A paused Codex session is almost always one of two different things. Either you have run out of subscription allowance — you hit your plan's 5-hour rolling window or weekly allowance, which pauses prompts and does not necessarily produce an HTTP 429 — or you are getting an OpenAI Platform API 429, which means an API key hit its requests-per-minute or tokens-per-minute limit, ran out of prepaid credit, or reached an organization spend limit. Run /status in the CLI or check your account settings to verify which limit applies.
Ways to Unblock
1. Wait for Reset Window
For subscription exhaustion, run /status or check account Usage settings for your rolling 5-hour or weekly reset time. Selected personal Plus and Pro accounts may have Luna fallback usage through a separate allowance after regular usage is exhausted. For API 429, wait for per-minute rate limits to clear.
2. Resets or Flexible Credits
If on Plus or Pro, apply a banked reset, buy an instant weekly reset, or add flexible credits in Settings > Usage. See our credits vs. resets guide.
3. API Key & Balance Check
Authenticate the Codex CLI with an OpenAI API key to switch to metered Platform billing. If already using API key authentication, check prepaid credit balance and org limits at platform.openai.com.
- Codex credits, paid instant resets, and API billing — paid options to keep coding.
- Codex banked resets guide — redeeming a promotional grant.
- Codex limits table — allocations for your tier.
- when your Codex usage resets — how the windows recover.