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Mac app shows persistent blurred/translucent overlay below composer #18341
Description
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
0.122.0-alpha.1
What subscription do you have?
Plus
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 24.0.0 x86_64 i386
What issue are you seeing?
Summary
The Codex Mac app renders a large blurred/translucent overlay below the composer/focus box that obscures the main content area and makes the app effectively unusable.
This is happening on an Intel Mac running macOS Sequoia 15.0.1.
Environment
- Device: Intel Mac
- OS: macOS Sequoia 15.0.1
- App / bundled version:
codex-cli 0.122.0-alpha.1
Actual behavior
A large blurred/translucent block appears below the composer and stays there. It covers the main window content area and does not go away.
Expected behavior
The area below the composer should render normal app content, not a persistent blur/material overlay.
Reproduction
I do not have a precise trigger yet.
Current observed behavior:
- Open Codex for Mac
- Main window loads
- A persistent blurred/translucent overlay is visible below the composer
- Overlay remains and blocks normal use
What I already tried
None of these fixed it:
- Quit / relaunch
- Restart Mac
- Reinstall app
- Reset Codex config
- Toggle app UI panes / layout
- Reset app appearance/theme
- Enable macOS "Reduce transparency"
- Clear app plist / caches / saved state
Notes
This looks like a rendering/compositor issue rather than normal UI state.
I can attach a screenshot showing the blur overlay if helpful.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
Steps to reproduce
- Use an Intel Mac running macOS Sequoia 15.0.1
- Install and open the Codex Mac app
- Sign in and open the main app window / a new thread
- Wait for the UI to finish rendering
- Observe that a large blurred/translucent overlay appears below the composer and obscures the main content area
Actual behavior
A persistent blurred/translucent block is rendered below the composer. It stays in place and makes the main window unusable.
Expected behavior
The area below the composer should render normal app content, with no persistent blur/material overlay.
Reproducibility
Happens consistently on launch for me.
Code snippet
Not applicable. This appears to be a desktop UI rendering/compositor bug, not an SDK/API/code-execution issue.
Session / token / context info
- Session ID: N/A / unavailable
- Token limit usage: N/A
- Context window usage: N/A
This bug appears before any meaningful model interaction, so it does not seem tied to prompt content, token usage, or context size.
Environment
- Device: Intel Mac
- OS: macOS Sequoia 15.0.1
- App bundled version:
codex-cli 0.122.0-alpha.1
Extra notes
I already tested quit/relaunch, restart, reinstall, config reset, cache/saved-state reset, UI/layout toggles, theme reset, and macOS transparency changes. None fixed it.
Screenshot attached.
What is the expected behavior?
The area below the composer should render normal app content, not a persistent blur/material overlay.
Additional information
No response
Activity
kashifamingit commentedon Apr 17, 2026
Same issue with my Macbook Pro 2019 i9 32GB RAM
Any fixes
vulcanhelix commentedon Apr 17, 2026
Super slow here as well. Sticking to the CLI until this is resolved.
Seems like it occurs everywhere there's an input box.
kashifamingit commentedon Apr 17, 2026
I also notice when i make the screen small the overlay gone. but the dead slow behaviour still there. looks like its something related to hardware acceleration + electron combo.
ectobaldus commentedon Apr 17, 2026
I can confirm what looks like the same bug on another Intel Mac.
Environment:
26.415.30602(build1773)15.7.3(build24G419)MacBookPro16,1/ IntelCore i9-9880H/x86_64What I see:
Extra signal:
open -na "Codex" --args --disable-gpudid not produce a usable app window here, so that was not a practical workaround in my case.This seems consistent with the reports above from Intel Macs and may help narrow it to the desktop app rendering path on Intel + macOS 15.
QuantumQuill77-glitch commentedon Apr 17, 2026
I’m seeing what looks like the same underlying desktop rendering bug on another Intel Mac setup.
Environment
com.openai.codex26.415.21839176315.7.5 (24G624)MacBookPro15,4What I see
New chatrenders with oversized dark/black blocks below the composerPluginsalso renders incorrectly with large dark/black content regions and incomplete layoutWhat I tried
26.415.21839is the newest available version--disable-gpu--disable-gpu-compositing--disable-features=Metal,UseSkiaRendererThis looks very similar to the overlay/compositor/rendering problem described here, but on
26.415.21839and with bothNew chatandPluginsaffected.I also opened an OpenAI support case and it has already been escalated as a Codex desktop rendering bug.
carlbberg commentedon Apr 18, 2026
Very, very slow.
kashifamingit commentedon Apr 21, 2026
Any update regarding the issue?
jawad-ul-hassan commentedon Apr 21, 2026
When we can expect to get this resolved, not being able to use codex app right now.
gongqij commentedon Apr 22, 2026
same issue with all search bars
mac info: Darwin 25.4.0 x86_64 i386
codex version: 26.417.41555 (1858)
shrijit37 commentedon Apr 22, 2026
same issue
Macbook pro 13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
codex version : 26.417.41555
jawad-ul-hassan commentedon Apr 23, 2026
MacBook Pro
15-inch, 2019
Processor
2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7
Graphics
Intel UHD Graphics 630
1536 MB
Memory
16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
macOS
Sequoia 15.7.5
Codex
Version 26.422.20832 (2025)
stonezzz commentedon Apr 24, 2026
Symptoms:
In the Plugins and Skills pages, part of the UI gets covered by a blurred white overlay.
