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Codex desktop app regression: missing Chinese localization (Simplified/Traditional) and missing context usage indicator #27244

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Codex desktop app regression: missing Chinese localization (Simplified/Traditional) and missing context usage indicator#27244
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appIssues related to the Codex desktop appbugSomething isn't workingcontextIssues related to context management (including compaction)

Description

@ErrorMora
ErrorMora
opened on Jun 9, 2026

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

Codex macOS app 26.602.71036

What subscription do you have?

gptplus

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.4.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

Title:
Codex desktop app regression: missing Chinese localization (Simplified/Traditional) and missing context usage indicator

Description:
The current Codex desktop app has two UI regressions.

  1. Chinese localization is incomplete or unavailable.

Both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese do not display correctly in the Codex desktop UI.

I tried:

  • Setting macOS/app language to Simplified Chinese
  • Setting macOS/app language to Traditional Chinese
  • Setting com.openai.codex AppleLanguages to zh-CN
  • Relaunching the app
  • Testing older Codex versions

Major UI labels still remain in English, including:

  • Personal account
  • Usage remaining
  • Log out
  • Settings
  • Ask for approval
  • What should we work on?
  • Do anything
  • Work in a project

Expected:
The Codex desktop UI should support Chinese localization for both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, or provide an explicit app language setting.

Actual:
The UI remains mostly English.

  1. Context usage indicator is missing or no longer visible.

Older UI appeared to show context/window usage near the composer/model area. In the current UI, the area next to model selection is blank, and only model + reasoning effort such as “5.5 Medium” is visible.

Expected:
A visible context usage indicator, preferably percentage/token usage, should be shown in the composer area.

Actual:
No visible context occupancy indicator is shown.

Why this matters:
Context usage is important because high context occupancy can reduce response reliability and increase hallucination risk. Users need visibility into context usage to decide when to start a new chat or reduce context.

Environment:

  • Codex macOS app
  • Version observed: 26.602.71036
  • Also tested older versions, but the issue persisted

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Open Codex desktop app on macOS.

  2. Set macOS/app language to Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese.

  3. Relaunch Codex completely.

  4. Open the main Codex window and the account/settings menu from the lower-left sidebar.

  5. Observe that major UI labels still appear in English, such as:

    • Personal account
    • Usage remaining
    • Log out
    • Settings
    • Ask for approval
    • What should we work on?
    • Do anything
    • Work in a project

  6. Look at the composer/model selection area.

  7. Observe that there is no visible context usage indicator, only model/reasoning effort such as “5.5 Medium”.

What is the expected behavior?

The Codex desktop app should fully support Chinese localization for both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

When the macOS/app language is set to Simplified Chinese, the Codex UI should display Simplified Chinese.

When the macOS/app language is set to Traditional Chinese, the Codex UI should display Traditional Chinese.

If automatic language detection is not supported, Codex should provide an explicit language setting in the app settings.

The composer area should also show a visible context usage indicator, such as token usage or percentage of context window used, so users can understand when the conversation is approaching context limits.

Additional information

This affects usability for Chinese-speaking users because many key UI labels remain in English even after changing system/app language settings.

The missing context usage indicator is also important because users need to know when context usage is high. High context usage can reduce response reliability, so users need this information to decide when to start a new chat or reduce the amount of context.

Tested version:

  • Codex macOS app 26.602.71036

Also tried:

  • Setting macOS/app language to Simplified Chinese
  • Setting macOS/app language to Traditional Chinese
  • Setting com.openai.codex AppleLanguages to zh-CN
  • Relaunching the app
  • Testing older Codex versions

The issue still persisted.

Activity

  1. ErrorMora
    added
    appIssues related to the Codex desktop app
    on Jun 9, 2026
  2. github-actions
    added
    bugSomething isn't working
    contextIssues related to context management (including compaction)
    on Jun 9, 2026

  3. github-actions commented on Jun 9, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsbot
    on Jun 9, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

    Powered by Codex Action

  4. civnir commented on Jun 10, 2026

    @civnir
    civnir
    on Jun 10, 2026 – with ChatGPT Codex Connector

    I ran into the same “context usage indicator missing” issue on Codex Desktop and found a local configuration workaround that restored it without affecting existing conversations.

    In my case, the context-window data itself was still present in local session files (model_context_window and token_count events existed), but the composer UI did not show the usage indicator.

    The setting that fixed it was adding show-context-window-usage = true under the [desktop] section of ~/.codex/config.toml:

    [desktop]
localeOverride = "zh-CN"
show-context-window-usage = true

    Important detail: placing show-context-window-usage = true at the top level of config.toml is not the same thing. In my testing, putting it at the top level caused Desktop state/session display issues. Moving it under [desktop] fixed the context-window usage display while keeping existing conversations visible.

    So the issue may not always be missing token/context data; it can also be that the Desktop setting is absent or reset to its default disabled state.

    It may be worth documenting this option or exposing it in the Desktop settings UI so users do not have to edit config.toml manually.

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