macOS desktop shows "Computer Use plugin unavailable" even though bundled computer-use plugin exists

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

• #18258
• #18404
• #18555

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I hit a related "Computer Use exists locally but the active runtime cannot use it" failure while fixing an OpenClaw/Codex Mac setup. A few checks that helped separate the layers:

codex mcp list
codex plugin marketplace add /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/plugins/openai-bundled
codex mcp list

Also check that the runtime actually sees the installed plugin cache, not just the app bundle:

ls ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/*/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
ls ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/*/.mcp.json

The failure mode I saw was not the same UI string, but the important distinction was:

• bundled plugin present in /Applications/Codex.app/... did not mean the active agent runtime had the MCP server loaded
• a stale/isolated Codex home could have plugin config but no usable auth/account state
• macOS Screen Recording + Accessibility can both be granted while the app-server runtime still cannot see computer-use

For people debugging this class of Mac setup, the useful smoke test is not only "does the file exist?" but "can the active runtime call a Computer Use tool such as list apps / inspect active UI?"

I packaged my full checklist and paid setup service here, but the diagnostics above are the relevant free part for this issue:
https://igorganapolsky.github.io/openclaw-mac-ai-workstation-setup/

This is almost always the bundled plugin path being correct but the active
Codex home not having registered it — the cache that Codex reads lives in
your user directory and the install never hydrates it.

codex mcp list
ls -la ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/*/.mcp.json
# If absent:
codex plugin marketplace add /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/plugins/openai-bundled
codex mcp list

If computer-use is still missing after that, you have a second Codex home
(see Symptom 5 in the walkthrough — stale CODEX_HOME from a shell rc that
exported one path while the installer wrote to another).

Walkthrough with all 6 root causes:
https://igorganapolsky.github.io/openclaw-mac-ai-workstation-setup/troubleshooting.html

Free local script that runs all checks and redacts secrets:
clone the repo and run node scripts/self-diagnose.mjs — writes a bundle to
your Desktop you can review or paste into the $19 quick read for a confirmed
root cause.

@JOJOMRJ — adding a few more angles on the macOS 15.6 / bundled-plugin-exists state, since the install path itself isn't the gap:

1. Confirm the active macOS user's cache is actually hydrated. The bundled plugin existing under /Applications/Codex.app/... and the runtime being able to use it are different states — the cache populates per macOS user, not per install. Worth verifying directly:

ls ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/*/.mcp.json
ls ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/*/.codex-plugin/plugin.json

If both are missing for your current shell user, rehydrate:

codex plugin marketplace add /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/plugins/openai-bundled
codex mcp list

2. SkyComputerUseClient LC_BUILD_VERSION vs your macOS. If the bundled client targets a newer macOS than you're on, registration succeeds but launch fails silently and Codex surfaces the plugin as "unavailable":

/usr/bin/otool -l "/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/plugins/openai-bundled/computer-use/"*/SkyComputerUseClient \
  | grep -A 2 LC_BUILD_VERSION

If minos is higher than your current macOS, that's the gap and a permission grant or reinstall won't fix it.

3. The marketplace-regeneration bug from #21579. If the above two check out, grep your Codex Desktop logs right after a relaunch for:

bundled_plugins_runtime_marketplace_written pluginCount=2 pluginNames=["browser","latex"]
bundled_plugin_uninstall_requested pluginId=computer-use@openai-bundled reason=not_in_bundled_marketplace_plugin_names

If both lines appear on every startup, that's the same bug @ShalevZorany identified in #21579 — Codex Desktop is regenerating the bundled marketplace as browser+latex only and removing computer-use on every launch. Local fixes don't survive a relaunch in that case; the workaround is to restore openai-bundled from the app bundle after each Codex start.

(Longer write-up of these three failure classes plus the codesign / TCC variants: https://igorganapolsky.github.io/openclaw-mac-ai-workstation-setup/troubleshooting.html?utm_source=codex-issue&utm_medium=funnel&utm_campaign=qr-2026. If you'd rather send a redacted log bundle and get the specific root cause back, the $19 Quick Read does same-day diagnosis: https://igorganapolsky.github.io/openclaw-mac-ai-workstation-setup/speed-to-lead.html)

For what it's worth, this now seems to be working for me after updating Codex.

My guess is that it may have been related to the recent Computer Use / plugin availability rollout in Europe, which now appears to be available. I am actually based in Israel, so the regional behavior was a bit confusing, but after updating Codex the feature is visible and working on my machine.

It may be worth checking again after updating to the latest Codex build.