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Windows Codex 26.810.4967.0 renderer memory spikes and causes system-wide stuttering as a chat grows #38544

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Description

@coAtlus0916

Environment:

  • Codex Windows app: 26.810.4967.0
  • Windows 10 Pro, build 19045
  • Intel i7-8750H, 12 logical processors
  • 32 GB RAM

Observed behavior:
After using almost any chat for a while, the Codex UI and eventually the whole
computer become noticeably laggy. The problem appears to get worse as messages
and tool outputs accumulate.

Local measurements:

  • One ChatGPT.exe renderer process reached about 2.15 GB working set.
  • Total Codex-related memory approached 4 GB during a large tool-output render.
  • After the output stopped/collapsed, the renderer dropped to about 754 MB and
    total Codex memory dropped to about 2.2 GB.
  • CPU was not continuously saturated and the system still had about 18 GB free RAM.
  • The current session transcript was only about 0.29 MB, so the issue does not
    appear to require a very large transcript file.
  • GPU process was also active during the slowdown.
  • ~/.codex/logs_2.sqlite is about 439 MB with roughly 186,000 log rows.

Expected behavior:
Long-running chats and large tool outputs should not cause renderer memory to
grow to multiple gigabytes or make the entire Windows desktop stutter.

Reproduction:

  1. Start a local Codex chat.
  2. Continue using it for tool-heavy work, especially commands with sizable output.
  3. Observe ChatGPT.exe renderer memory and UI responsiveness.
  4. Repeat with a new chat; the behavior eventually returns.

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