›_ Codex Issues
Codex Issues / #17444

Booting MCP Server

Open 💬 23 comments Opened Apr 11, 2026 by vural2123
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.120.0

What subscription do you have?

Plus with Codex Credit

Which model were you using?

gpt 5.4 Medium Fast

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

PowerShell

What issue are you seeing?

It says "Booting MCP server: codex_apps (8m 09s • esc to interrupt)" and I'm running out of credits, even though it's not doing anything; hundreds of credits are wasted.

<img width="908" height="143" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a776e3d-5882-4bf8-975e-66619c22c1b3" />

What steps can reproduce the bug?

I don't know, but I added more than 10 queue messages in the CLI.

What is the expected behavior?

My loans are running out, but there's no response.

Additional information

It says "Booting MCP server: codex_apps (8m 09s • esc to interrupt)" and I'm running out of credits, even though it's not doing anything; hundreds of credits are wasted.

<img width="908" height="143" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a776e3d-5882-4bf8-975e-66619c22c1b3" />

View original on GitHub ↗

23 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

  • #17143
  • #16550
  • #17095
  • #17285

Powered by Codex Action

etraut-openai contributor · 3 months ago

When you're waiting for a local MCP server to start, you're not sending anything to the model, so no tokens are used.

vural2123 · 3 months ago
When you're waiting for a local MCP server to start, you're not sending anything to the model, so no tokens are used.

This is a bug, and how can you be so sure and speak so definitively without seeing it?
I was tracking my credits while writing MCP booting and I watched as about 200 credits were wasted.

etraut-openai contributor · 3 months ago

If you're seeing credits being consumed, then there's more going on here than is described in your bug report above.

etraut-openai contributor · 3 months ago

If you're able to repro, use /feedback to upload your logs and session details, then post the thread ID here.

vural2123 · 3 months ago

Uploaded thread: 019d6a4c-6734-7853-9a30-7f622a2b8ce4

crypto-2042 · 3 months ago

Same issue.

Differences:

  • macmini + iterm2
paolomax · 3 months ago

Same issue

vural2123 · 3 months ago
Same issue
Same issue. Differences: * macmini + iterm2

But @etraut-openai says this is normal :)

chadrick-kwag · 2 months ago

same issue
thread id: 019dba89-73ca-7c72-a938-31d64be28cee

was running in macbook, vscode terminal

weird though. when i check /mcp

/mcp

🔌  MCP Tools

  • No MCP tools available.

  • codex_apps
    • Auth: Bearer token
    • Tools: (none)

codex_apps seems like a dummy mcp with no tools.

why would i try to reboot this and get stuck on it?

my fix:
just prompted to continue the task without calling codex_apps mcp server. luckily, this worked and did not get into this bug loop.

JozefWoo · 2 months ago

Same issue. "This is normal" is not an explanation. Why does it do that?

Katie1998 · 2 months ago

This is exactly the problem why a lot of people not using Codex...

I am using Codex CLI and since 40 minutes it shows "Booting MCP Server"...

<img width="379" height="75" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/98b31931-b1b0-4164-ac65-5aa26c8b1e1c" />

Weatwagon · 2 months ago

Kept happing to me, I got out of the tmux(psmux on windows) session and it was able to continue. I have not had problems with this until today.

pavelaizen · 2 months ago

Same for me:
• Booting MCP server: codex_apps (23m 30s • esc to interrupt)

ravan · 2 months ago

Same for me: _Booting MCP server: codex_apps (8m 49s • esc to interrupt)_
Thread ID 019ded31-e27c-7223-9173-7f6b32138d60

ftzi · 2 months ago

why the fuck is this mcp being started if i aint using mcp at all

holonicbio · 2 months ago

Are you all running in tmux session? I think this could be tmux specific.

adawalli · 2 months ago
Are you all running in tmux session? I think this could be tmux specific.

Nope - running directly in GHOSTTY terminal window.

essicajaybarron-stack · 2 months ago

https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/17444

kbourro · 2 months ago

same for me

jordi735 · 2 months ago

Yep, coming across the same issue. Seemingly at random it'll go into Booting MCP server: codex_apps at which case the entire progress of the session just seems to halt... Don't have session on me right now so I can't leave a proper /feedback.

linux mint 22.3
allacritty 0.17.0
codex-cli 0.129.0
tmux 3.4

No MCP servers installed, coincidentally removed my .codex dir a couple hours ago after the 0.129.0 update so I have pretty much a 100% fresh install, except for a couple config lines and 2 skills.

Edit: also happening on 0.130.0

itpropro · 2 months ago

Still no fix?

saluzafa · 2 months ago

I found a temporary fix by adding this to my ~/.codex/config.toml:

[features]
apps = false
enable_mcp_apps = false