codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Windows Codex + WSL project: older threads lose cwd and terminal tries to cd into malformed WindowsApps/app/resources/\\wsl$ path

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?

Title: Windows Codex + WSL project: older threads lose cwd and terminal tries to cd into malformed WindowsApps/app/resources/\wsl$ path

Client:

• Codex app on Windows, using a WSL Ubuntu project

App/OS:

• Codex app: 26.513.40821
• Windows + WSL (Ubuntu)

Project:

• Originally added via Linux path: /home/ubuntu/spec-kit

Issue summary: After updating the Codex app, older chats for a WSL-based project are no longer associated with the project correctly. Opening the terminal from an old chat fails because the chat’s saved working directory becomes a malformed Windows path that concatenates the app resources directory with a \wsl$\ UNC path.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Open Codex desktop on Windows.
2. Open/use a project located in WSL at: /home/ubuntu/spec-kit
3. After updating Codex, open an older chat from the same project via Search or “All chats”.
4. Observe the old chat appears in global history but not correctly under the project.
5. Open the terminal from that old chat.

Expected:

• Older chats remain attached to the WSL project at /home/ubuntu/spec-kit
• Terminal opens in /home/ubuntu/spec-kit

Actual:

• Old chat shows: “Current working directory missing. This chat's working directory no longer exists.”
• Terminal attempts to cd into: /mnt/c/Program Files/WindowsApps/OpenAI.Codex_26.513.4821.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0/app/resources/\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\ubuntu\spec-kit
• Fails with: bash: cd: ... No such file or directory

Working directory values observed:

• New chat cwd: /home/ubuntu/spec-kit
• Old chat cwd: /mnt/c/Program Files/WindowsApps/OpenAI.Codex_26.513.4821.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0/app/resources/\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\ubuntu\spec-kit

Timing:

• Started immediately after a recent Codex app update to 26.513.40821
• Observed: 2026-05-17 (UTC)

Additional notes:

• Looks like a Windows/WSL path normalization regression: \wsl$\Ubuntu\home\ubuntu\spec-kit is being treated as relative to the app resources directory instead of resolved to /home/ubuntu/spec-kit.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Feedback ID: 019e373b-c49d-7d73-8a33-06b1637c3a55

What is the expected behavior?

After update chats in WSL project remain attached to the project

Additional information

Following settings were enabled during project creation and update:

Agent environment: Windows Subsystem for Linux Integrated terminal shell: WSL