diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2c0fc9aac9..c2ca2efdb3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 ### Fixed
 - Menu bar: anchor merged provider dropdowns to the status item's trailing edge without marking preserved in-flight refresh content fresh, preventing horizontal drift while keeping deferred updates visible (#1288). Thanks @Yuxin-Qiao!
+- Menu bar: avoid republishing unchanged provider storage footprints so background scans no longer trigger unnecessary menu observation work (#1416). Thanks @soohanpark!
 - Cost usage: replace repeated Foundation metadata/root checks with one portable file-stat pass so expired Codex history refreshes stay responsive on very large session archives (#1392). Thanks @TheAngryPit and @ProspectOre!
 - Cursor: show the Safari Full Disk Access recovery hint before the long browser login list so permission guidance remains visible when menu errors truncate (#1419, fixes #1417). Thanks @hhh2210!
 - Cursor: present legacy request-based plans as one Requests quota with the raw used/limit count instead of unrelated token-based Auto/API bars (#1420, fixes #1418). Thanks @hhh2210!
diff --git a/Sources/CodexBar/UsageStore+ProviderStorage.swift b/Sources/CodexBar/UsageStore+ProviderStorage.swift
index a31f01740b..826ab19907 100644
--- a/Sources/CodexBar/UsageStore+ProviderStorage.swift
+++ b/Sources/CodexBar/UsageStore+ProviderStorage.swift
@@ -177,9 +177,25 @@ extension UsageStore {
         updatedAt: Date)
     {
         let providerSet = Set(providers)
-        self.providerStorageFootprints = self.providerStorageFootprints.filter { !providerSet.contains($0.key) }
+        var updated = self.providerStorageFootprints.filter { !providerSet.contains($0.key) }
         for provider in providers {
-            self.providerStorageFootprints[provider] = footprints[provider]
+            // Reuse the existing footprint when only its scan timestamp would change, so the equality
+            // guard below treats an unchanged scan as a no-op.
+            if let incoming = footprints[provider],
+               let existing = self.providerStorageFootprints[provider],
+               existing.hasSameContents(as: incoming)
+            {
+                updated[provider] = existing
+            } else {
+                updated[provider] = footprints[provider]
+            }
+        }
+        // Only republish the observable footprints when a value actually changed. Storage scans run
+        // on every menu open and roughly every 5 minutes; an unconditional re-assignment wakes
+        // `menuObservationToken` -> `invalidateMenus` churn (clearing menu caches) even when the
+        // scanned bytes are identical.
+        if updated != self.providerStorageFootprints {
+            self.providerStorageFootprints = updated
         }
         self.lastStorageRefreshSignature = signature
         self.lastStorageRefreshRequestKey = requestKey ?? signature
diff --git a/Sources/CodexBarCore/ProviderStorageFootprint.swift b/Sources/CodexBarCore/ProviderStorageFootprint.swift
index ea5e62dd70..e173ff4916 100644
--- a/Sources/CodexBarCore/ProviderStorageFootprint.swift
+++ b/Sources/CodexBarCore/ProviderStorageFootprint.swift
@@ -50,6 +50,18 @@ public struct ProviderStorageFootprint: Sendable, Equatable {
         self.totalBytes > 0
     }
 
+    /// Value equality that ignores `updatedAt`. Two scans of identical on-disk data differ only by
+    /// their scan timestamp, so callers use this to avoid re-publishing observable state (and the
+    /// menu-invalidation churn that follows) when nothing the user sees has actually changed.
+    public func hasSameContents(as other: ProviderStorageFootprint) -> Bool {
+        self.provider == other.provider &&
+            self.totalBytes == other.totalBytes &&
+            self.paths == other.paths &&
+            self.missingPaths == other.missingPaths &&
+            self.unreadablePaths == other.unreadablePaths &&
+            self.components == other.components
+    }
+
     public var cleanupRecommendations: [ProviderStorageRecommendation] {
         ProviderStorageRecommendation.recommendations(for: self)
     }
diff --git a/Tests/CodexBarTests/ProviderStorageFootprintTests.swift b/Tests/CodexBarTests/ProviderStorageFootprintTests.swift
index 2b1a82010c..aff4a7fb82 100644
--- a/Tests/CodexBarTests/ProviderStorageFootprintTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/CodexBarTests/ProviderStorageFootprintTests.swift
@@ -1,10 +1,28 @@
 import AppKit
 import CodexBarCore
 import Foundation
+import Observation
 import Testing
 @testable import CodexBar
 
 struct ProviderStorageFootprintTests {
+    private final class ObservationFlag: @unchecked Sendable {
+        private let lock = NSLock()
+        private var value = false
+
+        func set() {
+            self.lock.lock()
+            self.value = true
+            self.lock.unlock()
+        }
+
+        func get() -> Bool {
+            self.lock.lock()
+            defer { self.lock.unlock() }
+            return self.value
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     func `scanner sums nested regular files and skips symlink targets`() throws {
         let root = try Self.makeTemporaryDirectory()
@@ -312,6 +330,54 @@ struct ProviderStorageFootprintTests {
         #expect(store.storageFootprintText(for: .codex) == "No local data found")
     }
 
+    @Test
+    @MainActor
+    func `repeated identical storage refresh does not republish observable footprints`() async throws {
+        let home = try Self.makeTemporaryDirectory()
+        defer { try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: home) }
+
+        let codexHome = home.appendingPathComponent(".codex", isDirectory: true)
+        let sessions = codexHome.appendingPathComponent("sessions", isDirectory: true)
+        try FileManager.default.createDirectory(at: sessions, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+        try Data(repeating: 1, count: 32).write(to: sessions.appendingPathComponent("session.jsonl"))
+
+        let suite = "ProviderStorageFootprintTests-identity-\(UUID().uuidString)"
+        let defaults = try #require(UserDefaults(suiteName: suite))
+        defaults.removePersistentDomain(forName: suite)
+        let settings = SettingsStore(
+            userDefaults: defaults,
+            configStore: testConfigStore(suiteName: suite),
+            zaiTokenStore: NoopZaiTokenStore(),
+            syntheticTokenStore: NoopSyntheticTokenStore())
+        if let codexMetadata = ProviderDefaults.metadata[.codex] {
+            settings.setProviderEnabled(provider: .codex, metadata: codexMetadata, enabled: true)
+        }
+        let store = UsageStore(
+            fetcher: UsageFetcher(),
+            browserDetection: BrowserDetection(cacheTTL: 0),
+            settings: settings,
+            environmentBase: ["CODEX_HOME": codexHome.path])
+        settings.providerStorageFootprintsEnabled = true
+        store.managedCodexAccountsForStorageOverride = []
+
+        await store.refreshStorageFootprintsForOverviewNow()
+        #expect(store.storageFootprint(for: .codex)?.totalBytes == 32)
+
+        // A second scan over identical on-disk data must not re-assign the observable property.
+        // Storage scans run on every menu open and every ~5 min; an unconditional re-publish wakes
+        // `menuObservationToken` -> `invalidateMenus` churn for no value change.
+        let didRepublish = ObservationFlag()
+        withObservationTracking {
+            _ = store.providerStorageFootprints
+        } onChange: {
+            didRepublish.set()
+        }
+        await store.refreshStorageFootprintsForOverviewNow()
+
+        #expect(didRepublish.get() == false)
+        #expect(store.storageFootprint(for: .codex)?.totalBytes == 32)
+    }
+
     @Test
     @MainActor
     func `storage refresh is opt in and clears stale footprints when disabled`() async throws {