openai / openai/codex

Usage Abuse

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Description

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.153.3

What subscription do you have?

pro 20x

Which model were you using?

gpt-6-astra low (coordinating), luna high (excecuting)

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 24.5.0 arm64 arm

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

iTerm2 3.6.11

Codex doctor report
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "generatedAt": "1788965620s since unix epoch",
  "overallStatus": "warning",
  "codexVersion": "0.153.3",
  "checks": {
    "app_server.status": {
      "id": "app_server.status",
      "category": "app-server",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "background server is not running",
      "details": {
        "control socket": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/app-server-control/app-server-control.sock",
        "daemon state dir": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/app-server-daemon",
        "mode": "ephemeral",
        "pid file": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server.pid (missing)",
        "settings": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/app-server-daemon/settings.json (missing)",
        "status": "not running",
        "update-loop pid file": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server-updater.pid (missing)"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "auth.credentials": {
      "id": "auth.credentials",
      "category": "auth",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "auth is configured",
      "details": {
        "auth file": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/auth.json",
        "auth storage mode": "File",
        "stored API key": "false",
        "stored ChatGPT tokens": "true",
        "stored agent identity": "false",
        "stored auth mode": "chatgpt"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "config.load": {
      "id": "config.load",
      "category": "config",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "config loaded",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex",
        "config.toml": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/config.toml",
        "config.toml parse": "ok",
        "cwd": "/Users/jonasporto/Projects/fprojects/ntabs",
        "enabled feature flags": "shell_tool, view_image, sleep_tool, unified_exec, unified_exec_zsh_fork, shell_snapshot, content_item_kinds, code_mode_host, terminal_resize_reflow, sqlite, hooks, enable_request_compression, unbounded_connection_retries, multi_agent, apps, tool_search_always_defer_mcp_tools, tool_suggest, plugins, in_app_browser, in_app_chat, in_app_dictation, in_app_local_automation, in_app_updates, browser_use, browser_use_full_cdp_access, browser_use_external, computer_use, remote_plugin, plugin_sharing, image_generation, resize_all_images, item_ids, skill_mcp_dependency_install, skill_search, mentions_v2, steer, guardian_approval, goals, collaboration_modes, tool_call_mcp_elicitation, auth_elicitation, personality, fast_mode, tui_app_server, remote_compaction_v2, compaction_image_budget, workspace_dependencies",
        "feature flag overrides": "none",
        "feature flags enabled": "47",
        "log dir": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/log",
        "mcp servers": "3",
        "model": "gpt-6-astra",
        "model provider": "openai",
        "sqlite home": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "desktop.app.version": {
      "id": "desktop.app.version",
      "category": "desktop",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "the desktop application is installed",
      "details": {
        "log directory": "$HOME/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex",
        "running": "false",
        "version": "26.901.51231"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "desktop.app_server.handshake": {
      "id": "desktop.app_server.handshake",
      "category": "desktop",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "the desktop application is not running",
      "details": {},
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "desktop.security.enforcement": {
      "id": "desktop.security.enforcement",
      "category": "desktop",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "the desktop application passed available macos security assessments",
      "details": {
        "gatekeeper": "accepted"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "git.environment": {
      "id": "git.environment",
      "category": "git",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "git version 2.39.5 (Apple Git-154)",
      "details": {
        ".git entry": "directory",
        "PATH git #1": "/usr/bin/git",
        "PATH git entries": "1",
        "git branch": "main",
        "git build options": "git version 2.39.5 (Apple Git-154); cpu: arm64; no commit associated with this build; sizeof-long: 8; sizeof-size_t: 8; shell-path: /bin/sh; feature: fsmonitor--daemon",
        "git exec path": "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/libexec/git-core",
        "git version": "git version 2.39.5 (Apple Git-154)",
        "repo detected": "true",
        "repo root": "/Users/jonasporto/Projects/fprojects/ntabs",
        "selected git": "/usr/bin/git"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 131
    },
    "installation": {
      "id": "installation",
      "category": "install",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "installation looks consistent",
      "details": {
        "PATH codex #1": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/bin/codex",
        "current executable": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin/codex",
        "install context": "npm (package /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin, bin /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin, resources /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-resources, path /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-path)",
        "managed by Vite+": "false",
        "managed by bun": "false",
        "managed by npm": "true",
        "managed by pnpm": "false",
        "managed package root": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex",
        "npm update target": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 170
    },
    "mcp.config": {
      "id": "mcp.config",
      "category": "mcp",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "MCP configuration is locally consistent",
      "details": {
        "configured servers": "3",
        "disabled servers": "1",
        "stdio servers": "3"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "network.env": {
      "id": "network.env",
      "category": "network",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "network-related environment looks readable",
      "details": {
        "managed proxy": "not configured",
        "proxy env vars": "none",
        "respect system proxy": "disabled",
        "system proxy": "direct"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "network.provider_reachability": {
      "id": "network.provider_reachability",
      "category": "reachability",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "active provider endpoints are reachable over HTTP",
      "details": {
        "ChatGPT inference URL": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted> reachable (HTTP 405)",
        "desktop assets CDN": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted> reachable (HTTP 200)",
        "reachability mode": "ChatGPT auth"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 260
    },
    "network.websocket_reachability": {
      "id": "network.websocket_reachability",
      "category": "websocket",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "Responses WebSocket handshake succeeded",
      "details": {
        "DNS": "2 IPv4, 0 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",
        "provider name": "OpenAI",
        "proxy env vars": "none",
        "reasoning header": "false",
        "server model present": "false",
        "supports websockets": "true",
