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Codex Issues / #20550

Codex Desktop plugin/skills page is covered by a white overlay on Intel macOS 26.2

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened May 1, 2026 by whooyooruo Closed May 1, 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?

Codex Desktop: 26.429.20946 (CFBundleVersion 2312)
Bundled CLI: codex-cli 0.128.0-alpha.1
PATH CLI: codex-cli 0.125.0

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.2 (BuildVersion: 25C56)
Architecture: Intel / x86_64
Codex app binary: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

What issue are you seeing?

In Codex Desktop on an Intel Mac, both the Plugins and Skills pages render with a large white overlay/blank region covering the content area. The underlying page appears partially loaded, but most cards/text are obscured or clipped by a white rectangular layer. The issue persists after upgrading Codex Desktop.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open Codex Desktop on Intel macOS.
  2. Navigate to the left sidebar item Plugins.
  3. Observe that the main plugins page is covered by a large white overlay/blank region.
  4. Navigate to Skills.
  5. The same white overlay/blank rendering issue appears there too.

Expected behavior

The Plugins and Skills pages should render their cards/lists normally without a white overlay blocking the content.

Actual behavior

A large white layer/blank area covers the main content. The page is not usable visually, even though some underlying UI fragments are visible.

Troubleshooting already attempted

The issue still reproduces after all of the following:

  • Restarted Codex Desktop.
  • Cleared Codex render/code/GPU caches:
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.openai.codex/fsCachedData
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/Cache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/Code Cache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/GPUCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/DawnGraphiteCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/DawnWebGPUCache
  • Tried launching with GPU disabled:
  • open -n -a /Applications/Codex.app --args --disable-gpu --disable-gpu-compositing --disable-features=UseSkiaRenderer
  • Rebuilt the entire Codex Desktop user data directory by moving ~/Library/Application Support/Codex aside and allowing Codex to create a fresh one.
  • Confirmed the problem still occurs with a clean user data directory.
  • Restored the original user data directory afterward.

Relevant logs

The desktop app log repeatedly reports this while loading Plugins/Skills:

unsupported feature enablement `workspace_dependencies`: currently supported features are apps, memories, plugins, remote_control, tool_search, tool_suggest, tool_call_mcp_elicitation

Nearby log entries show plugin/list and skills/list requests completing, but the UI remains visually blocked by the white overlay.

Example sequence from the logs:

Features enabled enabledFeatures="enable_request_compression, collaboration_modes, personality, request_rule, image_generation, image_detail_original, workspace_dependencies, guardian_approval, workspace_owner_usage_nudge, apps, plugins, tool_search, tool_suggest, tool_call_mcp_elicitation"
Request failed ... method=experimentalFeature/enablement/set ... error={"code":-32600,"message":"unsupported feature enablement `workspace_dependencies`: currently supported features are apps, memories, plugins, remote_control, tool_search, tool_suggest, tool_call_mcp_elicitation"}
Failed to sync experimental feature enablement ... unsupported feature enablement `workspace_dependencies`
... method=plugin/list ... errorCode=null
... method=skills/list ... errorCode=null

Additional notes

This appears specific to Codex Desktop UI rendering or frontend/app-server feature compatibility. It does not appear to be caused by local plugin configuration, cache corruption, or existing user data, because the problem reproduces with a clean ~/Library/Application Support/Codex directory.

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

  • #20274
  • #20055
  • #19237
  • #20105
  • #18856

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whooyooruo · 3 months ago

Additional finding after local testing:

Launching Codex Desktop with Chromium/Electron's high-performance GPU hint appears to resolve the white overlay issue on this Intel MacBook Pro dual-GPU machine:

open -n -a /Applications/Codex.app --args --force_high_performance_gpu

Process verification showed the app and GPU helper started with --force_high_performance_gpu:

/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/MacOS/Codex --force_high_performance_gpu
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Frameworks/Codex Helper.app/... --type=gpu-process --force_high_performance_gpu

System GPU configuration:

Intel UHD Graphics 630
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported

Launching with --force_low_power_gpu still uses the low-power GPU path and is suspected to reproduce the issue. This suggests the problem may be tied to the Intel/low-power GPU or automatic graphics switching path rather than plugin configuration or persisted user data.

Recent WindowServer/CoreAnimation logs during testing included messages such as:

Context is a zombie
CmdStreamMsg ... is invalid
synchronize timed out
timed out fence
NULL color space
_CGXPackagesSetWindowConstraints: Invalid window

So the issue now looks like a Codex Desktop/Electron rendering compatibility problem triggered by Intel Mac dual-GPU switching or the low-power GPU path.

lhou1325 · 3 months ago

I’m seeing a very similar Plugins page rendering problem on a different Intel macOS environment.

Environment:

  • Codex Desktop: 26.429.30905 (CFBundleVersion 2345)
  • macOS: 15.7.5 (BuildVersion 24G624)
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • App bundle: /Applications/Codex.app, bundle id com.openai.codex

Symptom:

  • Opening the left-sidebar Plugins page shows the page partially loaded, but the plugin contents are visually obscured/clipped by a large dark/blank overlay region.
  • Some underlying card fragments and text are visible at the right/bottom, but most of the content area is not usable.
  • Local plugin metadata appears to exist and be readable, so this does not look like missing plugin files.

Local checks:

  • Installed app version from mdls / Info.plist: 26.429.30905
  • Official appcast currently reports 26.429.30905 as latest public x64 build.
  • ~/.codex/plugins/cache contains installed plugin bundles, including:
  • openai-curated/github/3c463363
  • openai-primary-runtime/spreadsheets/26.430.10722
  • openai-primary-runtime/presentations/26.430.10722
  • openai-primary-runtime/documents/26.430.10722
  • openai-bundled/browser-use/0.1.0-alpha1
  • plugin.json files for those bundles are valid and readable.
  • Local marketplace checkout exists at ~/.codex/.tmp/plugins with about 100 plugin definitions, including common marketplace plugins.

Troubleshooting already attempted:

  • Cmd+R reload
  • Cmd+0 zoom reset
  • App restart
  • Window resize/maximize
  • Cleared/moved render/cache directories:
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/GPUCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/DawnGraphiteCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/DawnWebGPUCache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/Code Cache
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Codex/Cache
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.openai.codex/Cache.db*
  • Removed a Codex-only macOS AppleTextDirection defaults override and restarted.

None of the above fixed the rendering problem.

Additional observation:

Attempting a GPU-disabled launch with:

open -na /Applications/Codex.app --args --disable-gpu --disable-gpu-compositing --disable-features=Metal

caused the Codex icon to bounce indefinitely and the app window never opened. Killing the standalone Codex app processes and reopening normally recovered the app, but the Plugins page rendering problem remained.

This looks consistent with a Codex Desktop / Electron rendering issue on Intel macOS rather than a missing-plugin-data issue.