codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix macOS: Codex.app launches but LaunchServices marks it stopped and shows “not open anymore”

Summary

After updating Codex.app on a Mac mini, launching the app from the desktop/Finder consistently shows the macOS CoreServicesUIAgent alert:

The application "Codex" is not open anymore.

The app process and Electron helper processes are actually alive and WindowServer reports visible Codex windows, but LaunchServices / NSRunningApplication treat the app as stopped / not running.

Environment

• Hardware: Mac mini, Mac16,10 (Apple Silicon)
• macOS: 15.6.1 (24G90)
• App path: /Applications/Codex.app
• Bundle ID: com.openai.codex
• Codex.app version: 26.519.31651
• CFBundleVersion: 3017
• Bundled CLI: codex-cli 0.133.0-alpha.1
• Installed app signature / notarization:
  • codesign --verify --deep --strict /Applications/Codex.app passes
  • spctl --assess --type execute -vv /Applications/Codex.app returns accepted, source=Notarized Developer ID
• Duplicate versions were removed; only /Applications/Codex.app remains.

What happens

Launching /Applications/Codex.app from the desktop/Finder or via open -a /Applications/Codex.app creates a running Codex process and visible windows, but macOS still raises the alert above.

Observed process/window state:

/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/MacOS/Codex
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Frameworks/Codex Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Codex Helper --type=gpu-process
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Frameworks/Codex Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Codex Helper --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/codex app-server --analytics-default-enabled

WindowServer sees Codex windows, for example:

window owner=Codex pid=<pid> layer=0 bounds={ X=85; Y=25; Width=1835; Height=1055; }
window owner=Codex pid=<pid> layer=3 bounds={ X=1448; Y=592; Width=356; Height=320; }

But LaunchServices lookup by bundle ID fails:

$ lsappinfo info com.openai.codex
[ NULL ]  [ NULL ]
    bundleID=[ NULL ]
    bundle path=[ NULL ]
    executable path=[ NULL ]
    pid =  !cgsConnection !signalled type=[ NULL ]  flavor=[ NULL ]  Version=[ NULL ]  Arch=!!none

Looking up by PID shows the app record but marks it stopped:

$ lsappinfo info <codex-pid>
"Codex" ASN:...
    bundleID="com.openai.codex"
    bundle path="/Applications/Codex.app"
    executable path="/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/MacOS/Codex"
    pid = <codex-pid> type="Foreground" flavor=3 Version="3017" fileType="APPL" Arch=ARM64
    Application is stopped
    launch time = ...
    checkin time = ...

NSRunningApplication also returns a broken / terminated record:

NSRunningApplication.runningApplications(withBundleIdentifier: "com.openai.codex")
count=1
pid=-1 name=? bundle=? active=false hidden=false term=true

AppleScript activation fails:

$ osascript -e 'tell application id "com.openai.codex" to activate'
Application isn’t running. (-600)

lsd / LaunchServices evidence

During LaunchServices rebuild / app launch, lsd logged SQLite errors and generated an ExcUserFault_lsd report.

Log snippets:

lsd[...] [com.apple.libsqlite3:logging-persist] cannot open file at line 49455 of [1b37c146ee]

Diagnostic report:

app_name: lsd
macOS: 15.6.1 (24G90)
bug_type: 309
exception: EXC_GUARD / GUARD_TYPE_USER
os_fault subsystem: com.apple.launchservices
os_fault format: Registering PlugIn with unknown architecture at URL '%@' .
frames include: _LSRegisterPlugins, _LSServerItemInfoRegistration, _LSRegisterPluginNode, _LSRegisterPluginURL, -[LSDatabaseBuilder createAndSeedLocalDatabase:]

This may point to a LaunchServices registration issue involving a bundled plugin/helper inside Codex.app. I have not confirmed which bundled item is triggering it.

Fixes attempted

The following did not fix the issue:

• Removed old/duplicate Codex versions.
• Reinstalled/overwrote /Applications/Codex.app with the same version that launches correctly on another Mac.
• Confirmed local vs remote app bundle content with rsync -an --delete (no differences).
• Killed all Codex/Electron helper/app-server processes and CoreServicesUIAgent.
• Removed runtime/cache state only:
  • ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.openai.codex.savedState
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.openai.codex
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/GPUCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/Code Cache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/DawnGraphiteCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/DawnWebGPUCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/Session Storage
  • ~/.codex/app-server-control
  • temp codex-ipc
• Rebuilt/reregistered LaunchServices:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -u /Applications/Codex.app
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -f /Applications/Codex.app
killall lsd
killall sharedfilelistd
killall Finder
killall Dock

After this, lsregister -dump shows the app registered with the correct identifier/version, but launching still returns lsappinfo info com.openai.codex => NULL and the PID entry still becomes Application is stopped.

Expected behavior

Codex.app should be recognized by LaunchServices as a running app:

lsappinfo info com.openai.codex
NSRunningApplication ... pid=<real-pid> term=false
osascript activation succeeds

and macOS should not show The application "Codex" is not open anymore. while the app process/windows are alive.