codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Windows: Codex desktop loses VS Code connection after first message, main "New chat" button stops working, app-server exits after plugin 403 [2 comments, 2 participants]

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

26.406.31014

What subscription do you have?

Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

On Windows, Codex desktop became stuck in a broken state after a VS Code .ipynb / Jupyter-triggered extension host crash.

After that:

• a brand-new empty chat shows the VS Code button in the top-right
• the moment I send the first message, the VS Code button disappears
• the main New chat button does nothing
• the New chat button next to Threads still works
• Codex desktop starts with zero discovered connections
• Codex app-server later exits after plugin bootstrap hits Cloudflare 403 Forbidden
• When I close Codex and I try opening it from the "Hidden Icons" it doesn't come up. I have to manually close it and reopen the app.

This survives reboot, Codex reinstall/reset, VS Code extension reinstall, deleting Codex local package data, and testing on a different network/hotspot.

Original trigger

The first trigger appears to be VS Code notebook/Jupyter related.

Steps:

1. Open a .ipynb in VS Code
2. VS Code starts selecting a kernel
3. It appears to find one, then loses it and retries
4. VS Code then shows: Extension host terminated unexpectedly 3 times within the last 5 minutes

A VS Code extension bisect pointed to Jupyter as the trigger for that original crash.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Launch Codex desktop
2. Open a brand-new empty chat
3. Observe the VS Code button is visible in the top-right
4. Send the first message
5. Observe the VS Code button disappears
6. Try the main New chat button
7. Observe it does nothing

What is the expected behavior?

• Codex desktop should keep the VS Code connection available after the first message
• the main New chat button should create a new chat
• a VS Code/Jupyter crash should not leave Codex desktop permanently unable to discover connections

Additional information

Actual behavior

• Codex desktop repeatedly reports zero available connections
• the VS Code button disappears as soon as the first message is sent
• the main New chat button is nonfunctional
• the issue persists across reset/reinstall/reboot
• testing on a phone hotspot did not resolve it

Diagnostics

1. Codex desktop boots with zero connections

Desktop logs repeatedly show:

• discoveredConnectionCount=0
• totalConnectionCount=0
• shared_object_synced connectionCount=0
• availableConnectionCount=0
• selectedRemoteHostId=null

This suggests the app is not starting with a healthy editor connection and then losing it. It already believes there are no attachable connections.

2. VS Code Codex bridge appears to be in a bad IPC state

VS Code Codex logs show warnings like:

• Received broadcast but no handler is configured method=client-status-changed
• repeated thread-stream-state-changed
• repeated thread-read-state-changed

This looks like an internal Codex bridge / event subscription issue, not just a Jupyter kernel failure.

3. Codex plugin bootstrap is failing with Cloudflare 403

Codex logs show plugin bootstrap requests hitting Cloudflare challenge pages:

• https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/plugins/list
• https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/plugins/featured

Later the desktop log shows:

• app-server transport stopping
• worker exit code=1

A different network/hotspot did not change this.

What I already tried

• rebooted PC
• reinstalled VS Code OpenAI extension
• reinstalled Codex desktop
• used Windows app Terminate, Repair, and Reset
• deleted Codex local package data
• disabled suspect VS Code extensions
• used a fresh VS Code profile
• tested on a different network / hotspot

None of these resolved the issue.

The Jupyter/Notebook crash appears to be the original trigger, but the persistent failure afterward looks like a Codex desktop recovery / connection-management / UI-state bug.