Pricing
Codex "Selected model is at capacity. Please try a different model."
Codex says "Selected model is at capacity. Please try a different model."? What it means, Desktop/Web/CLI reports, and the fixes users and docs describe.
7 min read
Error strings quoted from OpenAI Codex GitHub issues #53569, #59806, #59850 and #58858 (verified Nov 7, 2026). Status notes checked Nov 7, 2026 on status.openai.com and the linked incident page. Every source is listed at the bottom. No affiliate links on this page (how we work).
The exact error: Selected model is at capacity. Please try a different model.
The full sentence people are pasting into search, identical across the issues below (verified Nov 7, 2026):
Selected model is at capacity. Please try a different model.The one-line answer: the chosen model is refusing new work for capacity reasons. This is not the same string as a usage-limit message. Reporters on Plus and Pro keep saying they still have allowance left when the banner appears. Plan-quota wording lives in Codex usage limit reached; plan-by-plan tables live in Codex usage limits. This post owns the Selected model is at capacity availability string only.
An official OpenAI doc page that defines this exact capacity string is not published among the sources fetched Nov 7, 2026, so every cause and fix below is grounded in the GitHub threads and the status page — not in a missing help article inventing rules.
Chief Brody energy: when the model you want will not take another passenger, you’re gonna need a bigger boat — or at least a different model — exactly like the error text already says.
Where it shows up
| Surface | Plans in reports | Issue |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop + Web + CLI | ChatGPT Pro $200 | #53569 |
| Desktop | ChatGPT Pro $100 | #59806 |
| CLI | ChatGPT Pro $100 | #59850 |
| CLI + Windows desktop | ChatGPT Plus | #58858 |
Plan labels are what the issue reporters stated (verified Nov 7, 2026). Official capacity SLAs are not published.
Desktop, Web and CLI together
#53569 (opened Oct 13, 2026, still open) reports frequent capacity errors across Desktop, Web and CLI since Oct 9, 2026 on Codex Desktop 26.1007.30912 with ChatGPT Pro at the $200 tier, despite “substantial remaining Codex usage quota.” Switching models, changing reasoning effort, or starting new sessions was unreliable for the reporter. The thread has dozens of comments restating the same banner. No OpenAI maintainer workaround is quoted there as official beyond the on-screen “try a different model,” which reporters say often fails too.
Fresh Pro $100 reports
#59806 (opened Nov 6, 2026, still open) uses the full sentence as its title on Desktop 26.1103.31037 with a $100 Pro account. Body: “All models return the error…” Feedback ID 01a1aece-cec2-7883-839b-27520ef47642.
#59850 (opened Nov 6, 2026, still open) is CLI 0.164.0 on ChatGPT Pro $100: same string on heavy/complex tasks, light tasks OK, weekly allowance about 78% left, while ChatGPT web/mobile on the same account still worked. Thread id 01a1affd-c6fd-7e90-b112-8910a393899f.
Plus reporters with allowance left
#58858 (opened Nov 2, 2026, still open) is CLI 0.166.0 plus Windows desktop on ChatGPT Plus. Same string across GPT-6.1 Sol / Terra / Luna / Astra. The reporter still showed Plus allowance remaining 95% (5-hour) and 63% (weekly); even a minimal “Reply OK only” prompt failed; ChatGPT GPT-6 on the same account worked. Comments: other Plus users reproduce; one measures desktop failing nearly every turn while CLI on the same account fails roughly 20% of the time.
That is the Titanic lifeboat problem: the ship still has passengers with tickets, and the boats are marked at capacity anyway. Frustrating does not begin to cover it. Whether a failed capacity turn consumes Plus/Pro allowance is not published as of Nov 7, 2026, so I will not guess.
Status page context (dated)
Comments on #53569 link an OpenAI status incident: Degraded performance in GPT-6.1 Sol Codex and Work mode. The incident text says the issue causing degraded performance with GPT-6.1 Sol in Codex and ChatGPT Work was resolved, marked Resolved Tue, Oct 13, 2026, 10:06 PM on the status page clock. Affected surfaces listed there: ChatGPT Work; Codex Web / API / CLI / VS Code extension (verified Nov 7, 2026).
The main status.openai.com page on Nov 7, 2026 also showed an unrelated ongoing banner about elevated error rates with some U.S. business Mastercards (Monitoring) — not a Codex capacity incident. Past incidents do not prove your current banner is (or is not) a live outage; they only show OpenAI has posted Codex-related degradation before.
