[regression] Any links (file references) in the VS Code extension chat are not working, regardless of their format.

Open 💬 12 comments Opened Apr 13, 2026 by alexchexes

💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

26.409.20454

What subscription do you have?

Plus

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26100.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Absolutely any links to local machine files stopped working after one of the April updates to codex extension.

Screencast:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c600ceb9-1bd8-40b5-895b-8fa3ebe4a568

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Create a file: C:\Users\XXX\Desktop\codex-tmp\foo\bar.md and open C:\Users\XXX\Desktop\codex-tmp in VS Code

Ask Codex to produce a response with this output:

Using the workspace file at `C:\Users\XXX\Desktop\codex-tmp\foo\bar.md`.

**Absolute**
- [bar.md:1](/c:/Users/XXX/Desktop/codex-tmp/foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](/c:/Users/XXX/Desktop/codex-tmp/foo/bar.md)
- [bar.md:1](file:///C:/Users/XXX/Desktop/codex-tmp/foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](file:///C:/Users/XXX/Desktop/codex-tmp/foo/bar.md)

**Workspace-Relative**
- [bar.md:1](/foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](/foo/bar.md)
- [bar.md:1](./foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](./foo/bar.md)
- [bar.md:1](foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](foo/bar.md)

**Relative From `foo/bar.md` To Itself**
- [bar.md:1](./bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](./bar.md)
- [bar.md:1](bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](bar.md)
- [bar.md:1](../foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md](../foo/bar.md)

**Same Idea, Root-Style Plus Line Anchor**- [bar.md:1](/foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md:1](./foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md:1](foo/bar.md#L1)
- [bar.md:1](../foo/bar.md#L1)

Try clicking links, notice that none of them opens foo/bar.md file, while previously this format worked perfectly:

[bar](/c:/Users/XXX/Desktop/codex-tmp/foo/bar.md)

What is the expected behavior?

Clickable links to local files that Codex generates actually work and open the referenced file.

Additional information

_That is very annoying that OpenAI rolls out such low-quality updates. This is not the first case; see #16117, #17334 - no reaction from the OpenAI team to these._

_We are considering switching to other solutions._

View original on GitHub ↗

12 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

#17628
#16320
#16849
#16850

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teneko · 3 months ago

It is not a regression if it has never worked before. 😆

alexchexes · 3 months ago

@teneko Nah, it used to work. Not always by default, but good enough with this AGENTS.md record:

## Local files references
On Windows, when referencing local files IN RESPONSES, always use exactly this format for clickable links: [filename.ext:123](/c:/path/to/file/filename.ext#L123).
When referencing local files IN `.md` FILES, use one of these formats:
- [filename.ext:123](file:///C:/path/to/file/filename.ext#L123) - Absolute, for files outside of this workspace.
- [filename.ext:123](./filename.ext#L123) - Relative to current file
- [filename.ext:123](/filename.ext#L123) - Relative to workspace root
- [section](./filename.md#my-header) or [section](/filename.md#my-header) - Links to headers
If a path contains space, never use any markdown links. Write it as inline code in the format `/c:/path to file/filename.ext:123`, both IN RESPONSES and IN `.md` FILES.
`c:` is an example, use appropriate drive letters.

Accessdenied123 · 3 months ago

I can confirm this on my side as well.

Environment:

IDE: VS Code
Workspace is trusted
File links generated by Codex are correct and the target file exists
Opening the same file manually via Ctrl+P works
Clicking the blue file link in Codex chat does nothing
Developer: Reload Window did not help

In my case this happens on a Linux/WSL-style path like:
/home/user/dev/projects/project/frontend/src/features/blocks/ui/Paragraph.tsx

So this may not be Windows-only.

teneko · 3 months ago

@alexchexes I think I define a regression if the feature was ever fully working. If I had to put a number on it, links work as intended only about 30% of the time. It is beyond me why some links redirect to the IDE while others redirect to the diff. Some links are relativ, some are absolute and links with line numbers are never working. Relative links have the oddity that these links are opening the IDE, here namely VSCode, but then showing only a blank page because out of workspace.. Calling this a regression is an understatement.

alexchexes · 3 months ago

@teneko Maybe we were using different versions, environments, some settings, or anything else, but in my case, the AGENTS.md record I showed above used to work perfectly (with and without line numbers) right until the latest update that broke it. That is the definition of the regression that I was referencing in this issue; maybe it was not the case in your situation, though. Given the overall low quality of the extension, it might be that the links depended not only on the format that I forced via AGENTS.md but on some other hidden unknowns.

ggecy · 3 months ago

How is such basic (and crucial) functionality still not being fixed after so many days? This also happens on MacOS.

alexchexes · 3 months ago

I am afraid to jinx it, but starting from 16.04.2026 at around 20:30 UTC, links apparently started working again.

At least links in this format, as shown in the above AGENTS.md:

[.bashrc](/c:/Users/YourUserName/.bashrc)

daihouzi · 3 months ago

26.415.20818, it works again

ggecy · 3 months ago

Yes, it started working right after I wrote the comment. Let's hope it won't stop again 😀

virtushda · 3 months ago

Was working until I had to reinstall the extension, now it's not working again.
Same version: 26.415.20818

virtushda · 3 months ago

I've noticed it depends how links are written by the AI.
Without special instructions, most links are broken for me.
Using the above AGENTS.md contents, links are working again.