Windows Codex app leaves backend helper processes running when closed via window X
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 13, 2026 by argifford Closed Apr 13, 2026
💡 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)?
Codex app for Windows 26.409.20454
What subscription do you have?
Enterprise
What platform is your computer?
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64
What issue are you seeing?
Closing the Codex app using the titlebar X does not fully shut down backend helper processes. Using File -> Exit shuts down cleanly.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Open the Codex app on Windows.
- Wait for startup to finish with MCP tools enabled.
- Close the app with the window X.
- Inspect running processes in Task Manager or PowerShell.
What is the expected behavior?
All Codex-related processes exit.
Actual:
Backend/helper processes remain running after the window closes, including:
- codex.exe (app-server)
- uvx.exe
- node.exe
Additional information
Notes:
- On this machine, File -> Exit is clean.
- The issue appears specific to the window-close path.
- The remaining helper processes appear to be MCP-related children.
3 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
Powered by Codex Action
Same as https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/17322 - added comment there
<img width="352" height="163" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/40d4c7ee-9d70-4e02-b9f6-b665696c6c3b" />
Apparently, the issue has been fixed on 26.415.20818
I just tested and both “New chat”, close/reopen are working as they should, and right-clicking the tray icon closes it completely.
However, “New chat” creates a new chat for the current project, not a totally new one. But this is the standard behavior when opening Codex, if defaults to the last opened project.