The short answer: keep one top-level item per Codex session, show background work as context beneath it, and make the session's state—not its latest log line—the thing you scan.
Why a task list is not quite enough
The Codex app sidebar tells you which tasks exist. It is less useful as an ambient monitor when another app is in front, or when several projects each have multiple tasks. You still have to return and inspect them to learn whether a turn is running, finished or blocked.
This is a context-switching cost: each check interrupts the work in front of you, even when the answer is “still running.” A good external view should make that answer visible without becoming a second task manager.
Keep delegated work attached to its parent
A Codex session can launch subagents and deterministic commands. Rendering each one as an independent session makes the board expand precisely when the parent is doing useful parallel work. Instead, show the parent once and attach a live count or breakdown to it.
The parent light should still describe the top-level turn. Background metadata adds context; it should not turn a finished parent back to “working” merely because a shell is still alive.
The four states worth scanning
How Beacon handles Codex
Beacon reads the local session facts Codex already maintains. In the Codex desktop app it does not need an extra status hook. Sessions stay in a stable project-grouped row, background agents and commands roll into their parent, and clicking a light returns to the exact Codex task.
For Codex running in an integrated terminal, Beacon's VS Code and Cursor extension supplies the missing terminal identity. Terminal.app and iTerm2 use their native automation routes when macOS permits an exact match.
A low-friction working pattern
- Start one session per coherent outcome, not one per command.
- Delegate inside that session when the work genuinely separates.
- Leave long-running turns alone while their light is working.
- Respond to blocked sessions before reading completed ones.
- Use the session light as the return route so the right task opens immediately.
Beacon never modifies Codex's session records. Prompt text, responses, code, task names and project paths stay local. Optional usage sharing is limited to documented counts, durations and interaction outcomes.