codex-cli always exceeds TPM limit on trivial prompts despite successful direct Responses API calls

[KevinTTH]

What version of Codex CLI is running?

0.144.6

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Free + API Credits topped up

Which model were you using?

gpt-5.4, gpt-5.5

What platform is your computer?

No response

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

No response

Codex doctor report

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}

What issue are you seeing?

Environment

• codex-cli version: 0.144.6
• OS: macOS (please fill in your version)
• Authentication: OpenAI API key
• Model: gpt-5.4

Description

Every request made through codex-cli fails with a TPM rate limit error, even for trivial prompts in an empty directory.

The same API key works correctly when calling the Responses API directly with curl.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Steps to reproduce

1. Export a valid OPENAI_API_KEY.

2. Start in an empty directory.

3. Run:

   codex

4. Enter:

   spell strawberry (or any trivial command)

What is the expected behavior?

Actual behavior

Codex returns:

Request too large for gpt-5.4 in organization ... on tokens per min (TPM): Limit 10000, Requested 11875.

Expected behavior

The request should succeed.

Additional information

Additional information

• config.toml only contains:

  model = "gpt-5.4"
  model_reasoning_effort = "low"

• Running from an empty directory produces the same result.

• Direct curl request to the Responses API with:

  model: gpt-5.4
  max_output_tokens: 20

  succeeds using the same API key.

This suggests the CLI is constructing a much larger request than expected or requesting an unexpectedly large output budget.

[github-actions]

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

• Allow configuring retry policy and honor Retry-After for TPM rate limits in Codex #34053

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