codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex app subagent cards can remain stuck/visible after close while close/readback reports no live agent

Summary

In the Codex app, completed or closed subagents can appear to remain visible/stuck in the UI for a long time even after the supported close/readback path reports that there is no live agent handle left.

Component

Codex app / Desktop on macOS.

I do not know the exact app version from the UI at the time of filing.

What happened

A workflow used several subagents for bounded helper work. After the helpers completed, attempts to close them by exact returned agent IDs produced a mix of:

• a completed previous status,
• a running or pending previous status followed by successful disappearance from readback,
• or not_found for handles that were already gone from the live route.

Even after those close/readback results, the app UI could still make it look like subagents were present or stuck. In one child/subagent view, the UI showed a banner asking the parent to resume the sub-agent to continue the conversation, which suggests the child was closed, but the surrounding UI state still made it unclear whether a subagent was active, closed, or stale.

Expected behavior

After a subagent completes and is closed, the Codex app should make the lifecycle state unambiguous:

• closed/completed subagent cards should update or disappear from active/open UI surfaces,
• stale IDs should be shown as already closed rather than appearing stuck,
• the parent thread should have a clear way to see that no live subagent remains,
• and not_found after close/readback should not leave the user thinking an agent is still running or consuming an active slot.

Actual behavior

The live close/readback route can indicate that no live handle remains, while the UI still appears to show stale/open subagent state or a closed-child resume banner. This makes it hard to tell whether work is still running, whether slots are still occupied, or whether the UI is stale.

Impact

This is confusing during long-running work and makes it difficult to trust whether background/subagent work has actually stopped. It can lead to repeated close attempts and uncertainty about whether resources or subagent slots are still in use.

Privacy note

I am intentionally not attaching private screenshots, logs, local paths, workspace details, or conversation contents in this public issue. A separate in-product feedback report was submitted from the affected app session with private diagnostic context available to OpenAI through that route.

Request

Please clarify or fix the Codex app subagent lifecycle UI so the app reliably reflects completed/closed/stale states after subagent close/readback, especially when close returns not_found for an already-gone handle or when a child thread shows the parent-resume banner.