Bring ChatGPT’s “Always on Top” system tray behavior to Codex on Windows
I’d like to suggest a small but very useful UX improvement for the Codex Windows app.
The regular ChatGPT desktop app has a convenient behavior when accessed from the Windows system tray: it can act as a quick floating assistant that stays on top of other applications.
I think Codex should offer the same behavior.
When opening Codex from the system tray / notification area, it should automatically open in Always on Top mode.
When opening or restoring Codex from the taskbar, it should behave like a normal application window and not stay on top.
The interaction would therefore be:
System tray → floating, Always-on-Top Codex assistant
Taskbar → normal Codex window
This distinction makes sense because the way we open the application often reflects our intent.
If I open Codex from the system tray while working in VS Code, a terminal, a browser, Figma, or another application, I usually want to quickly interact with the AI without disrupting my current workflow.
If I open Codex from the taskbar, I usually want to work directly inside Codex as a full application.
Why I think this matters
Codex is becoming capable of handling more and more of the workflows for which I previously used the regular ChatGPT desktop app.
For users who want to make Codex their primary OpenAI desktop interface, matching some of ChatGPT’s best desktop UX features would make that transition much smoother.
Right now, the floating/Always-on-Top behavior is one reason to keep using the regular ChatGPT app alongside Codex.
Adding this behavior to Codex would make it easier to use a single application for both coding workflows and quick general AI interactions.
Ideally, there could simply be a setting such as:
“Open as Always on Top when launched from the system tray.”
More broadly, I think this could be part of bringing the best desktop interactions from ChatGPT into Codex, especially if the two experiences continue to become more closely integrated over time.