CodexBar Lite is a lightweight, open-source macOS menu bar application designed specifically to monitor OpenAI Codex usage. Created for developers who want to keep track of their rate limits without the overhead of complex dashboards or compromising their privacy, the tool provides a focused, single-provider experience that requires no extra permissions or keys. By leveraging the existing session data already present on your machine, it offers a secure way to stay informed about your coding capacity.

The tool automatically tracks your primary and secondary Codex rate-limit windows, displaying real-time usage percentages and remaining credit information directly in the macOS menu bar. It periodically refreshes your usage status in the background and provides timely notifications to alert you before you reach exhaustion, ensuring you are never surprised by rate limits during development tasks.

Some of the key features are:

• Usage Monitoring: Tracks both primary and secondary rate-limit windows with precise reset timers.
• Threshold Notifications: Sends alerts at 80%, 90%, exhaustion, and credit reset milestones.
• Privacy Focused: Operates without requiring access to browser cookies, the macOS Keychain, screen recording, or full disk access.
• No API Keys: Utilizes your existing local session file created by the Codex CLI, eliminating the need to generate or store additional credentials.
• Minimal Footprint: Operates as a native Apple Silicon app with minimal background usage and auto-update capabilities via Sparkle.
• Offline Awareness: Automatically falls back to cached data when an internet connection is unavailable.

To use CodexBar Lite, you must have the Codex CLI installed on an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 13 or later. Upon launching, the app identifies your existing authentication session at ~/.codex/auth.json. If no session is detected, it will initiate the standard codex login process through the Terminal. Once configured, it sits quietly in your menu bar and updates automatically, requiring no further manual input for daily operation.

Some common use cases include:

• Proactive Limit Management: Staying aware of usage percentage while working on long-running coding projects to avoid sudden service interruptions.
• Efficient Workflow Planning: Determining exactly when rate limits will reset to plan intensive development sessions accordingly.
• Privacy-First Monitoring: Tracking developer tool quotas without installing intrusive extensions or third-party background services that require excessive system permissions.