In the chat window, similar blurred white regions can appear near the lower area.
Clicking the affected area can still open the underlying popup/popover content correctly.
After closing or returning, the blurred overlay remains visible.
If I narrow the window below a certain width, the issue disappears.
If I widen the window again past that width, the issue returns.
BobbyBishopCodes commentedon Apr 24, 2026
Same issue.
12 remaining items
boilingstar commentedon May 2, 2026
Here is my temporary solution until codex fix it:
Press "Cmd" + "-" several times until the overlay disappear.
gongqij commentedon May 2, 2026
This temporary solution of yours is better and simpler.
stonezzz commentedon May 2, 2026
[-]Mac app shows persistent blurred/translucent overlay below composer on Intel Mac (macOS 15.0.1, 0.122.0-alpha.1)[/-][+]Mac app shows persistent blurred/translucent overlay below composer[/+]sanyue-dev commentedon May 6, 2026
exact same issue
EnzanNoMetsuke commentedon May 11, 2026
I have the same issue; it's been there since I installed and launched the Codex app for the first time.
Environment
Workarounds Tried
Dragon-zg commentedon May 19, 2026
一样的问题，下方有个模糊涂层。使用command+-快捷键缩放三次后会正常，但是字体太小几乎无法使用。
环境
Uncle-Gao commentedon May 19, 2026
After a few days of investigation on a 2017 MacBook Pro (Intel HD Graphics 630 + macOS 13), I narrowed this down to a specific CSS root cause and built a fix that doesn't need any command-line flags.
Root cause
The transparent / blurred / "overlay" artifacts all come from CSS
backdrop-filter: blur()rules in Codex's stylesheet. On Intel HD/UHD Graphics + macOS,backdrop-filterforces the Chromium compositor to capture the background through an IOSurface and reblend it. That IOSurface transfer silently fails on this driver+OS combo, leaving the element rendered as transparent (so you see the desktop behind the window) or as a stale buffer.This explains the existing workarounds in the thread:
Cmd + -works because zoom triggers re-layout, invalidating the broken layer--force_high_performance_gpuworks on dual-GPU MBPs because it bypasses the Intel driver entirelyFix
Full analysis + reproducible report: #23458
Repository with installer: https://github.com/Uncle-Gao/codex-gpu-fix
It wraps the Codex binary so that on launch:
--use-angle=metal --remote-debugging-port=9222* { backdrop-filter: none !important; -webkit-backdrop-filter: none !important; }document.head).Compared to the existing workarounds:
--force_high_performance_gpu)--use-angle=gl)--disable-gpu-compositing)Cmd + -)app.asar, so Electron's AsarIntegrity check is unaffected; a LaunchAgent re-applies the wrapper after every Codex auto-update.Posting in case it helps anyone else stuck on this until OpenAI removes the
backdrop-filterusage (or Chromium handles the IOSurface failure path).noahvandal commentedon May 21, 2026
This is still an issue. When will we get a solution?
shiboxuan commentedon May 25, 2026
Codex Desktop Intel HiDPI rendering bug
Recommended target: comment on #18341
Related issues:
Summary
Codex Desktop on macOS Intel renders a large translucent/blurred overlay or blank blocking region when the app window is moved to a HiDPI/2K/4K-scaled external display. The same window renders normally on a 1080p display. Moving the window between displays toggles the issue immediately.
This looks like an Electron/Chromium GPU compositor or display-scale-factor bug, not a conversation/content issue.
Environment
Symptoms
Steps to reproduce
Expected behavior
The Codex UI should render the same way regardless of display resolution, display scale factor, or monitor refresh rate.
Actual behavior
Codex renders incorrectly only on the HiDPI/2K/4K-scaled display path. The visible failure is a persistent large translucent/blurred/blank overlay blocking the app UI.
Workarounds tested or prepared
opaqueWindows = truein~/.codex/config.toml.~/.codex/.codex-global-state.json.~/Library/Application Support/Codex/.open -a "/Applications/Codex.app" --args \ --disable-gpu \ --disable-gpu-compositing \ --disable-accelerated-2d-canvasDiagnostics
Recent logs are under:
The current app process includes a separate
Codex Helper --type=gpu-process, and the issue tracks display movement/scale rather than app content.apatwa-oai commentedon May 27, 2026
Hi there, we have received multiple reports of this now and are actively investigating. Thank you all for the detailed repro instructions in the thread.
gongqij commentedon Jun 2, 2026
It seems to have been fixed.
version: 26.527.60818 (3437)
ax-openai commentedon Jun 12, 2026
Closing as resolved in current releases.