Ive been experiencing intermittent system wide mouse stuttering whenever the Codex desktop app is running on Windows 11. This is not a recent issue, I first noticed it around 1.5 - 2 months ago, and it has continued since then.
The stuttering can happen while codex is starting, running in the background, minimized, or sitting idle before I have submitted any prompts. It occurs with both local and Remote SSH projects. The same behavior is present whether my mouse is connected over Bluetooth or by cable, and it stops after codex is fully closed.
To make this report more useful, i asked codex to collect my system specifications, application version, reproduction details, process information, and the troubleshooting steps i have already tried. The full sanitized Codex-generated diagnostic report is available on JotBird here:
Thanks for sharing the detailed report. If the stuttering consistently stops after closing Codex, it does sound like the app is triggering the issue, so hopefully the diagnostics help the team identify the root cause.
I haven’t seen this issue with ChatGPT Classic, the web app, or the VS Code extension. It appears specific to the standalone Codex Desktop app.
My usual setup includes Codex Desktop, ChatGPT Classic, and several VS Code windows open at the same time. The stuttering starts only when Codex Desktop is running and stops after it is fully closed.
I’m using a Logitech G502 X LIGHTSPEED, normally through the LIGHTSPEED USB receiver. I also tested it connected directly by USB cable, and the same stuttering still occurred.
Interesting is the G Hub Software running along side or not? Can you verify this with and without it? Also adjust the poling rate? I mention this because Logitech has become quite aggressive with telemetry and your observations on Codex is something I’ve seen in other applications that are unrelated, that show the similar behavior you are describing.
I already tested this with Logitech G HUB fully closed, including its background processes and the stuttering still occurred. I also tried closing several other background applications and overlays one by one, not just GHUB, but none of them affected the issue. I havent tested different polling rates yet, but Ill try, thanks for the additional suggestion.
I just tested this by lowering the polling rate from 1000 to 125. Rebooted the PC, launched all my usual applications except Codex and the system remained completely smooth. After launching Codex, the mouse started stuttering about ~15 seconds later. It then returned to normal, but the stuttering came back intermittently a few minutes later. So unfortunately, changing the polling rate does not appear to affect the issue. The behavior still seems specifically tied to Codex being running.
I also have a subjective impression that the severity may be related to the number of active Remote SSH connections. With only 1 of my 5 configured servers connected, the stuttering seems less noticeable. With all SSH connections disabled and only local projects open, it also seems closer to the 1-server case. When all 5 SSH connections are active, the stuttering appears more frequent or more noticeable. I have not measured this objectively yet so i cannot confirm it as a fact, but it may be a useful direction for further testing.
Small but potentially useful update with a new reproducible observation:
I noticed that the mouse stutter immediately stops while Windows Task Manager is the active/focused window.
What I tested:
Codex running and working → mouse stutters.
Switching focus to Chrome, Total Commander, Telegram, Steam, or the separate ChatGPT Classic app → stutter continues.
Minimizing the Codex window → stutter continues.
Opening Task Manager and clicking it so that Task Manager becomes the foreground window → the mouse becomes completely smooth across both monitors.
Clicking any other application again while Task Manager remains open → the stutter returns.
Switching focus back to Task Manager → smooth again.
So simply having Task Manager open is not enough; it specifically has to be the active foreground window.
I also tested two additional things:
Disabled G-SYNC / changed the G-SYNC configuration → no difference.
Set Task Manager’s Real-time update speed to Paused → no difference. The mouse still becomes smooth as long as Task Manager itself is the focused window, even when its real-time updates are paused.
I can reproduce the Task Manager behavior consistently. I don’t yet know what exactly this indicates, but it seems like a potentially useful clue because Task Manager is the only application I’ve found so far whose foreground state makes the system-wide mouse stutter disappear.
I’m getting the same issue with a Logitech MX Master mouse with the Logi Options software for me. Windows ChatGPT app, not “Classic”. Version 26.810.41047.
It started yesterday. It makes Windows almost unusable while Codex is open, even if it’s minimized and idle.
Closing the app from the UI isn’t enough; I have to exit from the system tray icon to get normal mouse use back.
The issue doesn’t start immediately after opening Codex. I’m not sure what action triggers it, but I was able to work for about an hour this morning before it started happening. I’ve restarted and the mouse cursor is fine now, and I’ve tried lots of different actions in Codex and nothing reproduces it (browser use, elevated tool calls, running long processes, etc).
Same issue. Renderes the workstation totally useless unless Codex app is fully closed. As soon as Codex app was terminated the workstation returned to normal.
Even though I did not have a pet displayed initially, I’ve found that going to Settings > Pets > “Wake Pet”, waiting a few seconds, then “Tuck Away Pet” resolved my mouse stutter instantly. Not sure yet if it will hold across relaunches or reboots.
Came to report the same thing. For over a month I’ve been chasing a weird stutter of my mouse that has been driving me nuts. Ironically I had Codex do multiple deep dives on my computer looking for WHAT was causing it, and we never found it. Randomly yesterday I noticed it only happened when Codex was open. I just did a test where I closed Codex and my mouse instantly is smooth has glass. Nothing is spiking CPU, GPU, or Memory usage, no anomalies in that vein. Just some weird like.. polling rate issue?
This is using the ChatGPT desktop app, on Windows 11, with a Keychron M5 mouse and the Keychron 2.4g wireless dongle. (Running it wired makes no difference.) And it is worse when agents are ramping up for a task, but even if all agents are idle and nothing is happening, it happens when ChatGPT Desktop App is open.
Another data point: I’d slept my PC, woken it (with Codex open but not focused) and worked for half an hour and the mouse was fine. Then I just focused Codex and the mouse immediately went janky.
Can confirm:
Having Task Manager focused makes the mouse go smooth again (only while focused)
ChatGPT > Settings > Pets > Wake Pet, then sleep it again fixes it (for how long I don’t know)
I found a concrete, repeatable trigger on Codex Desktop for Windows (package 26.810.7004.0).
An obsolete auto-discovered remote SSH catalog host whose hostname no longer resolved remained persisted. Codex retried it roughly every 20-25 seconds, exceeding 260 retries; logs also showed “Thread catalog sync failed.”
Symptoms were an empty chat sidebar plus system-wide mouse/IME stutter. USB, DPC/ISR, GPU, and disk checks did not identify a hardware or driver cause. The stale remote catalog entry had zero threads and incomplete sync state.
After removing only that stale remote catalog entry and its sync state, then restarting Codex, retries stopped and the stutter disappeared.
Expected behavior: an unreachable stale remote host should not continuously retry or affect the local thread catalog/UI. Please add bounded backoff and a supported UI path to remove or disable stale discovered remote hosts.