Windows desktop app silently closed/restarted after 26.506 update; no crash artifact recorded
Summary
Codex Desktop on Windows appeared to close unexpectedly and then relaunch shortly afterward. Local investigation did not find a fresh WER crash dump or Crashpad report, so this looks like a silent app/container restart rather than a normal reported crash.
Environment
- Product: Codex Desktop, Windows Store build
- Package:
OpenAI.Codex_26.506.2212.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0 - App release from Sentry scope:
codex@26.506.21252 - Electron:
41.2.0 - Chrome runtime:
146.0.7680.179 - Node:
24.14.0 - OS: Windows
10.0.26200 - Hardware context from app scope: x64 desktop, 32 logical CPUs, roughly 33 GB RAM
Timeline, local time America/Sao_Paulo
2026-05-08 12:39:17: Windows AppX registeredOpenAI.Codex_26.506.2212.0, replacingOpenAI.Codex_26.429.8261.0.2026-05-08 13:20:24: AppModel-Runtime logged creation of Codex process38196forOpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App.2026-05-08 13:20:34: AppModel-Runtime logged the Codex Desktop AppX container being destroyed.2026-05-08 13:20:39: AppModel-Runtime logged a new Codex launch, process16608.- Current live process tree after relaunch had multiple Codex renderer/helper processes and app-server process
codexunder the new launch.
Evidence checked
- Windows Application log, AppModel-Runtime/Admin, AppHost/Admin, AppXDeploymentServer/Operational, TWinUI/Operational, and System log around the event.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps: no recentCodex/OpenAIdump.%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue: no recent Codex AppCrash/AppHang queue item.%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive: only older stale Codex AppHang reports from April on older packages, not tied to this incident.%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Roaming\Codex\Crashpad\reports: empty for this incident.%USERPROFILE%\.codex\logs_2.sqlite: no fresh crash/fatal entry around the close/relaunch window. Recent errors were unrelated tool-routing errors from later investigation.
App telemetry/breadcrumb notes
The Sentry session.json for the current relaunch showed:
- status:
ok - errors:
1 - started:
2026-05-08 13:20:40 -03 - release:
codex@26.506.21252
The Sentry scope breadcrumbs after relaunch contained repeated console errors around 13:20:48:
parseLineType: Invalid firstChar ...
processFile: invalid rawLine ...
The invalid line payload was related to a Moved to: ... file path emitted by a previous workflow. I am omitting the raw local path here because it contains a local username/workspace path.
Later breadcrumbs also showed repeated sampler warnings:
[electron-sampler] Failed to collect child process snapshot
Command failed: powershell.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -Command ... Get-CimInstance Win32_Process ...
There was a large number of live powershell.exe/pwsh.exe helper processes at the time of investigation. Most were parented by a separate desktop app (Wispr Flow), but Codex also had a few active pwsh children. This may be a confounder for the sampler warnings, but it does not explain why Codex’s AppX container was destroyed and relaunched without a crash artifact.
Expected behavior
If the Windows desktop app closes/restarts unexpectedly, it should either preserve the session without visible disruption or leave a clear crash/restart artifact that explains the reason.
Actual behavior
The user saw the Codex app close unexpectedly. Windows logs show an AppX container destroy followed by a fresh launch five seconds later. No fresh WER/Crashpad artifact was recorded, and local Codex logs did not contain a clear fatal/crash record.
Redactions
I intentionally omitted/redacted local usernames, raw %USERPROFILE% paths, thread IDs, submission IDs, session/user IDs, process UUIDs, report UUIDs, and raw prompt/response text from local SQLite/session logs.
3 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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Additional reproduction on Windows package 26.707.9981.0
I reproduced the same silent close/container-exit pattern twice on July 15, 2026. No intentional window-close action was taken.
Environment
10.0.26200, x64OpenAI.Codex_26.707.9981.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0Ok26.707.9564.0to26.707.9981.0the previous day. There was no AppX deployment/update activity during either exit.Timeline
IpcRouter ... EPIPE, followed byStopping app-server transportandcause=stop_process.EPIPE-> app-server stopped.The first exit happened roughly three minutes after a turn-complete notification while the primary window was not focused. The second happened during an active turn while the primary window was focused, so it does not appear limited to post-task completion.
Evidence checked
render-process-gone,child-process-gone, fatal, panic, or crash reason before the window disappeared.EPIPEoccurs only after the window is already gone and the same cleanup signature also appears on older normal exits, so it looks like a downstream cleanup symptom rather than the initiating cause.This currently looks like the main BrowserWindow being destroyed and the app following its normal shutdown path without recording what triggered the close. Additional instrumentation around the BrowserWindow
close/closed/destroyedpath and the initiating caller would make this diagnosable.Additional reproduction on Windows package 26.715.8383.0
I reproduced the same silent AppX container destroy/relaunch pattern twice. No intentional window-close action was taken.
Environment
26200, x6426.715.8383.0OkTimeline (UTC)
2026-07-21 16:38:06Z: the Codex Desktop AppX container was destroyed.2026-07-21 16:38:11Z: a fresh Codex packaged-app process was launched.2026-07-22 02:29:43Z.2026-07-22 02:29:54Z: the AppX container was destroyed.2026-07-22 02:29:56Z: a fresh Codex packaged-app process was launched.Evidence checked
render-process-gone,child-process-gone, fatal, panic, or normal shutdown reason was logged.Immediately before the second exit, the desktop log recorded 17 global UI errors between
02:27:19Zand02:29:43Z. The final log line was:The same process log also contained 85 failed
fs/watchrequests and 85 paired warnings while restoring or switching threads containing Windows file links:I cannot establish that either error is the initiating cause. However, the repeated
ResizeObservererrors are the last recorded application activity before the log stops, and thefs/watchfailures show persistent Windows path deserialization problems during the same app session.This confirms that the silent container restart still occurs on Codex Desktop
26.715.8383.0.Could the app log the initiating caller or reason whenever the primary BrowserWindow or AppX container is closed or destroyed? It would also be helpful to confirm whether repeated global
ResizeObservererrors or failed file-watch restoration can trigger renderer/window teardown or watchdog recovery.Expected behavior
Codex Desktop should remain running during an active task. If it must restart, it should preserve the task and record or display a clear restart reason.
Redactions
Local usernames, raw filesystem paths, thread/turn/session IDs, process/container IDs, filenames, and prompt content have been omitted.