The 5-hour limit is the window you feel first and understand last — a rolling burst allowance that was famously removed in July 2026, then kept developers guessing about whether it would return. Here's the full picture.
What the 5-hour window actually is§
The 5-hour limit is a rolling window over your most recent usage: when you work intensely, you draw against a short-term allowance, and usage ages out of the window after roughly five hours. It's independent of the weekly window — you can be throttled by one while the other still has room.
Because it's rolling rather than fixed blocks, there's no single "5-hour reset" moment. Quota reappears gradually as your heaviest usage slides out of the window — which is why a coffee break often restores more than you expect.
The July 2026 removal — and what came after§
On July 13, 2026, OpenAI temporarily removed the 5-hour limit for Codex, a move widely read as a competitive response in the coding-agent race. It landed in the middle of the densest reset spree on record — 700M-to-10M-user milestones announced with back-to-back global refills — and the team confirmed days later that the removal would stay for the time being.
Its status has changed before and can change again. The way to know what's true today is the official signals: the team's announcements (tracked in the reset history) and your own /status readout, which reflects whatever policy is currently in force.
5-hour vs weekly: which one is stopping you§
Quick triage when you're throttled: wait 30-60 minutes and retry. If quota comes back, the short window was binding — take a walk or run lighter models and you'll be back. If you're still capped the next morning, the weekly window is the constraint, and no amount of waiting tonight fixes it.
Model choice changes the math: heavier models draw the allowance down much faster, so switching routine tasks to lighter models is the single most effective way to make the short window last through a workday.
How to check its current status§
Run /status in the Codex CLI or check the IDE extension's rate-limit indicator — that's the authoritative view of your own window under current policy. For the bigger picture (is a global reset about to refill everyone?), the live radar tracks days since the last reset against the 6.9-day historical average.
One thing worth remembering from the removal: these policies are tools the team adjusts in response to load and competition. The stable strategy is the one this site preaches — understand the current rule, plan heavy work around refills, and never burn account health on bypass tricks.
FAQFAQ
Is the Codex 5-hour limit gone for good?
It was temporarily removed in July 2026. Statuses have changed before; check the official announcements and your in-product /status display for the current state.
How is the 5-hour limit different from the weekly limit?
Two independent windows: the 5-hour one governs short bursts and refills within hours; the weekly one governs total volume and frees usage up on the weekday it was spent.
What time does the 5-hour window reset?
There's no single reset time — it's rolling. Your heaviest usage reopens capacity about five hours after it happened, so quota returns gradually rather than all at once.
Why do I get throttled even with weekly usage left?
Because the windows are independent: the short window can be exhausted while the weekly one has room. Wait out the short window or switch to lighter models.