codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix In-app browser commands stopped working

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.513.40821

What subscription do you have?

Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex in-app browser is open and works manually, but Codex cannot control it with browser automation commands.

Commands attempted:

• Search potato and open the first result.
• Click the visible Images tab on Google Search.
• Open/navigate to https://openai.com from the in-app browser automation path.

In all cases, Codex cannot send browser actions. The failure happens before interacting with the webpage itself, so this does not appear to be specific to Google or any single site.

Observed error from the browser client setup attempt:

browser-client import: ok
ERROR_NAME=Error
ERROR_MESSAGE=privileged native pipe bridge is not available; browser-client is not trusted
ERROR_STACK=Error: privileged native pipe bridge is not available; browser-client is not trusted
    at Module.Ale (.../browser-client.mjs:2984:22254)

Relevant Codex logs also show:

browser_use_availability_resolved available=true browserPane=true platform=Windows reason=available release=26.513.40821

But shortly after that:

[computer-use-native-pipe] computer-use native pipe startup failed
errorMessage="Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable"
platform=win32

There are also repeated bundled executable relocation warnings:

bundled_executable_relocation_failed
errorMessage="Bundled executable relocation failed during mkdir_destination"
operation=mkdir_destination
originalError={"errno":-4058,"code":"ENOENT","syscall":"mkdir","path":"C:\\Users\\<redacted>\\AppData\\Local\\OpenAI\\Codex\\bin"}

This appears for bundled executables including:

rg.exe
codex.exe
node.exe
node_repl.exe

I reinstalled Codex multiple times, including a clean reinstall from the Microsoft Store, but the issue still happens.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open Codex on Windows.
2. Open the in-app browser.
3. Navigate manually to a page such as Google Search.
4. Ask Codex to perform a browser action, for example:

   Search potato and open the first result.

5. Try another browser action, for example:

   Click the Images tab.

6. Try a direct navigation action, for example:

   Open https://openai.com.

7. Observe that Codex cannot execute the browser action.

The browser window itself remains usable manually, but Codex cannot click, type, or navigate through the in-app browser automation bridge.

Troubleshooting already attempted:

1. Uninstalled Codex.
2. Renamed the Codex folder in AppData.
3. Restarted the computer.
4. Reinstalled Codex cleanly from the Microsoft Store.
5. Retried the in-app browser commands.

The issue persisted.

I do not have a project-code snippet because this is an in-app browser/native bridge issue rather than an application-code issue.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should be able to control the in-app browser when requested.

For example:

• If I ask Codex to search potato, it should type the query and submit the search.
• If I ask Codex to click the Images tab, it should click that visible tab.
• If I ask Codex to open https://openai.com, it should navigate the in-app browser there.

Manual browser use works, so the expected behavior is that Codex can also send automation actions to the same browser.

Additional information

Environment:

• OS: Windows 10 Pro 25H2
• OS build: 26200.8457
• Codex Microsoft Store package: OpenAI.Codex_26.513.4821.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Codex app product version: 26.513.40821
• Codex app file version: 2886
• Embedded Codex binary version: 0.131.0-alpha.9
• Codex command runner version: 0.131.0-alpha.9
• PowerShell version: 7.6.1