The app settings show Integrated terminal shell = PowerShell, but the agent runtime for my thread reports shell=cmd. Because of that, PowerShell commands like Get-Content fail unless they are explicitly wrapped in powershell -Command ....

Open 💬 5 comments Opened Mar 10, 2026 by Dj-Shortcut
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

26.306.996.0

What subscription do you have?

Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.7840] x64

What issue are you seeing?

The app settings show Integrated terminal shell = PowerShell, but the agent runtime for my thread reports shell=cmd.

Because of that, PowerShell-native commands such as Get-Content fail unless they are explicitly wrapped or rewritten for cmd. In my case, this made the configured shell behavior feel inconsistent and confusing.

It is unclear whether the PowerShell setting only affects the visible integrated terminal while agent/tool execution still uses cmd, or whether this is an actual bug.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Open Codex settings and set Integrated terminal shell to PowerShell.
  2. Start a thread.
  3. In the thread/runtime context, the shell is reported as cmd.
  4. Run a PowerShell-native command such as Get-Content somefile.txt.
  5. The command fails as if it is being executed in cmd.

What is the expected behavior?

Expected behavior:
If PowerShell is selected, agent command execution should either use PowerShell consistently, or the app should clearly distinguish between the shell used for the integrated terminal and the shell used for agent/tool execution.

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 5 months ago

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

  • #13165
  • #13176

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Dj-Shortcut · 5 months ago

I can reproduce a very similar issue on Windows.

In Codex settings, Integrated terminal shell is set to PowerShell, but in the thread/runtime context the shell is reported as cmd.

Because of that, PowerShell-native commands like Get-Content fail unless explicitly invoked through PowerShell, which makes the shell behavior feel inconsistent.

Reniactor · 3 months ago

Why do you close this without linking the solution @Dj-Shortcut

Dj-Shortcut · 3 months ago
Why do you close this without linking the solution @Dj-Shortcut

sorry i don't fully remember, i think it's a Windows issue and not codex? would you like me to re open for you?

Reniactor · 3 months ago

No, this is certainly a Codex issue. Codex has (for some reason I can't really comprehend) hardcoded the shell to Powershell. From GPT 5.5 xHigh investigation itself:
"You cannot make the Windows-native Codex agent use Git Bash as its actual command runner. Git Bash is only supported as the integrated terminal choice. OpenAI’s Windows docs say the Windows-native agent runs commands in PowerShell, while the integrated terminal can separately be PowerShell, Command Prompt, Git Bash, or WSL."

The verbiage is kinda weird but, TL;DR: You cannot change the shell Codex uses.