High CPU usage on macOS after updating Codex in VS Code extension to 26.325.31654

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

26.325.31654

What subscription do you have?

High CPU usage and temperature on macOS after updating Codex

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code

What platform is your computer?

MacBook pro with Apple Silicon (M5 Pro) MacOS Tahoe 26.4

What issue are you seeing?

First of all, many thanks to Hlib Laskin. My comment here is intended as an update to his post, based on what I encountered with a newer version of the Codex extension.

For the full background and detailed explanation, I recommend reading his post, since he described the issue very clearly.
https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/7972?utm_source=chatgpt.com

I noticed this problem after my MacBook automatically updated to macOS 26.4. At first, I thought the overheating was caused by a compatibility issue between the latest macOS version and the VS Code extension. After checking both the hardware and software and finding no obvious problem, I came across their post. I then tried rolling back the Codex extension version, and that indeed solved the issue.

If anyone else is experiencing a similar problem, rolling back the Codex extension to a version that you remember being stable may help resolve it.

Model of Codex:

GPT-5.4

The platform of my computer:

MacBook pro with Apple Silicon (M5 Pro) MacOS Tahoe 26.4

How to install specific version?

First, open VSCode "Extensions" and choose "Codex - OpenAI's coding agent"
Click the downward arrow to the right of “Uninstall”, then select “Install Specific Version…”.
Select a version that you remember as being stable. I chose the version from a week ago (26.318.11754). This step may vary from person to person. If you are not sure which one to choose, you can try one first and then check the CPU usage and temperature.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

View: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/7972?utm_source=chatgpt.com

What is the expected behavior?

View: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/7972?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Additional information

No response

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

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+1

Yeah I've been experiencing this several times. I've had this M4 over a year and I've only just started hearing the thermal fans after this bug has started cropping up. Not sure what I can say thats technical.

+1

I can confirm this on the same extension version (26.325.31654) and on macOS 26.4.

In my case the hot process is mainly the VS Code extension host, not the Codex backend:

Code Helper (Plugin): about 36.4% CPU
codex app-server: about 2.1% CPU

I also see repeated warnings in the Codex logs:

[warning] [IpcClient] Received broadcast but no handler is configured method=thread-stream-state-changed

Examples from one affected run:

Codex.log:12
Codex.1.log:1461
Codex.3.log:255
Codex.3.log:256
Codex.3.log:265

The affected session also rotated logs quickly:

Codex.1.log through Codex.6.log: 5.0 MB each
Codex.log: 2.5 MB

This makes my case look very close to both:

VS Code extension spams unsupported requests / thread-stream-state-changed broadcasts, causing high CPU/GPU usage on macOS #15397 for the exact thread-stream-state-changed warning loop
this issue (High CPU usage on macOS after updating Codex in VS Code extension to 26.325.31654 #16231) for the regression on 26.325.31654

I am seeing a consistent high-CPU loop in the Codex VS Code extension that appears to be tied to a single conversation state, not prompt complexity.

Environment

VS Code: 1.112.0
Commit: 07ff9d6178ede9a1bd12ad3399074d726ebe6e43
Electron: 39.8.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Fedora 43, Linux x64, kernel 6.19.10-200.fc43.x86_64
Codex extension:
- Identifier: openai.chatgpt
- Version: 26.325.31654 (linux-x64)

Symptoms

After several back-and-forth prompts in one Codex conversation, extension host CPU and renderer CPU ramp up and remain high.
This is independent of prompt complexity (also happens with trivial prompts).
Closing only that conversation immediately drops CPU back to normal.
Starting a fresh conversation is fine initially, then the same high-CPU state returns after a few messages.
The behavior is deterministic and reproducible.

Strong log signal

Logs show a tight repeated error loop:

Error fetching: open-in-target not supported in extension
URL involved: vscode://codex/open-in-targets
Stack repeatedly includes extension request handling and then VS Code extension host message delivery pipeline.

In my case, this repeats at very high frequency (roughly dozens of log entries per second), and accumulates into many thousands of repeated entries across rotated logs in one session. That strongly suggests an immediate retry loop with no effective backoff once this state is reached.

Why this looks like an extension-side conversation-state loop

The error indicates a capability mismatch: a request path is being issued that the installed extension build reports as unsupported.
The loop is tied to a conversation lifecycle (close conversation, CPU drops immediately; reopen/start new, eventually re-enters loop).
This does not look model-side or prompt-content-side; it looks like a per-conversation UI/extension state machine repeatedly issuing an unsupported action.

