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Codex uses chatgpt.com web endpoint instead of api.openai.com — causing 16,000+ connections/day and 65GB bandwidth in 6 days #27952
Description
Description
Codex desktop app (Windows) is routing all model inference through chatgpt.com (the ChatGPT web interface) instead of api.openai.com (the dedicated API endpoint). This is causing extreme bandwidth consumption and connection storms.
Environment
- Codex version: 26.602.71036 (prod build)
- OS: Windows 10.0.26200
- Config:
model = "gpt-5.5",model_reasoning_effort = "xhigh" - Network: Behind proxy (China → Japan VPN)
Evidence from packet logs (June 9, 2026 — single day)
| Endpoint | Connections | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
chatgpt.com |
16,141 | Web interface — reconnects every ~3.6 seconds |
chat.openai.com |
424 | API endpoint |
api.openai.com |
1 | Actual REST API (barely used!) |
ab.chatgpt.com |
458 | A/B testing (web-only feature) |
persistent.oaistatic.com |
219 | Static web assets — reloads every 15 minutes |
github.com (alive) |
2,034 | Normal heartbeat |
Bandwidth impact (6 days: June 7–13)
- Total download through proxy: 65.78 GB
- Estimated ChatGPT web traffic: ~55 GB (based on connection proportion)
- Normal API usage would consume ~2–5 GB/day, not 11 GB/day
Root cause analysis
- Codex is connecting to
chatgpt.com(web endpoint) instead ofapi.openai.com(API endpoint) - Web interface uses WebSocket/SSE with aggressive reconnect (1000+ connections/hour)
persistent.oaistatic.comreloads all static web assets every 15 minutes — this is unnecessary for a desktop appab.chatgpt.comA/B testing endpoint is being hit 458 times — desktop app should not participate in web A/B tests
Why this matters
I am in China and must use a paid proxy to access OpenAI services. This bug has cost me ~$40 in proxy bandwidth fees over 6 days for traffic that a properly-implemented API client would never generate. This is effectively a billing bug — I am paying for the ChatGPT web interface's overhead multiplied by Codex's connection behavior.
Requested fix
- Make Codex use
api.openai.com(orchat.openai.com) for model inference — NOTchatgpt.com - Eliminate or drastically reduce
persistent.oaistatic.comasset reloads (desktop app should cache these) - Remove
ab.chatgpt.comA/B testing from desktop app - Implement proper connection pooling — one connection every 3.6 seconds is not acceptable
Related
This may be related to issue #27911 (goals_1.sqlite write amplification: ~11 MB/s sustained writes) — suggesting systemic resource management issues in the current Codex build.
Activity