Feature Request for Codex: side question that optionally include in context

Welcome to the forum!

Shurricane:

“by the way” question

Saw my first mention of the “by the way” slash command yesterday and thought it was great.

This blog post gives some more details for others wondering about the concept.

MindStudio

How to Use the Claude Code /btw Command to Save Tokens and Ask Questions...

The Claude Code /btw command lets you ask questions or add context without interrupting your main thread — cutting token costs by up to 50%.

I would not mind seeing this added to Codex.

While you are more than welcome to post such Code feature request here the official way is to use the OpenAI GitHub Codex issues tab with an issue that uses the label enhancement.

Someone did create such a request yesterday bundled with some other request.

github.com/openai/codex

Feature request: Claude-style /recap, plus /btw alias for /side

opened 08:32PM - 21 Apr 26 UTC

      yizhoupan3-debug
    

enhancement TUI

What variant of Codex are you using? CLI, CODEX APP ### What feature would… you like to see? Two small but very high-leverage session UX features that Claude Code users already have: 1. A built-in /recap command 2. A /btw alias for the existing /side flow I know Codex already has /side (thank you, that is useful). The main gap now is that Claude users often reach for two habits together: - /btw for a side question that should not pollute the main thread - /recap to quickly recover the state of a long-running session before continuing work ### Why this would help For longer sessions, resume/fork/return workflows are where Codex still feels heavier than Claude Code. The missing piece is not raw capability, but quick recovery of context and muscle-memory-friendly commands. /recap would be especially helpful when: - resuming an older thread - returning after a long tool-heavy run - preparing to continue work after context compaction - checking current goals / constraints / next steps without asking for a full natural-language summary in the main thread And /btw as an alias would help people coming from Claude Code immediately discover that Codex already supports the same side-conversation pattern via /side. ### Proposed behavior #### /recap A manual command that produces a compact, structured summary of the current thread, for example: - current task - key constraints - important files / surfaces - decisions already made - next recommended step Important: this should be a lightweight user-invoked recap, not only an automatic compaction artifact. #### /btw A simple alias for /side, with the same semantics: - open a side conversation - keep the main thread clean - return to the main thread without contaminating its working context ### Related issues - #18125 added /side for side conversations, which is great - #16291 asks for better summary visibility around /resume - #18637 asks for improved resume hint rendering - #10823 shows long-session/context recovery is still a real pain point ### Additional information If maintainers prefer to keep only one command internally, /btw does not need separate implementation logic; an alias to /side would already solve the discoverability / migration problem for many Claude Code users. The bigger request is really /recap: a fast, explicit “where are we and what should I do next?” command for the current session.

Also see:

Codex features are prioritized by votes in GitHub issues tab Codex

FYI We prioritize feature requests based on upvotes from the community. If a feature request doesn’t get enough upvotes, we’ll close it. It’s therefore important for a feature request to have a clear and compelling title and description. We also recommend that feature requests focus on the problem statement rather than a solution. Describe the use case and what problem you’d like to see solved. There are often multiple ways to address a given problem. Source Note: In GitHub feature request…

As noted by the OpenAI staff

We also recommend that feature requests focus on the problem statement rather than a solution. Describe the use case and what problem you’d like to see solved. There are often multiple ways to address a given problem.

As such, I would recommend that you create a new issue with the label enhancement and do not note btw directly but state the problem such need to ask related questions without adding to the context window.

Also keep the request to just one problem as it might become the De facto enhancement that the OpenAI staff track.