Codex App fails to load "Recommended Skills"

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

windows 11 app

What subscription do you have?

chatgpt plus

What platform is your computer?

windows 11

What issue are you seeing?

Summary

On Windows 11 (Microsoft Store / MSIX build) Codex App fails to load "Recommended Skills" with:

Expected ...\.codex\vendor_imports\skills to be a git checkout but found an existing directory

Even after deleting the directory, the issue persists. The folder is recreated but never becomes a git checkout (no .git), so the app continues to error.

What I Tried

• Deleted / renamed:
• C:\Users\<user>\.codex\vendor_imports\skills
• Verified network works inside Codex prompts (internet access available).
• Verified git is installed and works from Windows shell:
• git --version ✅
• git ls-remote https://github.com/openai/skills.git ✅ (GitHub reachable)
• (Optional) I also have the Codex VS Code extension installed. It may share the same Codex home directory and could potentially race or interfere with vendor_imports\skills. I migrated the extension to WSL to reduce interference, but the Codex App issue still reproduces.

Hypothesis / Notes

• It looks like Codex App creates ...\vendor_imports\skills as a normal directory, then fails during clone/checkout, leaving a non-git directory behind.
• Subsequent runs detect the non-git directory and refuse to proceed, causing a persistent failure state.
• If multiple Codex processes (App + VS Code extension/CLI) touch the same path concurrently, this could also explain a partial/incomplete clone state.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 (build: <paste from winver>)
• Codex App: Microsoft Store / MSIX build (version: <paste from Store app details>)
• Installation channel: Microsoft Store
• Git: <paste git --version output>
• Network: GitHub accessible from Windows

Logs / Diagnostics

I could not find logs under C:\Users\<user>\.codex\log\ (may not apply to MSIX/Store builds).
If there is a known log location for Windows Store builds (e.g. %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<PackageFamilyName>\LocalState\...), please advise and I can attach logs.

Questions

1. What is the correct log path for the Windows Store/MSIX Codex App?
2. Should Codex App automatically recover if vendor_imports\skills exists but is not a git checkout?
3. Is it expected that Codex App and the VS Code extension/CLI share the same CODEX_HOME / .codex directory on Windows?
4. Is there a recommended way to isolate App vs extension to avoid concurrent modification of vendor_imports?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Reproduction Steps

1. Install Codex App from Microsoft Store (Windows 11).
2. Open Codex App → Skills (or wherever "Recommended Skills" are shown).
3. Trigger refresh / load recommended skills.

What is the expected behavior?

Expected Behavior

Codex App should clone / update the recommended skills repository and display the recommended skills list normally.

Actual Behavior

Codex App shows an error similar to:

• Expected C:\Users\<user>\.codex\vendor_imports\skills to be a git checkout but found an existing directory

Deleting C:\Users\<user>\.codex\vendor_imports\skills does not resolve it. On next launch/refresh, the directory exists again but is not a git checkout (no .git), and the same error repeats.

Additional information

<img width="1452" height="1043" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b8093e3f-306e-448b-9f01-40c2ebd4c86c" />