OpenAI officially released Chronicle for the Codex desktop app (Mac) on April 20, 2026. Positioned as an “ambient context” tool, Chronicle allows Codex to “see” and remember your screen activity, effectively giving the AI a passive, short-term memory of your entire workflow.
Sam Altman described the experience of using the feature as “telepathy,” as it eliminates the need for users to manually explain what they are looking at or working on.
What is OpenAI Chronicle?
Chronicle is an opt-in research preview that periodically captures your screen and uses AI to summarize your activity. These summaries are stored as Memories, which Codex then uses to understand vague prompts like “Why is this failing?” or “Sync that document.”
Key Capabilities:
- Visual Context: Codex can identify errors on your screen, open documents, or terminal logs without you having to copy-paste them.
- Workflow Recognition: Over time, it learns which tools you use (e.g., Slack, VS Code, GitHub) and your specific collaboration patterns.
- Filling the Gaps: If you ask to “message the team,” Chronicle knows which team you were just chatting with on Slack based on your recent screen history.
- Cross-App Intelligence: It identifies sources—like a specific Google Doc or a Jira ticket—and can interact with them directly via Codex’s “Computer Use” skills.
Technical Specifications
| Feature | Detail |
| Availability | macOS (Apple Silicon), macOS 14+ |
| Subscription | Requires ChatGPT Pro ($100+/month tier) |
| Model | Defaulted to GPT-5.4-mini for memory consolidation |
| Permissions | Requires Screen Recording and Accessibility access |
| Storage | Memories are stored locally as unencrypted Markdown files |
Privacy & Security Considerations
Because Chronicle “watches” your screen, OpenAI has implemented several guardrails and warnings:
- Cloud Processing: Unlike local-first competitors, Chronicle sends screenshots to OpenAI servers for processing. OpenAI states the images are not stored after the text summary is generated and are not used for training (unless specified in settings).
- Unencrypted Local Files: Memories are stored in plain text on your Mac ($CODEX_HOME/memories_extensions/chronicle/), meaning other local processes could theoretically read them.
- Prompt Injection Risk: Since Chronicle reads your screen, a malicious website or document open in your browser could technically “inject” instructions into Codex’s context window.
- Manual Control: Users can pause or resume Chronicle at any time from the macOS menu bar.
How to Enable Chronicle
If you are a Pro subscriber on a Mac:
- Open Settings in the Codex app.
- Navigate to Personalization and ensure Memories is toggled ON.
- Enable Chronicle below the Memories setting.
- Review the consent dialog and grant the necessary macOS system permissions.
