codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex Desktop automations do not dispatch prompt correctly for WSL workspaces [3 comments, 3 participants]

Summary

Codex Desktop recurring automations fail or stall when configured for a WSL workspace.

The app settings show:

• Agent environment: Windows Subsystem for Linux
• Integrated terminal shell: WSL

Workspace paths, redacted:

• WSL path: /home/<user>/projects/<workspace>
• Windows WSL UNC path: \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\projects\<workspace>

Observed behavior

Different automation configurations fail in different ways:

1. execution_environment = "worktree" + Linux cwd

   • Runs launched with Windows cwd / PowerShell, e.g. C:\projects\<workspace>.
   • $env:CODEX_HOME was null.
   • Runs became archived.

2. execution_environment = "worktree" + WSL UNC cwd

   • Run was archived before a real thread was created.
   • DB row had thread_id = pending:....
   • No session JSONL was created.

3. execution_environment = "local" + WSL UNC cwd

   • A thread was created.
   • Chat immediately showed: Current working directory missing / This chat's working directory no longer exists.
   • The UNC path is invalid inside the WSL agent environment.

4. execution_environment = "local" + Linux cwd

   • A valid project chat was created.
   • The automation prompt was never submitted.
   • Session JSONL only had session metadata and thread title update.
   • No user automation prompt, model request, tool call, or assistant message occurred.

Concrete run IDs

Archived before thread creation:

• Run row: pending:45c38c72-3dc1-4912-b654-d011a5b0e93f
• Automation: weekly-engineering-summary
• Source cwd: \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>\projects\<workspace>

Created thread but did not dispatch prompt:

• Thread: 019dde5f-1b7d-7981-93e4-22f5a26d55f7
• Automation: weekly-engineering-summary
• Source cwd: /home/<user>/projects/<workspace>
• Status stayed IN_PROGRESS
• Session JSONL had only 2 records: session metadata and thread title update

Earlier runs that launched through Windows/PowerShell:

• Thread: 019dde4a-cffb-7432-bb64-54bae4ab0707
• Thread: 019dde4a-cb15-7201-ac38-f9bc9bdc189b

Expected behavior

For WSL agent environment, automation runs should:

• Use the Linux cwd inside WSL.
• Start the session in WSL, not Windows PowerShell.
• Submit the automation prompt after creating the thread.
• Either complete with an inbox item or expose an explicit error.

Actual behavior

The runner either archives before thread creation, opens a thread with an invalid cwd, or creates a valid thread but never dispatches the automation turn.

Environment

• Codex Desktop on Windows with WSL enabled
• Codex CLI/session metadata showed cli_version = 0.126.0-alpha.8
• Model used by the automation: gpt-5.5

Additional notes

I am intentionally redacting local project, organization, and repository names from paths in this report. The concrete thread IDs above should allow correlation with backend/client logs if available.