Troubleshooting

Codex Pet Not Animating?

If your pet is visible and flips but stays on the first frame, turn off Reduce Motion on macOS.

Quick Fix

Open macOS System Settings.
Go to Accessibility -> Motion.
Turn off Reduce Motion.
Fully quit and restart Codex Desktop.

You can also check and fix from Terminal:

defaults read com.apple.universalaccess reduceMotion

defaults write com.apple.universalaccess reduceMotion -bool false

Symptoms

The Codex pet is visible but frozen.
The pet changes direction when dragged but does not animate.
Each action shows only the first frame.
Switching pets does not fix the problem.

Why It Happens

Codex Desktop respects the system-level motion preference. When Reduce Motion is enabled, macOS may suppress continuous sprite animations while still allowing state changes like direction flips.

Why Restarting Codex Is Required

Codex caches the motion preference when the pet overlay starts. Changing the setting while Codex is running may not take effect until the app is fully restarted.

FAQ

Q: Is this a Codex bug?

A: Not necessarily. It is an accessibility preference that Codex respects.

Q: Why does the pet flip but not animate?

A: Direction flips and frame animation are separate behaviors. Reduce Motion may pause the latter while allowing the former.