codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix macOS Desktop Appshot fails: Unable to attach appshot, captureNotFound after start succeeds

This is a Codex Desktop macOS issue, not a Codex CLI issue.

Environment

• macOS: 26.5, build 25F71
• Codex Desktop: 26.527.31326, build 3390
• Computer Use helper: com.openai.sky.CUAService, version 1.0, build 799

Symptom

When using Appshot from Codex Desktop, the screenshot appears to be taken, but Codex shows:

Unable to attach appshot

No appshot attachment is added to the conversation.

Reproduction

1. Open Codex Desktop.
2. Use Appshot / Attach app screenshot.
3. Try with Finder or Zed as the target app.
4. Codex shows Unable to attach appshot.

The failure is not limited to one target app. It has reproduced with:

• Finder, bundle identifier com.apple.finder
• Zed, bundle identifier dev.zed.Zed

Key Log Pattern

Latest observed log pattern:

Appshot hotkey pressed
target app found
capture request created
capture start request sent
capture worker received start
capture worker finished start with hasResponse=true
next-capture-update Apple Event failed
Codex Computer Use Apple Event error -10005: captureNotFound(requestID: "...")
capture settled failureReason=update_poll_failed hadAxText=false hadScreenshot=false status=failed

Concrete latest example:

2026-05-30T12:07:41.138Z requestId=8371604f-c1fb-491b-9dea-bbfb60bcb09e target Finder
2026-05-30T12:07:41.514Z capture start finished hasResponse=true
2026-05-30T12:07:42.026Z next-capture-update Apple Event failed captureNotFound
2026-05-30T12:07:42.027Z capture settled failureReason=update_poll_failed hadAxText=false hadScreenshot=false

Relevant logs are under:

~/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex/2026/05/30/

Especially:

codex-desktop-7f1787c9-5613-45e2-b949-61aef4129d42-17469-t0-i1-120154-0.log
codex-desktop-7f1787c9-5613-45e2-b949-61aef4129d42-17469-t2-i1-120212-0.log

Local Checks Already Performed

The following local causes were tested or ruled out:

• Codex was updated/reinstalled. Issue persisted.
• Full Disk Access was already granted to Codex.
• Disk write checks succeeded for:
  • ~/.codex
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex
  • $TMPDIR
• The issue reproduces on Finder, so it is not target-app specific.
• Quarantine and stale helper duplicate cleanup were attempted.
• Computer Use helper rebuild/reset was attempted.
• Duplicate SkyComputerUseService processes were killed.

After killing helper processes, Codex immediately spawned many new unmanaged helper instances again, and Appshot still failed with the same captureNotFound pattern.

Important Process Observation

Multiple SkyComputerUseService processes were observed, all parented by the Codex app process:

~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app/Contents/MacOS/SkyComputerUseService

launchctl showed them as unmanaged processes such as:

com.apple.xpc.launchd.unmanaged.SkyComputerUseS.<pid>

This suggests the helpers are spawned directly by Codex rather than managed by a normal LaunchAgent.

Current Diagnosis

This does not look like a macOS permission, disk write, reinstall, or target app problem.

The capture start request succeeds, but the subsequent capture update request fails because the Computer Use bridge cannot find the request ID it just created. The likely failure is inside the Codex Desktop Appshot bridge or Computer Use helper state/routing.

Working hypothesis:

The Appshot start request and update polling request are routed to different helper instances, or the helper loses its in-memory capture registry before Codex polls for the result.

This appears to be a product bug in Codex Desktop Appshot / Computer Use helper build 799 on macOS 26.5.

Expected Fix

Needs a Codex Desktop / Computer Use helper update that fixes Appshot capture request tracking.

Until then, the reliable workaround is to use a normal screenshot file attachment:

1. Take a screenshot with macOS.
2. Attach the image via Add photos & files.

This avoids the Appshot bridge path that is currently failing.