OpenAI’s recent update to its Codex coding agent has developers worrying over the impact of the change on large code repositories and long-running AI-assisted sessions.
The update to the Codex CLI reduces the default configured input context window for GPT-5.6 to 272,000 tokens from 372,000 tokens.
In practice, the update means the coding agent will retain a smaller amount of code, conversation history, and other session information before compacting older context to make room for new information, a change that has prompted criticism from some developers on Reddit and X over the reduced token window.
While OpenAI has not publicly explained the rationale behind the update, several developers took to social media to question why OpenAI reduced the default context configuration, with some arguing that the change could make Codex less effective on long-running coding sessions by triggering context compaction sooner.
Others expressed concern that the smaller window could require more frequent context management or session resets, although some noted that the practical impact would depend on project size and how developers structure their workflows.
