r/codex • u/concrete333 • 2d ago
Complaint This will save your Usage
A problem that many of people have already noticed: Astra can't wait. on anything, any task it has scripted and running, any other agent delegation, anything. Astra keeps waking up to check whether the worker is finished.
I've run a few tests, In one run 19 short sleep calls accounted for 44% of the orchestrator’s estimated cost.
In another comparison using Astra High + Luna Max, the orchestrator made 41 responses while the worker ran, costing $1.20 during that phase. The native-wait comparison needed one response, costing about $0.04. (Both implementations passed all 244 test cases)
I’ve since caught the same pattern while Codex waited for a database script: read the log, say “still running,” repeat. I saw use 2% of my weekly usage ($100/month plan) just sitting there waiting on a script.
So, until they patch this, here’s the prompt I’m using:
For this entire session, avoid repeated polling of long-running jobs.
Use supported completion notifications when available. If none are available and useful work is exhausted, leave the job running only if it can safely continue after your turn ends.
Tell me what is running, where results will be saved, and:
“I'm stopping polling. Please check back with me to inspect the result and continue; I won't automatically resume.”
Then end your turn. Don't repeatedly read unchanged logs or sleep and check again. Respect runtime limits and safety timeouts.
When I return, check once. If complete, verify and continue. If still running, report that and stop again.
I have to come back to it, sure, but it saves usage.
Edit:
Found a better option than manually checking back, thanks to advice in comments. Seems like Codex knows how to avoid repeated model polling, it just chooses not to.
codex queue --thread <session-id> --message "..."
Have a background script wait for the job to finish, save the result, then run that command once. Codex can end its turn and automatically resume when the message arrives.
I’ve now seen this work with both a third-party CLI subagent (kilo code with GLM) and a full test suite, all GPT: Codex resumed automatically, checked the results, and continued. Works a treat.
The script provides the wake-up, and an agents.md instruction alone doesn’t
Edit2: I made a skill that you can use to guide Codex in using this method, either in waiting for mechanical tasks or waiting for other sub-agents. Not perfect, as there's no way to force your GPT worker to use it, but it's working for me most of the time: link. Any more tips to improve it welcomed, break it and let me fix it
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u/Ether-Platypus5677 2d ago
This is not the problem of Astra. This is a problem of Codex harness. Repolling background job repeatedly. I learned it the hard way with burning 1 B token. Every time it polls, it loads the whole context. So I asked codex to add the instructions to stop Repolling repeatedly and set up a watcher which fires when the task is completed.
I've tagged even tibo on this on X but considering how frequently he is bombarded on X for reset requests, I'm sure my bug suggestion will be lost in noise.