Codex in VS Code causes very high CPU usage in non-git folders, but behaves normally in git repositories on macOS #18331

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

ChatGPT extension: openai.chatgpt v26.415.20818

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code: 1.116.0

What platform is your computer?

25.3.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

When I open the Codex panel in VS Code inside a non-git folder on macOS, CPU usage becomes abnormally high almost immediately.

The main symptom is that VS Code renderer processes (Code Helper (Renderer)) jump to roughly 200%–300%+ CPU, and the machine becomes noticeably hot. In some runs, the plugin process also becomes elevated.

I narrowed this down with multiple A/B tests:

• In a clean VS Code environment with no extra extensions, opening a normal folder is fine.
• After installing only openai.chatgpt, opening Codex in a non-git folder reproduces the high CPU issue.
• If I open the same environment in a git repository, Codex behaves normally.
• Even adding only an empty .git shell via git init is enough to make the problem disappear.

The most relevant log pattern I found is repeated warnings like:

worker_rpc_response_error error={} method=stable-metadata workerId=git

I also saw VS Code git logs repeatedly reporting:

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

This makes it look like Codex may be repeatedly requesting git-related stable metadata in a non-git workspace and entering a retry/error loop that drives renderer/plugin CPU very high.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On macOS, create a fresh folder that is not a git repository.

Example:

mkdir -p ~/Desktop/codex-nongit-repro

2. Start VS Code with a clean user data dir and a clean extensions dir.

rm -rf ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-user ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-exts
mkdir -p ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-user ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-exts

code \
  --user-data-dir ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-user \
  --extensions-dir ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-exts \
  --install-extension openai.chatgpt

3. Open that non-git folder in the same clean environment.

code \
  --user-data-dir ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-user \
  --extensions-dir ~/Desktop/vscode-repro-exts \
  ~/Desktop/codex-nongit-repro

4. Open the Codex panel and interact with it briefly.

5. Observe process usage.

ps -Ao pid,ppid,%cpu,%mem,command | \
grep -E 'Code Helper \(Renderer\)|Code Helper \(Plugin\)|Visual Studio Code' | \
grep -v grep | sort -k3 -nr | head -20

6. In my case, one or more Code Helper (Renderer) processes quickly rise to about 200%–300%+ CPU.

7. For A/B comparison, in the same folder, run:

git init

8. Then reopen the same folder and open Codex again.

9. After git init, CPU usage returns to normal or near-normal, and the issue is no longer reproducible in the same way.

10. I also reproduced the same pattern in my normal VS Code environment:

• non-git folder -> high CPU
• same folder after git init or in a real git repository -> normal behavior

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should behave normally in both git and non-git folders.

If git metadata is unavailable, I would expect Codex to gracefully detect that situation, skip git-specific metadata work, or fall back without entering a high-frequency retry/error loop.

Opening the Codex panel in a normal non-git project folder should not cause renderer/plugin CPU usage to spike to several hundred percent.

Additional information

Important observations:

This is reproducible in a completely clean VS Code environment with only openai.chatgpt installed.
This does not appear to require any other third-party extension.
The problem is strongly correlated with whether the opened folder is a git repository.
A simple workaround is running git init in the folder.