What happened to the Ask button on Codex?

Coding with ChatGPT
1

Did anyone else notice that the “Ask” button on the Codex web UI is gone?
It was still there yesterday, and I used it all the time to ask questions about a project before actually coding.

2

I almost think their update didn’t catch the backroll from September.
Back in September, the ASK button had already been deliberately removed once and was reactivated after user intervention.

If they move quickly enough, they might be able to avoid the same shitstorm as last time.

Thread: 1359618 I’m not allowed to post links ^^

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3

I sure hope they move quickly, losing the ask button really cripples the functionality.

Edit: Press the plus button and use plan.

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4

Thank you! :raising_hands:
I would never have discovered that myself.

5

a tooltip was added to make it more clear

6

I also just noticed this, i hope it’s fixed soon. We need the ask button back, please. .As a nocoder i rely on it heavily

8

I don’t know why moving “Ask” to the “Plan” feature was any sort of priority. It takes me 2 clicks now instead of 1. Perhaps it’s part of a larger plan to add more features to the “+” rather than add more buttons. Still, “Ask” button was handy and easily discoverable.

9

I agree, I have already accidentally sent tasks without remembering to use the plan setting. Unsure why it needs to be moved or phased out so badly in the first place. Imo the ask feature is essential to ensure the task you are working on is correct, not swing and miss until you get it right.

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10

Dropping the Ask button again is extremely frustrating; if not restored, I would be forced to see about switching to a competitor and canceling my membership.

I used the Ask button in three different ways:

  1. (from main Codex screen) Break down a large project into many tasks that could be executed independently
  2. (from main Codex screen) Understand something about the repo or how it works
  3. (from Task screen) Understand the nature, intent, or behavior of changes developed by Codex for a Task

It appears that + → Plan may substitute for 1 – my personal view is that Ask is far clearer than + → Plan, but I suppose that’s a relatively minor annoyance. However, 2 and 3 appear to be impossible now. Number 3 is especially critical to my productivity.

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11

I see that certain prompts in the Task screen now do result in just answers and no code updates, as intended when using the previously-available Ask button. However, I think the updated interface is still a regression because it’s much more cognitive load to craft the right response to elicit an answer rather than code changes (the same prompt could often be interpreted as “go do it” or as “tell me what you would do”) when it seems like “Ask” and “Code” were super clear with virtually no cognitive overhead.

Bringing back the Ask button would still be a large improvement relative to the current interface.

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