Codex Desktop regression: @Computer / Computer Use disappears from mention completion after Any App update

Open 💬 1 comment Opened May 15, 2026 by trukhinyuri

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

Currently rolled back to a working Codex Desktop build:

  • Codex Desktop: 26.513.20950 / build 2816
  • Bundled computer-use plugin in the working app: 1.0.791
  • Codex Computer Use.app helper bundle: build 791

The regression happened after updating to the next/latest Codex Desktop version offered after this build. I had to roll back, so I no longer have the exact broken app build installed. The uploaded thread contains the live investigation context:

  • Uploaded thread: 019e2aa1-1106-7562-9656-7ce87b0347f0

What subscription do you have?

Paid ChatGPT/Codex Desktop account used for production infrastructure work. Exact plan name is not available from local diagnostics.

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm
macOS 26.5 build 25F71
Apple Silicon / arm64

What issue are you seeing?

After updating Codex Desktop overnight to the next/latest version after the currently working build, Computer Use was effectively broken for my workflow:

  1. @Computer / Computer Use no longer appeared in the mention completion dropdown when writing a prompt.
  2. The Computer Use / Any App feature was still enabled in Codex Desktop settings.
  3. The feature seems to have been renamed from Computer / Computer Use to Any App, but the explicit @Computer mention path disappeared from completion.
  4. Because I could no longer explicitly select the Computer Use plugin in a prompt, production workflows that depend on intentional, user-directed Computer Use could not continue safely.
  5. I had to use Codex to find an older downloaded Codex Desktop version and roll back manually. Since older Codex Desktop releases are not officially published, this is a critical operational risk: a broken auto-update can stop a large company's work with no supported downgrade path.

This is not just a cosmetic rename problem. Explicit @Computer mention completion is critical for my team because we need to intentionally route a task to Computer Use / Any App. Please preserve this explicit invocation path even if the product surface is renamed.

The current working state after rollback shows @Computer is visible again in completion, with the Computer icon.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Start from working Codex Desktop 26.513.20950 / build 2816 on macOS arm64.
  2. Confirm Computer Use / Any App is enabled in settings.
  3. In a prompt, type @Computer and confirm the Computer Use plugin appears in completion.
  4. Update Codex Desktop to the next/latest version offered after this build.
  5. Open a new or existing thread and type @Computer.
  6. Observe that Computer Use no longer appears in completion, even though the setting is enabled.
  7. Try to continue workflows that require explicit Computer Use routing; they are blocked.
  8. Roll back to the previous Codex Desktop build; @Computer appears again.

Additional context from the same machine during debugging:

  • Before rollback, a Computer Use MCP probe returned:
Apple event error -10013: The Computer Use server and client have a version mismatch. To use Computer Use, ask the user to relaunch their Codex app so that the client will be updated to the latest version.
  • During the investigation, the app bundle and installed helper were on Computer Use build 791, while Codex was still launching SkyComputerUseClient mcp from a stale plugin cache path that had been installed under ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/1.0.780.
  • lsof showed multiple SkyComputerUseClient mcp processes running from the cached computer-use/1.0.780 plugin path while the installed service/helper had moved to build 791.
  • After rollback, the cache had to be restored to the compatible 1.0.780 state for the older app; otherwise the current thread's Computer Use transport remained broken.

Relevant local config confirms the feature was enabled:

[plugins."computer-use@openai-bundled"]
enabled = true

[features]
plugins = true
computer_use = true
apps = true

Related issues I found before filing this, but they do not seem to cover this exact regression:

  • #21579: Computer Use does not appear in Settings despite plugin and helper existing
  • #21846: Computer Use fails with code-signing invalid helper

What is the expected behavior?

  1. The explicit @Computer mention must remain available in prompt completion across Codex Desktop updates.
  2. If the feature is renamed to Any App, the old @Computer alias should remain as a backwards-compatible invocation path, or completion should clearly show both names, e.g. Computer / Any App.
  3. Enabled Computer Use / Any App settings should guarantee that the plugin is discoverable from prompt completion.
  4. Updating Codex Desktop should update the app bundle, plugin cache, installed helper, and running SkyComputerUseClient / SkyComputerUseService consistently so no client/service version mismatch can occur.
  5. If an update breaks Computer Use, users should have an official rollback/download path for the previous working Codex Desktop version.

Additional information

This is a blocking issue for our company. I am Director of Infrastructure at CloudLinux / TuxCare, and Computer Use with explicit @Computer selection is a critical part of our Codex Desktop operational workflow. Until this is fixed, I cannot safely update Codex Desktop beyond the working build.

Why this matters:

  • We use Codex Desktop for infrastructure operations, incident/debug workflows, browser-based systems, and internal tooling.
  • Explicit @Computer selection is the control surface that tells Codex to use local macOS applications intentionally.
  • Losing that completion entry makes the workflow ambiguous and unreliable.
  • This explicit Computer Use invocation is one of the main reasons we use Codex Desktop for these workflows.

Diagnostic artifacts from the affected machine:

Current working app after rollback:
Codex Desktop: 26.513.20950 / build 2816
macOS: 26.5 / 25F71
Platform: Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm
Computer Use plugin in app bundle: 1.0.791
Codex Computer Use helper build: 791
Uploaded thread: 019e2aa1-1106-7562-9656-7ce87b0347f0

Crash reports produced during manual helper probing after rollback/debugging, with private paths redacted:

~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/SkyComputerUseClient-2026-05-15-102002.ips
~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/SkyComputerUseClient-2026-05-15-102026.ips

bundleInfo: CFBundleShortVersionString=1.0, CFBundleVersion=780, CFBundleIdentifier=com.openai.sky.CUAService.cli
exception: EXC_CRASH / SIGKILL (Code Signature Invalid)
termination: namespace=CODESIGNING, indicator=Launch Constraint Violation

Those crash reports came from manual shell probing of the helper and may be separate from the mention-completion regression, but they show how fragile the helper/cache/update state became during rollback/debugging. The primary user-visible regression remains: after the next update, @Computer disappeared from prompt completion even though the feature was enabled.

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