Codex will answer its own question if you're not looking. Here's how to catch it

A developer published a workaround for OpenAI Codex's Plan mode, where the agent proceeds with its own recommended option if a user doesn't answer a question quickly, an issue that has drawn 200+ upvotes on GitHub. The script tails Codex's JSONL session rollouts under ~/.codex/sessions and flags any request_user_input tool call lacking a matching function_call_output, firing a macOS notification (or an ntfy push) when the agent is blocked. The author notes that PermissionRequest hooks don't cover questions, that request_user_input_async calls should be skipped, and that log formats aren't a stable API.

If you use Codex in Plan mode, you've probably seen this: Codex stops to ask you something "Which folder should I refactor?" , and if you don't answer quickly it goes ahead with its own recommended option. People have asked for a way to turn that off. The issue https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/28969 has 200+ 👍. Until there's a setting, the practical fix is to find out the moment Codex asks , even when the terminal is behind three other windows or you're on the couch. Codex hooks cover SessionStart , UserPromptSubmit , PreToolUse , PermissionRequest , PostToolUse , Stop and a few others docs https://developers.openai.com/codex/hooks . PermissionRequest fires for approvals shell escalation, network , not for questions. So a notify /hook setup that pings you on approvals stays silent when Codex asks a question. Every Codex session writes a JSONL rollout under ~/.codex/sessions/YYYY/MM/DD/ . A question is a tool call named request user input : {"type":"response item","payload":{"type":"function call","name":"request user input", "arguments":"{\"questions\": {\"header\":\"Scope\",\"question\":\"Which folder should I refactor?\"} ,\"isBlocking\":true}", "call id":"call …"}} When you answer, a function call output with the same call id follows. So a request user input call with no output yet = Codex is waiting on you. Two caveats from checking my own logs: request user input async . It gets {"accepted":true} back within a fraction of a second and Codex keeps working, so it isn't a blocking wait. Skip it. protocol/src/request user input.rs and matches the envelope in my logs, but log formats aren't a stable API, so expect to adjust it someday. bash /usr/bin/env python3 """Notify macOS when Codex is blocked on a question you haven't answered yet.""" import json, os, subprocess, time, glob ROOT = os.path.expanduser "~/.codex/sessions" seen = set def pending path : calls, done = {}, set with open path, errors="ignore" as f: f.seek max 0, os.path.getsize path - 256 000 the tail is enough for line in f: if '"response item"' not in line: continue try: p = json.loads line "payload" except ValueError, KeyError : continue if p.get "type" == "function call output": done.add p.get "call id" elif p.get "type" == "function call" and p.get "name" == "request user input": try: q = json.loads p.get "arguments" or "{}" "questions" 0 text = q.get "question" or q.get "header" or "" except ValueError, KeyError, IndexError : text = "" calls p.get "call id" = text return {c: t for c, t in calls.items if c not in done} def notify text : msg = text or "Codex is waiting for your answer" :180 .replace '"', "'" subprocess.run "osascript", "-e", f'display notification "{msg}" with title "Codex has a question" sound name "Glass"' while True: for path in glob.glob f"{ROOT}/ / / / .jsonl" : if time.time - os.path.getmtime path 1800: only live sessions continue for cid, text in pending path .items : if cid not in seen: seen.add cid notify text time.sleep 3 Run it in a spare terminal python3 codex-question-alert.py . It only reads files that changed in the last 30 minutes and only the last 256 KB of each, so it's cheap. I tested it against a synthetic log one unanswered question, one answered and against a week of my real logs no false alarms . To get it on your phone, swap notify for a curl to an ntfy https://ntfy.sh topic. I build Lidnight https://lidnight.app/en/ , a menu bar app that keeps a MacBook awake lid closed, even on battery while Claude Code and Codex work and lets it sleep when they're done. Version 1.7.68 does the check above on its own: when Codex is blocked on a question, you get a Mac notification and a phone push if you've linked one right away, with the question text. It can't answer for you. It just makes sure you see the question in time. Lidnight is free AI Auto mode with a one-time Pro; launch price is 50% off through Oct 31. brew install whereisdw/tap/lidnight