## Workaround: Make Codex show as a primary Activity Bar view in Cursor
I had an issue where the OpenAI Codex extension in Cursor would not pin like Claude Code. Instead of showing as its own Activity Bar item, Codex appeared as a collapsible section inside Explorer.
### Environment
- Cursor: 3.16.29
- Extension: `[email protected]`
- macOS
### Root Cause
The Codex extension manifest contributes Codex conditionally:
- Primary Activity Bar only when `chatgpt.doesNotSupportSecondarySidebar`
- Secondary sidebar when `!chatgpt.doesNotSupportSecondarySidebar`
In Cursor, this can make Codex land in the wrong place or be remembered as hidden/moved in workspace state.
### Fix / Workaround
Quit Cursor fully first.
Edit:
```bash
~/.cursor/extensions/openai.chatgpt-26.814.41407-darwin-arm64/package.json
Change the Codex viewsContainers / views section so Codex is always contributed to the primary Activity Bar.
Before, it had conditional when clauses and a secondarySidebar container.
After:
"viewsContainers": {
"activitybar": [
{
"id": "codexViewContainer",
"title": "Codex",
"icon": "resources/blossom-white.svg"
}
]
},
"views": {
"codexViewContainer": [
{
"id": "chatgpt.sidebarView",
"type": "webview",
"name": "Codex"
}
]
}
Optional but helpful in Cursor settings:
"chatgpt.openOnStartup": true
Then reopen Cursor and run:
View: Reset View LocationsCodex: Open Codex Sidebar- Pin Codex from the Activity Bar/dropdown
Caveat
This is a local unsupported workaround. Updating the Codex extension may overwrite package.json, so the patch may need to be reapplied after extension updates.