Codex Desktop Markdown file preview fails to render local images when paths contain spaces
What version of Codex is running?
Not sure. Codex Desktop app on macOS. I could not retrieve the app version from this environment.
What platform is your computer?
macOS 26.3.1, arm64.
What issue are you seeing?
In the Codex Desktop right-side Markdown file preview pane, local image embeds fail to render when the referenced image path contains spaces. The preview leaves a blank / missing image area instead of loading the local image.
This report is specifically about rendering images inside a .md file opened in the right-side preview pane, not about clicking a file link in an assistant message.
Steps to reproduce
- In a Codex Desktop workspace on macOS, create a Markdown file and an image file under a path containing a space.
- Reference the image from the Markdown file, for example:
``md``

or with an absolute path containing a space:
``md``

- Open/render the
.mdfile in the right-side preview pane. - Observe that the image does not render correctly.
Expected behavior
Markdown image embeds should render correctly when the local path contains spaces, either by preserving the full path as a single local-resource path or by correctly encoding spaces as %20 before resolving the image source.
Actual behavior
The image area is blank / missing in the right-side Markdown file preview when the image path includes spaces.
Related issues checked
I found several related local path / Markdown rendering issues, but none that appear to be the exact same scope:
- #14641: Markdown file links with spaces in absolute paths render as plain text. Related path encoding issue, but this report is about image embeds in Markdown file preview.
- #17682: macOS clickable local file paths with spaces do not open / preview. Related local path handling, but this report is about rendering images inside a
.mdpreview. - #20166: macOS local Markdown images fail when paths contain non-ASCII characters. Likely same path/URL encoding area, but this report is specifically paths containing spaces.
- #14576: Windows desktop app does not render local Markdown images from absolute drive-letter paths. Related image rendering issue on Windows; this report is macOS/right-pane Markdown file preview with spaces.
Additional information
This may share root cause with local-resource URL/path encoding in the Desktop app Markdown renderer. A useful control would be comparing the same image copied to a path with no spaces against the original path with spaces.
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