Issue Station
Sign In
Tools hereToolbox

codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex Desktop remote control shows duplicate MacBook; mobile can list chats but opening a chat returns 403

Official PRs (…)
ON THIS PAGE

Recommended Tools

×6

Utilities matched from this issue’s tags and category — try them while you read without losing context.

GitHub issue graph ai analysis

Paste a GitHub issue URL. We fetch that issue, discover linked issues from bodies/comments/timeline, collect linked pull requests, and produce a structured English report.

The report is written in English Markdown for sharing and archival.

Helpful · Quick feedback

Loading…

Root Cause

Notes

This does not look like an admin/workspace disabled-feature case because the account is personal and the local/mobile settings are enabled. It looks like a stale backend registration, personal-account feature flag mismatch, or Desktop/runtime version mismatch causing mobile to route to a stale remote-control server record.

RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

What happened?

Codex Desktop remote control for a personal ChatGPT account worked on launch day, then stopped working.

ChatGPT mobile now shows duplicate MacBook entries:

  • One entry loads the chat list, but opening any chat returns 403.
  • The other entry only shows reconnect/offline, and reconnect does nothing.

All local/mobile settings appear enabled. Re-scanning the Codex Desktop mobile setup QR code does not fix it.

Expected behavior

ChatGPT mobile should connect to the existing Codex Desktop remote session and open chats normally.

Actual behavior

The mobile app sees stale/duplicate MacBook entries. One entry can list chats but returns 403 when opening a chat; the duplicate remains disconnected/offline.

Environment

  • Account type: personal ChatGPT account, not Enterprise/Team/Edu
  • macOS app: Codex Desktop
  • Desktop app version: 26.513.31313
  • app-server version reported by logs: 0.131.0-alpha.9
  • runtime bundle selected by app: 26.515.10909

Local evidence gathered

  • Local state has remote_control enabled.
  • On the day it worked, logs show a remote-control websocket/server channel opening for /backend-api/wham/remote/control/server.
  • On 2026-05-18, after restart with local remote_control=true, Desktop startup logs do not include remote_control in the enabled features list.
  • Latest logs show unsupported feature enablement for auth_elicitation.
  • Local sqlite state contains two remote_control_enrollments for the same MacBook/local hostname, consistent with the duplicate MacBook entries shown on mobile.
  • Re-pairing via QR did not clear the stale/duplicate mobile state or the 403.

Notes

This does not look like an admin/workspace disabled-feature case because the account is personal and the local/mobile settings are enabled. It looks like a stale backend registration, personal-account feature flag mismatch, or Desktop/runtime version mismatch causing mobile to route to a stale remote-control server record.

I can provide redacted logs or environment/server IDs privately if useful.

Vote matrix · Quick signals

Works
Did the solution work? Tap to confirm.
Easy Fix
Was it a quick fix?
Time Saver
Did it save you time?
Blocking
Was it severely blocking?
Common Issue
Are others likely hitting this too?
Flaky / Intermittent
Is it intermittent?
Verified / Reproducible
Can you reproduce it reliably?
Loading…

FAQ

Expected behavior

ChatGPT mobile should connect to the existing Codex Desktop remote session and open chats normally.

#api#runtime error#dependency conflict#environment setup#docker error

Still need to ship something?

×6

Another batch ranked right after the header list — different links, same matching logic.

Back to top recommendations

TRENDING

codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex Desktop remote control shows duplicate MacBook; mobile can list chats but opening a chat returns 403