codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex App Goals UI shows a completed goal as still current/running

Summary

In the Codex desktop/app UI, a Goal can be completed in backend state while the top goal chip still appears as an active/current goal with a running elapsed timer. This creates a visible desync: the agent reports the goal is complete, but the UI continues to show "Current goal" as if work is still ongoing.

Observed behavior

After a long-running Codex Goal was completed, the UI header still showed the goal card as active:

• Russian UI label: Текущая цель ("Current goal")
• The same completed objective was still displayed in the top goal chip
• The elapsed time was still shown as an active-looking duration, e.g. 24h 25m 35s
• The user reasonably interpreted this as the goal still spinning/running

At the same time, the agent checked the goal backend state and got:

{
  "status": "complete",
  "tokensUsed": 1829534,
  "timeUsedSeconds": 28990
}

The objective text itself is redacted because it contained private business details, but it was a normal long-running Codex Goal that had been explicitly completed with update_goal({ status: "complete" }).

Expected behavior

Once a goal is marked complete:

• The top goal chip should stop looking like an active/current/running goal.
• The elapsed timer should stop updating or be clearly shown as final duration.
• The UI should either dismiss the current-goal chip, mark it completed, or otherwise visually distinguish completed goals from active ones.
• A refresh should not be required for the user to trust the state.

Actual behavior

• Backend goal state was complete.
• The UI still showed the goal in the active/current goal area.
• The user saw the active-looking chip and asked whether Codex was still working or whether the UI had become stuck.

Reproduction outline

1. Start a Codex Goal for a long-running task.
2. Let the agent finish the task and call update_goal({ status: "complete" }).
3. Confirm via internal goal state / agent inspection that the goal has status: "complete".
4. Observe the Codex App top goal chip.
5. In this case, the chip still displayed "Current goal" and an active-looking elapsed time despite the backend status being complete.

Why this matters

The desync makes it hard for the user to know whether Codex is still consuming time/working or whether the goal is actually done. It also undermines trust in the Goal lifecycle, especially for very long tasks where users rely on the goal chip as the source of truth.

Environment / notes

• Product surface: Codex desktop/app UI with Goals enabled
• UI language: Russian
• Date observed: 2026-05-20
• The issue appears to be a frontend state/rendering desync rather than a backend Goal state problem, because the backend returned status: "complete".