Repro steps

Open VS Code on Fedora 43 with extension version 26.325.31654 enabled.
Start a new Codex conversation.
Exchange 3-5 prompts/replies (content does not matter).
Observe extension host and/or renderer CPU rise and stay high.
Close that conversation (or panel): CPU drops quickly.
Start another conversation and repeat: same pattern.

The problem happens in two different Fedora 43 computers (so it's not tied to one environment).

Current workarounds

Keep conversations short; close and restart when CPU climbs.
Reset Codex NUX state from Command Palette, then reload window (sometimes helps clear stuck state).
If available, install an older extension version (for example a Feb 2026 build) and disable auto-update for this extension as a temporary mitigation.

Regression check

I reverted to Codex extension version 0.4.79, and this high-CPU loop does not occur with that version in the same environment.

Can confirm that the issue disappears when reverting to 0.4.79. In my case using the Codex extension in Antigravity 1.21.9 (antigravity helper processes CPU usage to 100-200% until ending conversation.

yes its happening after 2 o 3 prompts, as soon as the codex panel its closed it goes back to normal even tho the agent it still running in the background

+1, macbook is roasting my hands in VSCode with Codex, high CPU usage every time

I encountered the same issue; the temperature only slowly returned to normal after I closed the chat panel.

Rolling back to 0.4.79 can solve this. Didn't try later versions

High CPU in VS Code renderer when Codex is opened in a folder without Git

Hi! I found a reproducible high CPU issue with the Codex VS Code extension.

The problem seems to happen when Codex is opened in a workspace folder that is not a Git repository root. If I open a folder that has .git directly in the workspace root, the CPU usage stays normal.

Environment

macOS
Apple Silicon / arm64
VS Code installed at /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app
Codex / OpenAI ChatGPT VS Code extension
Installed extension folder on my machine: ~/.vscode/extensions/openai.chatgpt-26.422.30944-darwin-arm64

The process that consumes CPU is not the extension host. It is:

Code Helper (Renderer)

In VS Code Process Explorer it appears as:

window    100%+ CPU

What happens

When I open Codex in a folder without .git in the workspace root, CPU usage jumps to around 100% or more and stays there.

Closing the Codex panel does not stop the CPU usage. The renderer process keeps consuming CPU even after the Codex UI is closed.

The extension host itself stays relatively low, so this looks like a renderer / webview issue rather than normal extension-host CPU usage.

What I tested

I first checked VS Code without extensions:

code --new-window --disable-extensions

CPU usage was normal.

Then I tested a clean VS Code profile with only the Codex extension installed:

code --user-data-dir /tmp/vscode-clean-user --extensions-dir /tmp/vscode-clean-ext

With only Codex installed, I tested different folders.

My workspace looks like this:

~/ProgC
├── command
├── ssh_messenger
└── Univ
    └── labs
        └── .git

These folders are not Git repository roots:

cd ~/ProgC/command
git rev-parse --show-toplevel

fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

cd ~/ProgC/ssh_messenger
git rev-parse --show-toplevel

fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

cd ~/ProgC/Univ
git rev-parse --show-toplevel

fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

This folder is a Git repository root:

cd ~/ProgC/Univ/labs
git rev-parse --show-toplevel

/Users/artem/ProgC/Univ/labs

Results

Here are the results I got:

Clean profile + only Codex + empty folder without .git -> CPU high
Clean profile + only Codex + ~/ProgC/command -> CPU high
Clean profile + only Codex + ~/ProgC/ssh_messenger -> CPU high
Clean profile + only Codex + ~/ProgC/Univ -> CPU high
Clean profile + only Codex + ~/ProgC/Univ/labs -> CPU low

So the deciding factor seems to be whether the opened workspace folder itself is a Git repository root.

Workspace size

The workspace is small, so I do not think this is caused by a large project:

cd ~/ProgC
find . -type f | wc -l

find . -type d | wc -l

du -sh .

3.3M    .

Expected behavior

Codex should work normally in a folder that is not a Git repository.

If Git metadata is needed, the extension should handle a non-Git workspace without entering a high CPU loop.

Actual behavior

Opening Codex in a non-Git workspace causes sustained high CPU usage in:

Code Helper (Renderer)

The CPU usage continues even after closing the Codex panel.

