codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex VS Code extension logs Git metadata failures in unborn Git repositories [2 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

The Codex VS Code extension logs Git metadata failures when the workspace is a Git repository that has been initialized but has no commits yet (an "unborn branch" state).

The failure disappeared after creating the first commit with:

git commit --allow-empty -m "Initialize repo"

Environment

• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise 10.0.19045, 64-bit
• VS Code: 1.117.0
• Codex extension: openai.chatgpt version 26.422.21459
• Git: git version 2.47.0.windows.2
• Workspace: C:\Users\<user>\codex-test

Reproduction steps

1. Create a new folder and initialize Git without making a commit:

   mkdir C:\Users\<user>\codex-test\codex-unborn-git-repro
   git -C C:\Users\<user>\codex-test\codex-unborn-git-repro init

2. Confirm the repo is in unborn-branch state:

   git -C C:\Users\<user>\codex-test\codex-unborn-git-repro status --short --branch
   git -C C:\Users\<user>\codex-test\codex-unborn-git-repro rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
   git -C C:\Users\<user>\codex-test\codex-unborn-git-repro rev-parse HEAD

   Observed:

   ## No commits yet on master
   HEAD
   revparse_abbrev_exit=128
   HEAD
   revparse_head_exit=128
   fatal: ambiguous argument 'HEAD': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.

3. Open the folder in VS Code and activate the Codex extension.

Actual behavior

The Codex extension attempts to read Git metadata with:

'C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe' rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

In an unborn repo, this command exits with code 128. Codex logs this as a warning:

[git] git.command.complete ... command="'C:\\Program Files\\Git\\cmd\\git.exe' rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD" ... cwd=C:/Users/<user>/codex-test ... exitCode=128 failureReason=command_failed ... subcommand=rev-parse

The same warning appeared repeatedly before the first commit:

2026-04-24 10:24:39.422 exitCode=128 subcommand=rev-parse
2026-04-24 10:26:42.768 exitCode=128 subcommand=rev-parse
2026-04-24 10:33:09.063 exitCode=128 subcommand=rev-parse

The log also contained repeated thread-stream-state-changed warnings during this period, although those may be a separate noisy-logging issue.

Expected behavior

Codex should treat an unborn Git branch as a valid Git repository state and avoid warning/spam loops. It should either:

• use a Git command that supports unborn branches, such as git status --porcelain=v2 --branch, or
• handle rev-parse HEAD / rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD exit code 128 as non-fatal when git status reports # branch.oid (initial).

Workaround confirmed

Creating the first commit resolves the Git metadata failure:

git commit --allow-empty -m "Initialize repo"

After that:

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD => master, exit 0
git rev-parse HEAD => <commit sha>, exit 0

Codex no longer logged the rev-parse exit 128 failure in the same workspace.

Notes

Separate noise was also observed from plugin/network fetches returning 403 or "Server overloaded", and from repeated:

[IpcClient] Received broadcast but no handler is configured method=thread-stream-state-changed

Those may be independent issues. The Git metadata issue above is the narrow, reproducible part.