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Codex Issues / #21689

[Bug] Codex macOS app has broken UI rendering on Intel Macs

Open 💬 5 comments Opened May 8, 2026 by ljt7560868
💡 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)?

26.506.21252 (2575)

What subscription do you have?

plus

What platform is your computer?

12.7.4 (21H1123)

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex desktop app shows severe UI rendering/layout issues on Intel-based Macs, especially in the Plugins page.

The UI becomes partially blank, plugin cards are clipped, and some text renders incorrectly or incompletely.

<img width="2048" height="1419" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0494da04-3401-437c-8aac-f3a3d8247278" />

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Open Codex Desktop App
Navigate to the "Plugins" page
Observe plugin cards and page rendering
Plugin cards render only partially
Right-side content area appears blank/misaligned
Some text labels render as single letters only
UI layout looks broken or unfinished
Scrolling/rendering behavior appears unstable

What is the expected behavior?

Plugin cards should render completely
All UI elements and text should appear normally
Layout should remain stable and readable

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

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

  • #20105
  • #21491
  • #21133
  • #21077
  • #21403

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Tofilmjc · 3 months ago

I’m seeing what appears to be the same issue on Codex Desktop 26.506.21252 on macOS.

Symptoms:

  • Plugins page renders clipped/partially blank.
  • Plugin cards and text are cut off or only partially visible.
  • The search/plugins area appears to block or misalign the page.
  • Reinstalling Codex did not fix it.
  • Clearing cache/local storage did not fix it.

Additional diagnostics from the affected machine:

App: Codex Desktop
Version: 26.506.21252
Bundle identifier: com.openai.codex
Executable: Codex

codesign / spctl diagnostics:

/Applications/Codex.app: invalid signature (code or signature have been modified)
In architecture: x86_64

/Applications/Codex.app: internal error in Code Signing subsystem

Current app preferences included:

AppleTextDirection = 1;
NSForceRightToLeftWritingDirection = 0;

Troubleshooting already tried without resolving the Plugins rendering issue:

  • Updated Codex.
  • Uninstalled/reinstalled Codex.
  • Cleared temporary rendering caches: Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, DawnGraphiteCache, DawnWebGPUCache, and ~/Library/Caches/com.openai.codex.
  • Attempted local UI state reset: Local Storage, Session Storage, and Preferences.
  • Attempted to clear app text-direction preference.

Related issues that may be connected:

  • #21077
  • #18523
Batista99 · 3 months ago

“Electron may have compatibility issues with Intel integrated graphics on Intel-based MacBooks, which can lead to rendering glitches or performance problems.

On macOS, you can force the application to use the discrete GPU to work around this issue. For example:

open -a "Codex" --args --force_high_performance_gpu

Most Chrome/Electron-based applications can be launched this way, which helps avoid rendering errors or lag caused by Intel integrated graphics.”

ljt7560868 · 3 months ago
“Electron may have compatibility issues with Intel integrated graphics on Intel-based MacBooks, which can lead to rendering glitches or performance problems. On macOS, you can force the application to use the discrete GPU to work around this issue. For example: open -a "Codex" --args --force_high_performance_gpu Most Chrome/Electron-based applications can be launched this way, which helps avoid rendering errors or lag caused by Intel integrated graphics.”

This solution worked perfectly for me! Thank you for sharing.

Uncle-Gao · 3 months ago

This is the broader Intel-Mac rendering issue tracked in #18341; root cause is CSS backdrop-filter triggering an IOSurface transfer that silently fails on Intel HD/UHD GPU drivers under macOS — see #23458 for the detailed analysis.

A drop-in fix that keeps Metal on and doesn't need any launch flags: https://github.com/Uncle-Gao/codex-gpu-fix