Codex hangs on startup at 'Starting MCP servers (2/3): codex_apps'

Summary

Codex CLI frequently appears frozen at startup on:
Starting MCP servers (2/3): codex_apps

Environment

• Codex CLI: 0.125.0
• OS: macOS 26.3 (25D125)
• Host: Apple Silicon
• Date observed: 2026-04-29

Repro

1. Start codex in terminal.
2. Observe startup status line.
3. It often stays on Starting MCP servers (2/3): codex_apps for a long time (minutes in user sessions).

Expected

Startup should either:

• complete quickly, or
• fail fast with an explicit actionable error (network/auth/backend status) instead of appearing hung.

Actual

The UI appears stuck on codex_apps startup for a long time.

Evidence from local logs

From ~/.codex/log/codex-tui.log:

• 2026-04-27T07:24:29.633581Z

failed to force-refresh tools for MCP server 'codex_apps' ... MCP startup failed: timed out handshaking with MCP server after 30s

• 2026-04-28T08:28:02.773239Z

failed to force-refresh tools for MCP server 'codex_apps' ... HTTP request failed ... url (https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/wham/apps)

• 2026-04-22T07:19:09.903833Z (and multiple similar entries)

failed to force-refresh tools for MCP server 'codex_apps' ... error sending request for url (https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/wham/apps)

Notes

• This looks like connector startup / handshake resilience issue.
• Even when eventual fallback may happen, UX currently resembles a freeze.

Suggested fix

• Add clear startup timeout UX for codex_apps with visible reason.
• Degrade gracefully: continue startup with cached tools and explicit warning banner.
• Include retry backoff with user-visible status (attempt count + elapsed time).