CCT / Guides

How to check your OpenAI Codex usage limits on Windows

By Pablo Chiaro Rosa, maintainer of CCT · Updated 11 Nov 2026

Short answer: run /status inside the Codex CLI to see your current 5-hour and weekly usage. To keep them on screen, run CCT: it shows the Codex limits of your current codex login on the Windows taskbar, next to Claude Code, refreshed every 2 minutes.

What the Codex limits are

When you sign in to the Codex CLI with a ChatGPT plan, Codex usage is metered in a 5-hour window and a weekly window, much like Claude Code. The limits are tied to the ChatGPT account you signed in with, so a personal and a work account each have their own.

Two ways to check on Windows

Set it up

1. Sign in to the Codex CLI with your ChatGPT account on the same Windows user (codex, then follow the login).
2. Download CCT from the latest release, extract claude-codex-taskbar.exe to a permanent folder and run it.
3. In Settings, keep the Codex switch on. Turn Claude Code off if you only use Codex.
4. Right-click the strip → Start with Windows.

Reading the Codex gauge

• Codex 5h is the % used of the current 5-hour window; wk is the % used of the weekly window. They are the same numbers /status shows.
• Hover the strip to see when each window resets, in your local time.
• Prefer to see what is left? Turn on Show remaining instead of used in Settings and the gauges count down instead.
• The tag before the gauges (Me above) is your label for the Codex account, so you can tell a personal login from a work one at a glance.

When you hit the limit

Once a window reaches 100%, Codex stops taking new requests on that account until the window resets; the weekly window can block you even when the 5-hour one still has room. Two habits help:

• Watch the weekly gauge, not just the 5-hour one: it resets far less often.
• Turn on quota alerts in Settings. CCT sends a Windows notification when Codex usage crosses 80% and 95% (both configurable), and stays quiet while an app runs in full screen or you are presenting.

How CCT reads Codex usage

• Read-only login. CCT reads the login the Codex CLI saved in auth.json inside %CODEX_HOME%, or %USERPROFILE%\.codex when that variable is not set, and never writes it or refreshes its token.
• Offline fallback. If the usage endpoint fails, CCT asks the installed codex CLI for its rate limits, and as a last resort uses the newest limit the CLI recorded in its own session logs, if that window has not reset yet.
• Honest errors. When nothing works, the gauge shows — with the reason in the tooltip, never a fake 0%.
• Your label. A short tag such as P or W sits before the Codex gauge in Codex blue, so you know which account the numbers belong to.

When the gauge shows —

CCT never shows 0% for something it could not read. Hover the — to see why:

• “Log in by running codex login”: there is no Codex login for this Windows user. Sign in with codex login in a terminal on the same user, and check that CODEX_HOME points where you expect if you set it.
• “Codex login expired — run codex login”: the saved login is too old. Use Codex once, or run codex login. The experimental Keep login active option in Settings can do this for you: when the login expires it runs codex login status in the background, which sends no prompt and uses no quota.
• A network error: the usage endpoint did not answer. CCT tries the installed codex CLI and its session logs first, and retries on the next refresh.

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