FIELD GUIDE / 03

How to Check Codex Usage and Your Actual Reset Time

Use account-specific information to plan your work. Public limit tables and reset announcements cannot tell you your exact remaining allowance.

REVIEWED SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 · INDEPENDENT GUIDE

In the usage dashboard

Open your Codex usage dashboard and sign in to the account you use for Codex. Find the current limits, remaining allowance, and recovery times shown there.

If more than one allowance is displayed, note which one is exhausted. A recovered short-window allowance does not by itself tell you whether another applicable limit has also recovered.

In the Codex CLI

During an active Codex CLI session, enter:

This opens the CLI's status summary. The information shown can vary by version and sign-in method. Use the dashboard for the current usage details available for your account.

Why a message count is only an estimate

Usage depends on the model and the size and complexity of the work. Context, reasoning, tools, retrieval, and caching can all affect consumption. Two requests with similar prompt lengths can use different amounts of your allowance.

The message counts shown in official plan tables are estimates, not fixed promises. Plan your next session around your actual dashboard instead of a generic “messages per day” number.

Will changing surfaces give me more allowance?

Local messages and cloud chats share the plan's usage allowance according to OpenAI's documentation. A new chat or a switch between supported interfaces should not be assumed to replenish it. API-key usage has separate usage-based billing.

Turn the recovery time into a reminder

1. Read the date, time, and any time-zone information in your account.
2. Open Limitdesk's countdown.
3. Enter that recovery time in the device time zone shown below the input.
4. Set the countdown. If useful, download and import the calendar reminder.

The saved countdown stays in this browser. It is not connected to your account and cannot adjust itself when OpenAI changes your allowance. Update it if your dashboard changes.