---
title: Why is an inbox message sitting in the Codex input box?
question: Codex agent messages are pasted but not submitted
area: troubleshooting
surface: desktop
audience: beginner
keywords: ["Codex","inbox","queued messages","not submitted","Enter","compacting context","Brain","quadrants"]
related: [how-do-i-give-my-agent-a-task,keeping-codus-updated,windows-provider-switching]
updated: 2026-09-21
visibility: public
---

# Why is an inbox message sitting in the Codex input box?

If “You have … queued messages in your durable Codus inbox” remains in the input box and Codex never starts answering, the notification has been pasted without being submitted. Codus 0.2.190 or later fixes the reproduced startup, context-compaction and closely spaced reply failures. Update through **Settings → Updates**, then use the steps below if an old notification is still sitting in the input box.

This failure was reproduced in Codus 0.2.189 with Codex CLI 0.155.1 on macOS. It happened during startup and while Codex was compacting context in a narrow quadrant. The messages can still be waiting in the saved inbox. A screenshot alone cannot establish the cause or how many users are affected.

Windows testing also found punctuation disappearing from a full message pasted into a Brain terminal with Codex CLI 0.153.0. From Codus 0.2.190, messages to Brains save their full text and reply instructions first, then send a short notification. The Brain reads the original message from its inbox, so it does not depend on the terminal preserving the full pasted text. A successful notification leaves the message pending until that inbox read.

A second notification could also arrive before Codex displayed that it was working, leaving a duplicate in the input box even after the messages had been read. From 0.2.190, repeat inbox notifications wait briefly after submission. Unread messages remain saved for the next automatic attempt.

## Resume the notification

1. Wait until Codex has finished any response or **Compacting context** operation. Resolve a sign-in or permission question first if one is visible.
2. Check the input box. If it contains only the short notification asking you to read the inbox, press **Enter once**.
3. Watch for a new response and a `check_inbox` call. A Brain may call `brain_check_inbox`. Check that the agent then handles the messages.

If the input contains a full task message or something you typed, save that text before changing it. Once Codex is idle, clear only that saved input and ask it to read and handle its Codus inbox; this retrieves the original saved message. Do not repeatedly press Enter while Codex is working. Deleting the project, saved conversations or account credentials will not repair this submission problem.

## Report a repeated failure

Send support the Codus version shown in **Settings → Updates**, the result of `codex --version`, and a screenshot showing the input box and the lines immediately above it. Include whether the problem followed startup, compaction, a provider switch or a resize, and whether it affected a Brain or a quadrant. An update notice inside a terminal does not establish the installed Codus version.