Abnormally high ram usage in mac app

[lauorbit]

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

Version 26.415.40636 (1799)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.4.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

While using the Codex app, ram usage (by the content renderer) reached our 12 GBs, I noticed that when the codex app seemingly restarted/refreshed and the UI became non-responsive (even the time of the chat stopped updating)

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Session ID: 019da6df-0f3f-7941-932c-b42bf6f536da
Token limit usage:
5 hour usage limit: 78% left
Weekly usage limit: 29% left
Context windows: 162/258k (63%)

What is the expected behavior?

No response

Additional information

I waited around an hour, the usage was around 12 GBs all the time with CPU usage varying. After that, I killed the content renderer from activity monitor. App refreshed/restarted (same as before) and task had completed successfully.

[github-actions]

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

• Codex Desktop on macOS keeps renderer/GPU active while visible, causing high WindowServer CPU and large memory footprint #18567
• Codex on macOS can drive high WindowServer CPU/GPU while idle when visible in Stage Manager preview #18545
• Long Chat = Extreme Unresponsive. #18568

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[happyf-weallareeuropean]

was it both high ram and high cpu presist even launch/reopen the app?
that might half similar to #18463, just render proc no high ram like urs. but i did saw codex app use 29gb before i hit oom

[happyf-weallareeuropean]

wait, but first time ever i observed this

indeed it use lot ram then usage now. codex app Version 26.417.41555 (1858)

[matthabermehl]

I often get a MacOS system dialog popping up saying my system has run out of RAM. That's usually when Codex gets to about 20GB of RAM usage.

[happyf-weallareeuropean]

@matthabermehl was cpu usage high too?

[lauorbit]

@happyf-weallareeuropean It was high, but I do not remember exact numbers (around 80% or so). My laptop fans were pretty loud (I have a Macbook Pro M5, it takes heavy usage to push it to this fan noise level).

[happyf-weallareeuropean]

@lauorbit mine today cpu really chill, but ram bulk at 1.6gb+
at least my macbook dont like macmini need to always plug in. just not sure what next moment it gone back. it looks like it have one more hidden trigger or what.

[wousp112]

I’m seeing a similar Renderer memory/performance issue on Codex Desktop for macOS.

Setup:

• Mac with 16GB RAM
• Codex Desktop version: 26.417.41555 (build 1858)
• macOS version: macOS 26.4.1 (25E253)

What I observed:

• With Memory enabled, Codex Desktop became very sluggish.
• Renderer memory climbed noticeably, and opening multiple windows/threads made the app much worse.
• After disabling Memory in Settings, the app became immediately smoother. I could open several windows without the same level of lag.
• This looks like a strong A/B signal: Memory enabled makes the desktop app much heavier; Memory disabled improves it a lot.

Remaining issue:

• Disabling Memory improves single-window usage, but multiple open threads still cause lag and Renderer CPU/RAM pressure.
• My local ~/.codex/sessions directory is around 5.2GB.
• The largest rollout file is around 207MB, with several others over 80-130MB.
• So this may involve both Memory overhead and large local conversation history/thread switching overhead.

Current workaround:

• Disable Memory
• Restart Codex when Renderer usage climbs
• Keep fewer threads/windows open
• Avoid keeping very large old threads active

Happy to provide logs or a /feedback session ID if useful.