IsleIsle Codex usage limits
Codex usage limits on Mac: what’s left and when it resets
Codex stops when you hit your plan’s limit, usually in the middle of something. Here is how the limits work, two free ways to check them, and how to keep them in sight while you work.
How Codex usage limits work
From OpenAI’s Codex pricing page, as of October 2026:
- A 5-hour window. On Plus and Standard Business, local messages are counted per five-hour period. Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit.
- Weekly limits may also apply.
- One allowance. Local messages and cloud chats share your plan’s usage, so a cloud task eats into what your CLI can do.
- No fixed numbers. OpenAI publishes estimates, not fixed message counts, and points you to the dashboard for current limits and reset times.
Two free ways to check
| Codex | Claude Code, for comparison | |
|---|---|---|
| Inside the CLI | /status shows your remaining limits during a session | /usage shows plan usage bars on Pro and Max |
| On the web | chatgpt.com/codex/settings/usage | claude.ai/settings/usage |
| Windows | 5 hours (not on Pro) and weekly | 5 hours and weekly |
| Source | OpenAI | Anthropic |
Both work, and both cost nothing. Their weakness is the same: you have to stop and ask. You check before a long task, forget for an hour, and find out you are out when Codex stops.
Keep it in sight: Codex in the notch
Isle is a Mac app that turns the MacBook notch into an island. Turn on your Codex account in its Usage settings and you get a ring in OpenAI green showing how much of the limit is left. Open the AI tab and you see each limit Codex reports, such as the 5-hour and weekly ones, side by side.
- More than one account? Each Codex profile gets its own ring.
- Codex next to the rest. Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini, GitHub Copilot and more than 20 other services get rings too. See the full list.
- Islet tells you when a limit renews, and warns you about usage limits in a notice that stays until you close it.
- Sessions, not just numbers. Isle also follows your Codex sessions: what you asked and the step it is on.
- Private. The usage check goes straight from your Mac to OpenAI, using the login you already have. Isle has no account and no analytics.
Isle costs US$ 14.99 once for up to 3 Macs, after a 3-day free trial with every feature. It requires macOS 26. Besides AI, it has music, a timer, a file shelf and screenshots.
Questions
Does Isle change my Codex limits?
No. It only reads them. What you can use is set by your ChatGPT plan.
Can it tell me when Codex is done, like with Claude Code?
Isle follows Codex sessions and Islet speaks up when a request finishes. For Claude Code there is also a free hook that sends a Mac notification, if that is all you need.
I have a Mac without a notch.
Islet waits in a small pill at the top of the screen; hover it and the whole island appears, rings included. See which Macs have a notch.
Try Isle free for 3 days
Every feature works for 3 days, no account needed. Then US$ 14.99 once, for up to 3 Macs. Requires macOS 26.