        "wire API": "responses"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 767
    },
    "runtime.provenance": {
      "id": "runtime.provenance",
      "category": "runtime",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "running npm on macos-aarch64",
      "details": {
        "commit": "unknown",
        "current executable": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin/codex",
        "install method": "npm (package /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin, bin /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin, resources /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-resources, path /Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-path)",
        "platform": "macos-aarch64",
        "version": "0.153.3"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "runtime.search": {
      "id": "runtime.search",
      "category": "search",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "search is OK (bundled)",
      "details": {
        "search command": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-path/rg",
        "search command readiness": "file exists",
        "search provider": "bundled"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "sandbox.helpers": {
      "id": "sandbox.helpers",
      "category": "sandbox",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "sandbox configuration is readable",
      "details": {
        "approval policy": "OnRequest",
        "codex-linux-sandbox helper": "none",
        "execve wrapper helper": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg0CEScQ1/codex-execve-wrapper",
        "filesystem sandbox": "restricted",
        "network sandbox": "restricted"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "security.endpoint": {
      "id": "security.endpoint",
      "category": "security",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "no supported endpoint protection detected",
      "details": {
        "endpoint products": "none detected"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 24
    },
    "state.paths": {
      "id": "state.paths",
      "category": "state",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "state paths and databases are inspectable",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex (dir)",
        "active rollout files": "45 files, 1152977097 total bytes, 25621713 average bytes",
        "archived rollout files": "0 files, 0 total bytes, 0 average bytes",
        "goals DB": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/goals_1.sqlite (file)",
        "goals DB integrity": "ok",
        "log DB": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/logs_2.sqlite (file)",
        "log DB integrity": "ok",
        "log dir": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/log (dir)",
        "memories DB": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/memories_1.sqlite (file)",
        "memories DB integrity": "ok",
        "queue DB": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/queue_1.sqlite (file)",
        "queue DB integrity": "ok",
        "sqlite home": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex (dir)",
        "state DB": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/state_5.sqlite (file)",
        "state DB integrity": "ok",
        "thread history DB": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/thread_history_1.sqlite (file)",
        "thread history DB integrity": "ok"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 1975
    },
    "state.rollout_db_parity": {
      "id": "state.rollout_db_parity",
      "category": "threads",
      "status": "warning",
      "summary": "rollout files and state DB thread inventory differ",
      "details": {
        "default model provider": "openai",
        "rollout DB active files": "45",
        "rollout DB active rows": "504",
        "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",
        "rollout DB missing archived rows": "0",
        "rollout DB model providers": "openai=504",
        "rollout DB rows": "504",
        "rollout DB scan cap reached": "false",
        "rollout DB scan errors": "0",
        "rollout DB sources": "cli=272, subagent:thread_spawn=134, exec=85, vscode=11, subagent:review=2",
        "rollout DB stale row sample": [
          "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/sessions/2025/11/26/rollout-2025-11-26T21-42-35-019ac2c3-1113-79b2-9100-ec934537d5dc.jsonl",
          "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/sessions/2025/11/27/rollout-2025-11-27T10-32-02-019ac583-84b7-74e0-85f7-aa9a502ad228.jsonl",
          "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/sessions/2025/11/27/rollout-2025-11-27T11-16-17-019ac5ac-0b45-79b0-9448-a76919c2ce2d.jsonl",
          "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/sessions/2025/11/27/rollout-2025-11-27T11-58-44-019ac5d2-e6d1-7811-932a-ab0adcedb0a0.jsonl",
          "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/sessions/2025/11/28/rollout-2025-11-28T16-40-20-019acbfb-122b-7bd1-8c61-3a07df37f22f.jsonl"
        ],
        "rollout DB stale rows": "459"
      },
      "issues": [
        {
          "severity": "warning",
          "cause": "state DB rows point at missing or unusable rollout files",
          "measured": "459 stale rows",
          "expected": "every state DB rollout path is a file on disk",
          "remedy": null,
          "fields": []
        }
      ],
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 241
    },
    "system.disk": {
      "id": "system.disk",
      "category": "disk",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "sufficient free disk space (359.8 GiB)",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME available": "359.8 GiB",
        "failure threshold": "1.0 GiB",
        "warning threshold": "5.0 GiB",
        "worktree available": "359.8 GiB"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "system.environment": {
      "id": "system.environment",
      "category": "system",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "OS language pt-BR",
      "details": {
        "EDITOR": "not set",
        "LANG": "pt_BR.UTF-8",
        "VISUAL": "not set",
        "os": "Mac OS 15.5.0 [64-bit]",
        "os language": "pt-BR",
        "os type": "Mac OS",
        "os version": "15.5.0"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 6
    },
    "terminal.env": {
      "id": "terminal.env",
      "category": "terminal",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "terminal metadata was detected",
      "details": {
        "COLORFGBG": "15;0",
        "COLORTERM": "truecolor",
        "TERMINFO_DIRS entry": [
          "/Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/Resources/terminfo (dir)",
          "/usr/share/terminfo (dir)"
        ],
        "TERM_PROGRAM": "iTerm.app",
        "color output": "enabled",
        "effective locale": "pt_BR.UTF-8",
        "stderr is terminal": "true",
        "stdin is terminal": "true",
        "stdout is terminal": "true",
        "terminal": "iTerm2",
        "terminal size": "214x52",
        "terminal version": "3.6.11"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "terminal.title": {
      "id": "terminal.title",
      "category": "title",
      "status": "ok",
      "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": "ntabs",
        "terminal title source": "default"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "updates.status": {
      "id": "updates.status",
      "category": "updates",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "update configuration is locally consistent",
      "details": {
        "cached latest version": "0.153.4",
        "check for update on startup": "true",
        "last checked at": "2026-09-07T01:13:33.243277Z",
        "latest version": "0.153.4",
        "latest version status": "newer version is available",
        "npm update target": "/Users/jonasporto/.nvm/versions/node/v22.17.0/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex",
        "update action": "npm install -g @openai/codex",
        "version cache": "/Users/jonasporto/.codex/version.json"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 307
    }
  }
}
What issue are you seeing?

