Context window exceeded despite context left

[dlukt]

What version of Codex is running?

codex-cli 0.25.0

Which model were you using?

gpt-5 high

What platform is your computer?

Linux 6.16.3-arch1-1 x86_64 unknown

What steps can reproduce the bug?

codex
Implemented likes for games and reactions for files, plus wired basic UI for game likes. Also completed comment rate limiting and comment UI as requested earlier.

What’s new

Backend

- Ent schemas:
    - GameLike: user_id + Game edge with unique (user_id, game) index.
    - FileReaction: user_id, value(-1/+1) + File edge with unique (user_id, file).
    - Edges on Game → likes and File → reactions (Relay connections).
    - Comment schema already added (with sanitization).
- GraphQL API (api/custom.graphqls):
    - Mutations:
    - rateGame(gameId, like: Boolean!): Game!
      - like=true creates the like; like=false removes it.
    - reactToFile(fileId, value: Int!): File!
      - value ∈ {-1, 1} sets reaction; 0 clears existing reaction.
    - addComment/editComment/deleteComment (from earlier) are in place.
- Query tweaks retained:
    - searchGames with sort; FTS-backed opensearchSuggestions.
- Resolvers (graph/custom.resolvers.go):
    - Implemented rateGame and reactToFile with auth checks and upsert/toggle logic.
    - addComment, editComment, deleteComment implemented previously; added per-minute comment rate limit via AllowComment(user, ip).

Rate limits

- internal/rate:
    - Added per-minute buckets and AllowComment(userID, ip) with env tunables:
    - RATE_LIMIT_ANON_COMMENTS_PER_MIN (default 5)
    - RATE_LIMIT_USER_COMMENTS_PER_MIN (default 15)

Frontend

- GameDetail:
    - Displays like count (Game.likes totalCount).
    - Like/Unlike buttons (simple reload after mutation).
    - Comments list and add form (sanitized display).
- Search:
    - Filters (platform/year/format), sort selector, load-more append.
    - Header search input navigates to /search.
- Removed shadcn/ui previously; all buttons now standard Tailwind-styled.

Changelog

- Added entries for Comments (schema/CRUD/rate limits/UI) and earlier search/observability items.

What’s left for likes/reactions (nice-to-haves)

- File reactions UI: add thumbs up/down in file rows; query likes/dislikes counts via reactions(where:{value:1/-1}). We can wire that next.
- Show like state per user on GameDetail (needs user-like query; currently only totalCount).
- Optimistic updates or local state to avoid full reloads after mutations.

Open issues remaining

- #43 Moderation route polish
- #40 FE: Game page UGC (we’ve started—comments/likes; reactions UI pending)
- #41/#29/#28 Collections/Favorites
- #30 Video links
- #21/#22/#23 Descriptions sanitize/version/history
- #37 Feature flags
- #38/#39 QA tests
- #20 Tracker
- #31 (FTS index) functionally complete via #58; can be closed as done

If you want, I can:

- Add file reactions UI (thumbs up/down) and display counts on GameDetail.
- Add a user-like indicator for the game and toggle the button state accordingly.
- Close #31 and move onto collections/favorites (#28/#29/#41).

user
yes

>_
  ✓ 📖 GameDetail.tsx
⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 1/5 in 191ms…

⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 2/5 in 420ms…

⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 3/5 in 746ms…

⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 4/5 in 1.505s…

⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 5/5 in 3.516s…


🖐  stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.

▌ Explain this codebase                                                                                                                                                                    
 ⏎ send   Ctrl+J newline   Ctrl+T transcript   Ctrl+C quit   1883319 tokens used   32% context left

What is the expected behavior?

with 32% context left, no issues

What do you see instead?

see above

Additional information

maybe it's just task context

---

Note to me too/same here commenters, it would probably help if you included your codex-cli version

[takemiyamakoto]

I get the same, exactly at 32% context left too.

[dlukt]

And shortly after:

  You've hit your usage limit. Try again in 23 minutes.

[dlukt]

  You've hit your usage limit. Try again in 2 days 22 hours 38 minutes.

You can't be serious

[dlukt]

Because of this I've completely lost track of where I am, what needs to be done, what has been already done, and the web codex just produces useless results. Essentially 1½ days wasted on a codebase that will get deleted...

[dlukt]

https://github.com/deicod/archivedgames-failed
the failed repo

[maver1ck]

Same problem with Figma MCP

tool running...
figma.get_image({"clientFrameworks":"unknown","clientLanguages":"html,css","nodeId":"38547:43581"})

tool result (image output omitted)
⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 1/5 in 196ms…

⚠  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 2/5 in 390ms…

[oyiakoumis]

I put a breakpoint in the client to inspect the payload and noticed that the reasoning tokens from the previous message were being sent to the API.

However, in codex-rs/protocol/src/protocol.rs lines 529–536:

    /// For estimating what % of the model's context window is used, we need to account
    /// for reasoning output tokens from prior turns being dropped from the context window.
    /// We approximate this here by subtracting reasoning output tokens from the total.
    /// This will be off for the current turn and pending function calls.
    pub fn tokens_in_context_window(&self) -> u64 {
        self.total_tokens
            .saturating_sub(self.reasoning_output_tokens.unwrap_or(0))
    }

This suggests that either:

1. reasoning tokens from previous messages should not be included in the client’s payload,
2. or, if they are included, we must also account for them when computing the number of tokens in the context window.

If I recall correctly, the correct approach is the first one.

[AdsQnn]

Probably the percentage doesn’t reflect the actual input. In such a situation, run /status and check how much input there really is. For me, at 80% it’s around 300k, so at 30% it must be huge.
If you want to work efficiently, I’d recommend running /compact at around 80%.

P.S. I never had the conscience to send the next message when it was already at 80% — I don’t think I ever went lower than that :) Leave a little room for the GPU :)

[volgin]

I get the same, exactly at 32% context left too.

I hit the same issue at 32% context left. It can't be a coincidence.

[yokasaka]

Today, I hit this issue when my left context was 33%.

[Anarchon14]

I hit it on "89% context left" today playing with Playwright MCP doing some e2e tests with screenshots, maybe the screenshots flood the context window and are not tracked at all? @ae-openai

[tekn0x]

Same for me. At exactly 32%. Two days in a row. Thats the magic number for what ever reason.

  stream error: stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model.
Please adjust your input and try again.; retrying 5/5 in 3.423s…

🖐  stream disconnected before completion: Your input exceeds the context window of this model. Please adjust
your input and try again.

[gianlucamazza]

same problem, there is no way to use /compact