Workaround

Opening the actual Git repository root fixes the issue.

For example, this causes high CPU for me:

code ~/ProgC/Univ

But this works normally:

code ~/ProgC/Univ/labs

because ~/ProgC/Univ/labs contains .git.

Another workaround is to initialize Git in the opened folder:

cd /path/to/project
git init

After that, Codex no longer seems to trigger the high CPU behavior for that folder.

The problem seems to happen when Codex is opened in a workspace folder that is not a Git repository root. If I open a folder that has .git directly in the workspace root, the CPU usage stays normal.

THANK YOU!

Initializing a repo at the workspace level instantly brought CPU usage down.

Just to confirm, git init in root instantly dropped CPU. Ubuntu, latest Codex extension version. Thank you.

after all these fixes/releases i keep updating to the latest codex and then the cpu goes wild. It's at 260% this time after installing the new latest version.

It was half working without cpu spiking for a short while, but wouldn't actually load any previous chats. So I had to roll back to finish old conversations.

I had upgraded yesterday and wasn't seeing the cpu spike, but now just installed the latest vscode and its reloaded and gone mental with cpu.

Every time I have to roll back to 26.313.41036, but now that approach is affecting me because I can't access the latest models.

Its been a month now of this instability. It seems like there are half a dozen different issues that have bubbled up all claiming to be causing the 100% with bad logging, problems with git needing to be initialised, some people saying 2nd windows are the cause. Have you lost control of the codebase?

i think if they just copy paste this url in codex and let codex fix it it should be fixed already lol

Dear codex team, any update on this issue?

For me, I've been running the latest versions now for a few weeks and not see my laptop emulate the surface of the sun.

@rtpHarry

For me, I've been running the latest versions now for a few weeks and not see my laptop emulate the surface of the sun.

without git repo root ? @rtpHarry

no all my projects have git in them

It still trying to melt my macbook, I really dont understand how this can be so long without fix...

It's already fixed. Just update to the latest version of vscode and the extension. It's fixed for me.

@DEBA1801

It's already fixed. Just update to the latest version of vscode and the extension. It's fixed for me.

trying using in non git repo and confirm. @DEBA1801

Closing as a duplicate of #7972.

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High CPU usage on macOS after updating Codex in VS Code extension to 26.325.31654 #16231

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

What subscription do you have?

Which IDE are you using?

What platform is your computer?

What issue are you seeing?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

What is the expected behavior?

Additional information

Environment

Symptoms

Strong log signal

Why this looks like an extension-side conversation-state loop

Repro steps

Current workarounds

Regression check

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High CPU in VS Code renderer when Codex is opened in a folder without Git

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High CPU usage on macOS after updating Codex in VS Code extension to 26.325.31654 #16231

Description

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

What subscription do you have?

Which IDE are you using?

What platform is your computer?

What issue are you seeing?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

What is the expected behavior?

Additional information

Activity

github-actions commented on Mar 30, 2026

weathon commented on Apr 1, 2026

rtpHarry commented on Apr 1, 2026

kostiantyn-samkovskyi commented on Apr 2, 2026

hermanekt commented on Apr 3, 2026

neovirtual commented on Apr 3, 2026

Environment

Symptoms

Strong log signal

Why this looks like an extension-side conversation-state loop

Repro steps

Current workarounds

Regression check

simon-verzity commented on Apr 4, 2026

Yusuf007R commented on Apr 5, 2026

deniskrumko commented on Apr 5, 2026

no-chili commented on Apr 5, 2026

WangJie-Mant commented on Apr 5, 2026

48 remaining items

matt00ff commented on Apr 25, 2026

High CPU in VS Code renderer when Codex is opened in a folder without Git

Environment

What happens

What I tested

Results

Workspace size

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

Workaround

HVR88 commented on Apr 26, 2026

nmandic78 commented on Apr 26, 2026

rtpHarry commented on Apr 30, 2026

bruvv commented on Apr 30, 2026

Nikita-schetko commented on May 7, 2026

rtpHarry commented on May 14, 2026

azadsagar commented on May 15, 2026

rtpHarry commented on May 15, 2026

tdvoracek commented on May 23, 2026

DEBA1801 commented on May 23, 2026

azadsagar commented on May 26, 2026

ax-openai commented on Jun 12, 2026

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