How to fix Codex Selected model is at capacity, in order
Only steps the message, the issues, or the status page support.
- Try a different model, exactly as the banner says. Reporters often say every model fails (#59806), so treat this as the first attempt, not a guarantee.
- Wait and retry. Several threads describe intermittent success; #59850 notes light tasks still working while heavy ones fail. There is no published cooldown number — do not invent one.
- Check status.openai.com if the refuse is widespread or an incident is visibly open. Use the incident history only as context, not as a claim that Oct 13’s Sol degradation is still live.
- Restart the Codex Desktop app or CLI process, then start a fresh thread. User reports describe Desktop failing more often than CLI on the same account (#58858 comments); a restart is cheap even when it is not officially documented as the fix.
- Confirm you are not actually on a usage-limit string. Open Settings / usage dashboard, or enter
/statusin an active Codex CLI session if that is how you monitor allowance on your plan (see the usage-limit sister posts for the quota wording). Capacity and usage-limit are different banners. - Still stuck? Use Codex
/feedbackor open a GitHub issue with the full sentence, app/CLI version, which model you picked, rough remaining allowance (if shown), and a feedback / thread id when the UI gives you one — the way #59806 and #59850 did.
What not to do: don’t farm a second ChatGPT account to dodge capacity, don’t run an unofficial “model unlock” relay, and don’t treat a capacity banner as proof you should smash retries as hard as possible. Capacity means the selected model is refusing new work right now.
Capacity vs usage limit
| Message | What it is | Read |
|---|---|---|
| Selected model is at capacity… | Model availability | You’re here |
| You’ve hit your usage limit… | Plan allowance spent | Usage limit reached |
| Plan tables / windows | 5-hour + weekly detail | Codex usage limits |
Usage-limit wording from the sister posts; capacity wording from the GitHub issues above (verified Nov 7, 2026).
Short version: capacity is “this model will not take the turn.” Usage limit is “your plan allowance for the window is spent.” You can have remaining quota and still see capacity (#53569, #59850, #58858).
Here’s what I’d do
Read the banner twice. If it is the capacity sentence, switch models once, wait, check status.openai.com, restart Desktop/CLI, and only then burn time on feedback with version + ids. If the banner is actually a usage-limit line, leave this page and use Codex usage limit reached.
If capacity banners keep nuking deep-work blocks on the model you need, keep a backup coding setup ready. Our Codex alternatives list and AI coding tools compared page cover the options with dated prices.
FAQ
What does Codex Selected model is at capacity. Please try a different model. mean? The selected model is refusing new work for capacity / availability reasons, per the verbatim banner repeated across openai/codex issues (verified Nov 7, 2026). An official OpenAI doc page defining the string was not published among sources fetched that day.
Does Selected model is at capacity mean I hit my Codex usage limit? No. That is a different string family. Multiple Plus and Pro reporters still showed remaining allowance when capacity appeared (#59850, #58858, #53569).
How do I fix Codex Selected model is at capacity?
Try a different model as the message says, wait and retry, check status.openai.com, restart Desktop/CLI, confirm you are not on a usage-limit banner, then send /feedback or a GitHub issue with version and ids if it persists.
Does a failed capacity turn use my Plus or Pro allowance? Not published as of Nov 7, 2026 — do not assume either way.
Is this only on Desktop? No. #53569 reports Desktop, Web and CLI; #59850 and #58858 are CLI-heavy; #59806 is Desktop.
Sources
- OpenAI Codex GitHub issue #53569 (capacity across Desktop/Web/CLI; Pro $200; open): https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/53569 (verified 2026-11-07)
- OpenAI Codex GitHub issue #59806 (full sentence title; Pro $100 Desktop; open): https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/59806 (verified 2026-11-07)
- OpenAI Codex GitHub issue #59850 (CLI; Pro $100; allowance remaining; open): https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/59850 (verified 2026-11-07)
- OpenAI Codex GitHub issue #58858 (Plus; CLI + Windows desktop; allowance remaining; open): https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/58858 (verified 2026-11-07)
- OpenAI status incident (GPT-6.1 Sol Codex / Work degraded performance; Resolved Oct 13, 2026): https://status.openai.com/incidents/01M4T4ZCM54D3ZPTQXRSWFG0XS (verified 2026-11-07)
- OpenAI status page: https://status.openai.com (reachable 2026-11-07)