codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Non-steered queued tasks sometimes randomly spontaneously become "steered", stopping any previously on-going tasks [2 comments, 2 participants]

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openai/codex#17876Fetched 2026-04-15 06:27:00
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Root Cause

  1. Start a long task via prompt in a thread
  2. Add to the Codex built in queue of the same thread another prompt while previous task is still running, as expected it is not given any attention because it was successfully queued and I did not click on Steer
  3. After some time, sometimes spontaneously the queued task would become steered even if I did not click on steer, causing an unexpected stop to the previous on-going task in the middle of work, leaving its progress in unknown state of completion possibly corrupt (ungraceful stop)
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What version of the IDE extension are you using?

26.409.20454

What subscription do you have?

Pro 100

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 25H2 26200.8037

What issue are you seeing?

Spontaneous unprovoked undesired unallowed steering of queued tasks - forcefully stops ongoing tasks, forcing its way through the queue even without me clicking on "Steer" at all

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Start a long task via prompt in a thread
  2. Add to the Codex built in queue of the same thread another prompt while previous task is still running, as expected it is not given any attention because it was successfully queued and I did not click on Steer
  3. After some time, sometimes spontaneously the queued task would become steered even if I did not click on steer, causing an unexpected stop to the previous on-going task in the middle of work, leaving its progress in unknown state of completion possibly corrupt (ungraceful stop)

What is the expected behavior?

If a queued prompt is queued, it should remain queued until previous work has been done and not randomly force its way through the queue, and even if that is done the previous queued work that got interrupted should not stop.

Additional information

  • While this is relatively rare (not super rare, it happens multiple time in an hour of work), it does reproduce significantly more often when multiple VS Code instances running Codex extension thread doing work in parallel.
  • This also reproduce more often when nearing the auto-compacting stage
  • This started recently, I don't remember this always being the case, but may be related to the fact that I started working with parallel codex threads on the same machine doing work at the same time at once.

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can be mitigated by avoiding parallel execution of multiple Codex threads in the same VS Code instance or across multiple instances.

Guidance

  • Verify if the issue occurs when running a single Codex thread in a single VS Code instance to isolate the cause.
  • Try to reproduce the issue with a minimal number of queued tasks to see if the problem is related to the queue size or complexity.
  • Consider implementing a delay between submitting tasks to the queue to reduce the likelihood of spontaneous steering.
  • Monitor system resources (e.g., CPU, memory) when running multiple VS Code instances with Codex threads to check for potential resource contention.

Example

No code snippet is provided as the issue seems to be related to the interaction between the Codex extension and VS Code, rather than a specific code problem.

Notes

The issue may be related to the recent change in workflow, involving parallel execution of multiple Codex threads. The exact cause is unclear, but it appears to be related to the interaction between the Codex extension and VS Code.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Avoid running multiple Codex threads in parallel, either within the same VS Code instance or across multiple instances, to minimize the occurrence of spontaneous steering. This is recommended because it directly addresses the observed increase in issue frequency when running parallel threads.

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