macOS.
Additional information
- Terminals tested: iTerm2, macOS Terminal.app, Ghostty — identical behavior in all three
- Codex versions tested: 0.148.0 (original) and 0.146.1 (downgraded to test for regression) — identical behavior in both, ruling out a version-specific regression
- A brief tap of Space produces a single normal space character correctly, confirming basic keyboard input reaches the TUI; only the hold-to-record detection fails
- Architecture confirmed native: file $(which codex) → Mach-O 64-bit executable arm64
- Installed via Homebrew cask