codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex app-server stdout EOF while process remains alive for specific provider-visible context payloads

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.137.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

Which model were you using?

No response

What platform is your computer?

No response

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

No response

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

After initialize, thread/start, and turn/start succeed, stdout reaches EOF while the app-server process remains alive. No turn/completed is emitted. No assistant refusal, safe error code, retry notification, or stderr explanation is observed. Codex app-server can hit stdout EOF/live-process when certain sensitive provider-visible text is sent in a turn, including via custom context envelope or plain prompt variants. The same selected relationship-memory slice also blocked as a plain prompt, without the custom envelope.

Observed: initialize succeeds thread/start succeeds turn/start succeeds stdout reaches EOF process remains alive no turn/completed no structured error no refusal no stderr diagnostic

Expected: Every content/safety/provider branch should terminate with turn/completed, response.failed, a structured JSON-RPC error, or process exit.

Environment: Windows Codex CLI 0.137.0 JSON-RPC stdio app-server Direct vendor codex.exe path No raw payloads retained or submitted

Privacy: The trigger payload contains private relationship-memory text. I can provide redacted metadata and event counts, but not raw memory bodies.

I have a longer sanitized diagnostic report available privately. It excludes raw trigger payloads, secrets, tokens, headers, base URLs, and private memory bodies. I am avoiding posting it publicly because the trigger class involves private relationship-memory context.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On Windows, install/run Codex CLI 0.137.0.

2. Start the Codex app-server over stdio, using the direct vendor codex.exe path if possible.

3. Open a JSON-RPC app-server session:

   • send initialize
   • send thread/start
   • send turn/start

4. First verify a control prompt works:

   • send a minimal ordinary prompt, or a neutral memory-context prompt
   • observe assistant deltas and turn/completed

5. Then send a short relationship-memory-style user turn. Sanitized shape: "A compact relationship continuity note from 02-2026 says the user gave their partner affectionate/intense nicknames. Please acknowledge whether this context is available without quoting it."

6. Observe the stream.

What is the expected behavior?

The app-server should return a normal terminal event: turn/completed, response failure, refusal, JSON-RPC error, or another explicit error state.

Additional information

Platform: Windows 11 OS version from codex doctor --json: Windows 10.0.22631 (Windows 11 CoreCountrySpecific) [64-bit] Terminal: PowerShell / Windows terminal environment Codex CLI: 0.137.0 Install method: npm on windows-x86_64 codex doctor --json overallStatus: ok

This is not reproduced by all prompts. Minimal prompts, neutral memory-context prompts, strict daily/House memory summaries, and workspace-native MEMORY.md availability checks can complete normally. The failure appears tied to specific relationship-memory-style visible turn text or the app-server/provider bridge handling of that payload shape.