Repository navigation
Queued messages disappear or remain stuck, and tasks stay in thinking state without starting #26683
Description
What version of the IDE extension are you using?
26.602.40724
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT Pro
Which IDE are you using?
VS Code
What platform is your computer?
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64
What issue are you seeing?
1. Queued messages disappear or are not acted on
When Codex is already working on a task and I send an additional message, the follow up is not handled reliably.
Observed behaviour:
- Sometimes the message disappears after being sent.
- Sometimes the message appears in the queue/cube, but Codex does not automatically continue with it after the current task finishes.
- The queued message can remain visible in the UI but is not acted on.
2. Codex shows a thinking state but never starts the task
Sometimes Codex only shows the thinking state and no task actually begins.
Observed behaviour:
- I send a message.
- Codex displays that it is thinking.
- No task or mission starts.
- No useful response is returned.
- No clear error message is shown.
- The only reliable recovery is restarting Codex.
This is misleading because the UI suggests Codex is working, but in practice no progress is made.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
I cannot reproduce this with a single deterministic code snippet because it appears to be an extension and runtime issue. However, I have reproduced it repeatedly with this workflow:
- Open a repository in VS Code.
- Start a Codex task.
- While Codex is working, send an additional message as follow up guidance.
- Observe that the message may disappear, remain stuck in the queue/cube, or not auto start after the current task finishes.
- In some cases, send a new message and observe that Codex shows the thinking state but never actually starts a task.
- Restart Codex to recover.
The issue has occurred across five different internet connections in five different physical locations, so it does not appear to be caused by local network instability.
What is the expected behavior?
- Follow up messages sent while Codex is working should not disappear.
- Queued messages should remain visible and should be acted on after the current task finishes.
- If a queued message is intended as guidance for the active task, Codex should incorporate it as soon as possible.
- If Codex cannot start a task, it should show a clear error message.
- Codex should not remain indefinitely in a thinking state without starting a task or returning a response.
- Restarting the entire Codex extension should not be required to recover from this state.
Additional information
Approximate start of issue: 3rd June 2026
Activity
github-actions commentedon Jun 5, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
Powered by Codex Action
taboca commentedon Oct 1, 2026
I might have some info here of this anomaly. Not sure if the case is the same but here we go: If you type a message in the form (Visual Code Codex chat), and you see the anomaly, just wait. Stay there, stuck, yourself, and hold. You may actually see the message appear at certain point in time. So the message actually goes to somewhere, it just does not appear up in the chat area, or in the little pending area.
alvylopez-ModerTech commentedon Oct 1, 2026
I noticed they do appear sometimes after a short moment, but only sometimes, and the wait is not too long, only a few seconds delay, if they don't show up after that short time they just don't appear at all and I have to retry sending the same prompt (which I have to write from scratch and sometimes it is pretty big, so a lot of time wasted/lost).
samuel-prz commentedon Oct 2, 2026
This worked for me: I had GPT- 6.1Sol set as the model with the context window fixed at 800k, so I deleted those lines (model & model_context_window ) in the config.toml and reloaded VS Code, it finally responds normally, with no more messages disappearing after being sent. However, follow-ups while Codex runs or steer still don't work; they disappear after being sent.
akaisokai commentedon Oct 2, 2026
Yes, I have the same issue. I type a message, send it, and it either disappears or gets stuck in "steer" mode.
GeoRouv commentedon Oct 2, 2026
Same issue here
nito5191 commentedon Oct 2, 2026
Same issue for me but appears to be much more frequent now with 26.930.21537 (6.1 Sol selected). Using WSL remote connection in vscode on Win 10 Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045
mateus-sj commentedon Oct 2, 2026
Same here. The message gets stuck in "steer" mode. If i close VS Code and open it again, the last AI message simply vanishes and Codex starts with the last 2 messages as prompts. It's really bad.
taboca commentedon Oct 2, 2026
One important thing here, I feel, is that it is not clear that all the pieces of the VSCode IDE Codex extention are available in the open source repo here. I asked ChatGPT about that, and it seems to be confirming that the client part of the code is not available. I wonder if some of you can also confirm that. The code that I am trying to hack with limited telemetry seems to be minified.
ummayrr commentedon Oct 2, 2026
Same.
EmilStenstrom commentedon Oct 3, 2026
Did anyone find a workaround for this? Drives me crazy.
StockerGaming commentedon Oct 3, 2026
Borderline unusable
successbycs commentedon Oct 4, 2026
Reproducing this on 2026-10-04 in the VS Code Codex extension on Linux/WSL. This is making the client unusable.
Observed behavior:
I am on extension 26.928.40906. The behavior affects normal composer messages, not just a single task or prompt. Please prioritize investigation of the composer submission, queued-follow-up state, and UI acknowledgement path. I can provide sanitized timestamps or reviewed logs if a maintainer identifies the exact data needed.
MatiArgu commentedon Oct 5, 2026
It keeps happening. Same as above. The extension is driving me crazy and unusable. I cannot even click Steer. Its not there, the chat finished replying, I answer again, but that message is like its in a queue, not a new one.
StockerGaming commentedon Oct 5, 2026
@EmilStenstrom restart the extension host when it keeps getting stuck no matter what you do and always copy your messages before sending in the meantime, I guess 😕 still doesn't prevent messages from randomly eventually sending after they disappeared though
alvylopez-ModerTech commentedon Oct 6, 2026
I think the latest release fixes it, I haven't tested it much, but just a few prompts were working fine. If anyone else can confirm it would be great.
GeoRouv commentedon Oct 6, 2026
@alvylopez-ModerTech I can confirm. I did get some prompt reponses hanging in "Thinking" but overall its usable