Add Adaptive Reasoning Effort with Permission-Based Escalation

What variant of Codex are you using?

macos 26.803.61601

What feature would you like to see?

Feature Request: Adaptive Reasoning Effort

I would like Codex to support an Adaptive / Auto reasoning effort mode.

Currently, users have to manually choose between reasoning levels such as Low, Medium, High, xHigh, Max, and Ultra. However, task complexity can change significantly during normal development.

For example:

• Simple CSS or UI changes may only need Low or Medium reasoning.
• Normal feature development may need High.
• Complex debugging may need xHigh or Max.
• Large repository-wide tasks may benefit from Ultra.

Because there is no adaptive mode, I often leave Codex on Max even when performing very simple tasks.

Proposed behavior

Add an Adaptive Reasoning option that automatically selects the appropriate reasoning effort based on task complexity.

For example:

Low → Medium → High → xHigh → Max → Ultra

Codex should be able to automatically reduce reasoning effort for simple tasks.

When Codex determines that a higher reasoning level is necessary, it should be able to request permission from the user before escalating.

Example:

This task appears more complex than expected.
Codex recommends increasing reasoning effort from High to Max.
This may consume more of your usage quota.

[Allow once] [Keep current level]

If the user declines, Codex should continue using the current reasoning level.

Suggested controls

It would also be useful to let users configure an escalation policy, for example:

• Automatically adjust between Low and High
• Ask before using xHigh
• Ask before using Max
• Always ask before using Ultra

An additional setting such as Adaptive Reasoning Ceiling could also be useful:

High / xHigh / Max / Ultra

This would allow users to control the maximum level Adaptive mode can automatically use.

Why this would be useful

This would provide:

• Faster responses for simple tasks
• Better reasoning for complex tasks
• More efficient quota usage
• Less manual switching between reasoning levels
• More user control over expensive reasoning modes

I think Adaptive Reasoning would make Codex much more convenient for everyday development.

Additional information

No response

No files, tests, or entry points are named in the report. Begin by locating the existing reasoning-effort selection and user-permission flows; done means Adaptive mode can adjust within a user-defined ceiling and ask before escalation, with coverage for the proposed policies.