codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Windows desktop notification click opens invalid WindowsApps path with type=click query

Summary

On Windows, Codex desktop turn-complete notifications can trigger an Electron launch error when the notification is clicked/opened. The error dialog shows Windows/Electron trying to launch a path under C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\... with notification click metadata appended, e.g. ?type=click&tag=..., and then reports that the Electron app/module cannot be found.

Disabling Windows notifications for the Codex app stopped the error immediately, which points to the desktop notification activation path rather than the CLI notify hook.

Environment

• OS: Windows
• Codex desktop package observed in logs: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• App-server version reported in logs: 0.135.0-alpha.1
• Codex desktop build flavor: prod
• Approx observed time: 2026-05-29 evening Pacific / 2026-05-30 UTC

Repro steps

1. Run Codex desktop on Windows.
2. Send a prompt and wait for the assistant turn to complete.
3. Codex shows a desktop notification for the completed turn.
4. Click/open the notification.
5. An Electron error dialog appears.

Observed behavior

The dialog title is Error, with heading Error launching app. It says it is unable to find the Electron app at a path shaped like:

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\...\?type=click&tag=...

It also reports Cannot find module for the same path shape.

Relevant redacted log sequence:

[desktop-notifications] show turn-complete conversationId=<redacted> turnId=<redacted>
[desktop-notifications] forward show kind=turn-complete notificationId=turn-<redacted>
[desktop-notifications] show notification actionCount=0 kind=turn-complete notificationId=turn-<redacted>
[desktop-notifications] emit action actionId=none actionType=open notificationId=turn-<redacted>
[desktop-notifications] notification click open notificationId=turn-<redacted>
[desktop-notifications] action actionType=open conversationId=<redacted> requestId=none

There were also repeated startup lines such as:

[desktop-notifications] service starting
[computer-use-native-pipe] computer-use notify config ensure finished platform=win32 reason=missing-helper-path status=skipped

Earlier, when the notify = [...] CLI config hook existed, it was removed/disabled. The error still reproduced on desktop notification click/open events, so the issue appears to be the app's built-in notification activation handling.

Expected behavior

Clicking a Codex turn-complete notification should focus/open the existing Codex desktop window and navigate to the relevant conversation without an Electron launch error.

Workaround confirmed

Disable Windows notifications for the Codex app registry entry:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Settings\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App
Enabled = 0

After setting this, the turn-complete notification no longer appeared and the error stopped occurring.