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High GPU usage when app is on screen Mac #16099
Description
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
Version 26.325.31654 (1272)
What subscription do you have?
Plus
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 25.3.0 arm64 arm
What issue are you seeing?
I am experiencing very high (between 50-90%) GPU usage when codex is working and is displayed on my screen. The usage drops to almost nothing after minimizing it or completely covering it with another window. It also stops when it is no longer actively running. This behavior has not changed with any update. It is causing excessive battery drain on my m5 MacBook Pro.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
It happens every single time I use it and it is "thinking" or "exploring" etc, and is displaying on my screen.
What is the expected behavior?
No or minimal GPU usage
Additional information
Mac OS 26.3.1 and im using an m5 MacBook Pro with 24gb of ram.
Activity
github-actions commentedon Mar 28, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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homm commentedon Apr 6, 2026
I think I have found a reason: #16857
RedesignedRobot commentedon Apr 15, 2026
Root cause confirmed in #16857 — the thinking/shimmer animation keeps Chromium's compositor ticking at VSync rate indefinitely. Full profiling data in this comment.
Workaround: launch with
--force-prefers-reduced-motionto kill the animation.ccaruntu commentedon Apr 23, 2026
I can reproduce a very similar issue on a different macOS setup, and in my case it does not depend on Stage Manager.
Environment:
26.417.41555(build1858)15.5(24F74)MacBook Air, AppleM2,16 GBRAMcom.apple.WindowManager GloballyEnabled = 0)What I observed locally:
Codex Helper (Renderer):27.6%CPUcodex app-server:12.2%CPUWindowServer:17.9%CPU0%CPU in the follow-up sample.This makes it look more like a rendering/compositing issue tied to the visible app window than a Stage Manager-only problem. The practical behavior matches this issue closely: keeping Codex on screen makes the machine run hotter, while hiding/minimizing it drops the load significantly.
So this may be broader than "Stage Manager preview" and may affect normal on-screen rendering on macOS as well.
minured commentedon Apr 26, 2026
Amazing workaround: don’t display the desktop app.
Since this has been known since March 28, can we get a real fix status, or is “minimize Codex” the final answer for macOS?
jdrharrison-ai commentedon Apr 27, 2026
it has only gotten worse for me since the recent updates, especially when using the in-app browser. It chews through my battery, it is extremely frustrating.
thisislvca commentedon May 7, 2026
Same, I have 4 projects open at the same time, the thinking animation uses 50% gpu on an M4 Pro (maxed out)
Mertcikla commentedon Jun 2, 2026
I am having the same issues and due to this codex is unusable for me. I can't have a useless animation shorten my battery life to a quarter. I am being forced to use the cli due to this.
ganwumeng commentedon Jun 16, 2026
Any update? Still the same performance issue in the latest version.
chrissmartin commentedon Jun 23, 2026
@tibo-openai Dude, i mentioned this on tweet. Please do fix the GPU sprawl on random animation elements. Atleast give a lite more or something to disable all the animations.