codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex App remote Windows project folder validation fails even though the folder exists

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.506.31421

What subscription do you have?

Enterprise

What platform is your computer?

Local machine: Darwin 24.6.0 arm64 arm Remote host: Windows via OpenSSH_for_Windows_9.5

What issue are you seeing?

Codex App can connect to a Windows OpenSSH remote host using public-key authentication, but it rejects an existing remote project folder during "Add remote project".

The UI error is:

このリモートホスト上の既存のフォルダーを選択してください

SSH authentication succeeds:

Authenticated to <REMOTE_HOST> using "publickey".

The remote Codex CLI is available:

codex-cli 0.130.0

The target folder exists from the remote Windows Node.js runtime:

C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\<PROJECT_DIR>    true
C:/Users/<REMOTE_USER>/<PROJECT_DIR>    true

However, Codex App still rejects both path formats:

C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\<PROJECT_DIR>
C:/Users/<REMOTE_USER>/<PROJECT_DIR>

The remote app-server log repeatedly contains:

Error: app-server control socket is already in use at C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\.codex\app-server-control\app-server-control.sock

This appears to be a Windows remote app-server / folder validation issue rather than an SSH authentication or missing-folder issue.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On macOS, configure an SSH host in ~/.ssh/config:

Host <REMOTE_ALIAS>
  HostName <REMOTE_HOST>
  User <REMOTE_USER>
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/<PRIVATE_KEY>
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  UseKeychain yes

1. Verify public-key SSH works from macOS:

ssh -o BatchMode=yes <REMOTE_ALIAS> exit

1. On the Windows remote host, install Git Bash and configure Windows OpenSSH to use Git Bash as the default shell:

New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Force | Out-Null

New-ItemProperty `
  -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" `
  -Name DefaultShell `
  -Value "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe" `
  -PropertyType String `
  -Force

New-ItemProperty `
  -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" `
  -Name DefaultShellCommandOption `
  -Value "-lc" `
  -PropertyType String `
  -Force

Restart-Service sshd

1. Verify the remote shell and Codex CLI:

ssh <REMOTE_ALIAS> 'echo shell-ok; pwd; command -v sh; command -v codex; codex --version'

Example sanitized output:

shell-ok
/c/Users/<REMOTE_USER>
/usr/bin/sh
/c/Users/<REMOTE_USER>/AppData/Roaming/npm/codex
codex-cli 0.130.0

1. Verify the target folder exists from the remote Node.js runtime:

ssh <REMOTE_ALIAS> 'node - <<'"'"'NODE'"'"'
const fs = require("fs");
for (const p of [
  String.raw`C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\<PROJECT_DIR>`,
  "C:/Users/<REMOTE_USER>/<PROJECT_DIR>"
]) {
  const s = fs.statSync(p);
  console.log(`${p}\t${s.isDirectory()}`);
}
NODE'

Example sanitized output:

C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\<PROJECT_DIR>    true
C:/Users/<REMOTE_USER>/<PROJECT_DIR>    true

1. Open Codex App on macOS.
2. Go to Settings > Connections.
3. Add or enable the SSH host <REMOTE_ALIAS>.
4. Try to add a remote project using either:

C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\<PROJECT_DIR>

or:

C:/Users/<REMOTE_USER>/<PROJECT_DIR>

1. Codex App rejects the folder with:

このリモートホスト上の既存のフォルダーを選択してください

What is the expected behavior?

Codex App should accept the existing Windows remote folder and add it as a remote project.

If the remote app-server socket is stale, occupied, or otherwise unusable, Codex App should show a clear app-server/socket error and recover or restart the remote app-server, rather than reporting that the folder does not exist.

Additional information

Remote app-server log:

Error: app-server control socket is already in use at C:\Users\<REMOTE_USER>\.codex\app-server-control\app-server-control.sock

I tried:

• restarting Codex App
• deleting and re-adding the SSH remote host in Settings > Connections
• verifying SSH public-key authentication with BatchMode=yes
• verifying that the remote Codex CLI is available on PATH
• verifying that the target folder exists from the Windows Node.js runtime
• trying both backslash and forward-slash Windows path formats
• stopping stale remote Codex app-server processes
• deleting the stale app-server control socket

The issue still reproduces.

Related issues that seem similar but not identical:

• https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/19844
• https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/18547

I have intentionally redacted the real username, hostname, private IP address, key path, and project name.