I’d like to request timestamps for the activity/progress log shown while Codex is working.
The Codex app already provides a surprisingly detailed view of what it is doing, such as:
- running commands
- reading or editing files
- viewing images
- using the browser
- starting background terminals
- reporting intermediate reasoning about the implementation
This is very useful, but it would be even more useful if each activity entry included a timestamp, or at least an elapsed time from the start of the task.
For example:
13:02:14 Read PROJECT_STATE.md
13:02:31 Ran command
13:03:08 Viewed image
13:07:42 Edited course.ts
13:11:03 Used browser
or:
+00:14 Read PROJECT_STATE.md
+00:31 Ran command
+00:58 Viewed image
+05:32 Edited course.ts
+09:21 Used browser
This would make the existing activity log much more useful for understanding how Codex spends its time during a task.
In particular, it would help with:
- identifying which parts of a task take the most time
- seeing whether Codex spends a long time exploring before implementation
- comparing time spent on implementation vs. testing
- understanding when multiple validation methods are being used, such as the built-in browser, Playwright, or other browser tooling
- investigating unusually expensive or long-running tasks
- comparing different prompts or workflows when trying to improve efficiency
The app already shows the total task duration, so exposing timestamps for the individual activity entries seems like a natural extension of the existing UI.
Codex can also already produce a timestamped activity log when explicitly asked to do so, which suggests that the underlying timing information is available somewhere in the system. However, asking Codex to reconstruct and output that log consumes additional Codex usage each time. It would be much more useful if the timestamps were exposed directly in the existing activity UI instead of requiring a separate Codex request.
The timestamps would not necessarily need to be visually prominent. Even showing them on hover, in the expanded activity details, or behind an optional setting would be enough.
I think this would be especially valuable for developers who use Codex regularly and want to better understand and optimize their workflow.