codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix VS Code extension enters high-CPU retry loop on non-git workspace [2 comments, 2 participants]

What happened?

The Codex VS Code extension appears to enter a high-CPU retry loop when the current VS Code window is opened on a file/folder that is not inside a Git repository.

Environment

• Extension: openai.chatgpt 26.5422.21459 darwin-arm64
• Host: VS Code on macOS arm64
• Codex app-server command: /Users/<user>/.vscode/extensions/openai.chatgpt-26.5422.21459-darwin-arm64/bin/macos-aarch64/codex app-server --analytics-default-enabled

Reproduction context

I opened a standalone file in VS Code outside any Git repository, for example:

/Users/<user>/Documents/non-git-folder/example.md

That directory is not a Git repository:

git -C /Users/<user>/Documents/non-git-folder rev-parse --show-toplevel
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

With the Codex sidebar/webview active, VS Code started consuming sustained high CPU.

Observed behavior

Two VS Code renderer processes were repeatedly around or above 100% CPU:

Code Helper (Renderer) ... ~110% CPU
Code Helper (Renderer) ... ~110% CPU

The extension log continuously emitted this message every few milliseconds:

worker_rpc_response_error error={} method=stable-metadata workerId=git

The log path was:

~/Library/Application Support/Code/logs/<session>/window1/exthost/openai.chatgpt/Codex.log

The log had already rotated through multiple 5 MB files with hundreds of thousands of repeated lines.

Expected behavior

If the current workspace/path is not a Git repository, the Git metadata worker should treat that as a terminal/no-op state, or retry with backoff, instead of continuously retrying and driving the webview renderer CPU usage.

Additional notes

The relevant webview code appears to call the Git worker method stable-metadata from:

webview/assets/use-git-stable-metadata-CeSRUp9M.js

Closing/reloading the Codex webview or disabling the extension stops the CPU burn.