Credit/token consumption is far out of proportion to the size of the work.
My weekly usage limit was exhausted after a small number of ordinary coding
sessions (small edits and reviews in Elixir/JS repos). now
run fails immediately with:

ERROR: You've hit your usage limit. Visit https://chatgpt.com/codex/settings/usage
to purchase more credits or try again at Sep 15th, 2026 9:20 AM.

Even a one-line prompt via codex exec -s read-only fails with the same error
before any work is done.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded thread: 01a07cda-827f-76d3-b781-6b1fe092e43b

What is the expected behavior?

Credit consumption proportional to the tokens actually needed for the task, and
a per-session breakdown (input/cached/output/reasoning tokens) so the user can
see what is consuming the limit. If something changed in how the CLI consumes
context (full history re-sent, tool output size, service_tier, remote
compaction), that should be visible to the user.

Additional information

config.toml has service_tier = "priority" and model_reasoning_effort = "low".
I would like to know whether the priority tier multiplies credit usage and by
how much, and whether a credit adjustment applies for the current period.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The report names Codex CLI 0.153.3 and includes a Codex doctor report, but it does not identify a failing command, expected behavior, or code location. Read the three comments first and clarify what usage-abuse behavior is being reported, how it can be reproduced, and what outcome would count as fixed before looking for an entry point or test.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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