Really mad right now. First, CODEX provides NO FACILITY to use API credits in the desktop app, so I had to switch to using another CLI agent, under which GPT-5.3-CODEX proceeded to intentionally ignore instructions and burning $20 of credits in a matter of minutes intentionally ignoring instructions. I know I’m ranting, but this is absolutely unacceptable behavior by the model and OpenAI’s billing practices.
Welcome to the developer community, @Payton_Byrd
The Codex desktop app absolutely lets you use your own key. Simply log out, and you should see an Enter API key button.
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Except you cannot do so and preserve your in-process session with all of the context that took hours to build. Then, when API mode is enabled, gpt-5.3-codex then intentionally burns through your tokens by repeatedly retrying failed interactions and then when you tell it to stop, it rejects your request and continues burning tokens.
It’s frustrating when a model doesn’t follow instructions as expected, especially when credits are being consumed quickly. While it’s unlikely the model is “intentionally” wasting credits, misalignment with certain prompts or interfaces can cause unexpected usage. Reporting this behavior and providing examples to support teams can help improve guidance and billing transparency.