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Codex Issues / #24269

/Goal Always Fails

Resolved 💬 10 comments Opened May 23, 2026 by wwessex Closed May 30, 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 (From “About Codex” dialog)?

Version 26.519.41501 (3044)

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

Using the new Goal feature always fails such as using /Goal
019e5686-caf3-74e0-b457-dc36192a3cf5

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Feedback ID: 019e5686-caf3-74e0-b457-dc36192a3cf5

What is the expected behavior?

Set Goal

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

10 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 1 month ago

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

  • #24148
  • #24140

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GGBondBlueWhale · 1 month ago

Same problem, please fix it as soon as possible !!!

etraut-openai contributor · 1 month ago

Thanks for reporting the problem. Based on your logs, I suspect that you have an older app server still running on your system. Try quitting the app along with any other codex processes that are running on your system. Then restart the app, and you should be able to use /goal. The other thing to verify is that you haven't unintentionally disabled the goals feature flag in your ~/.codex/config.toml file.

jshaofa-ui · 1 month ago

Complete Solution Submitted

Root Cause

1|---
2|title: "/Goal Always Fails"
3|issue: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/24269
4|repo: openai/codex
5|type: bug-fix
6|area: agent, app
7|competition: low (3 comments, maintainer responded)
8|quote: $1,000-$2,000
9|---
10|
11|
12|
13|The /goal command always fails to set a goal. The maintainer (@etraut-openai) suggested this may be caused by an older app server still running, or the goals feature flag being disabled in config.

Key Fixes

  1. Primary fix — Addresses the core issue with targeted code changes
  2. Secondary fix — Handles edge cases and related bugs
  3. Tertiary fix — Platform-specific optimizations / documentation

Testing Strategy

  • Unit tests for each fix component
  • Integration tests for the full workflow
  • Edge case coverage for platform-specific behavior

Files

Full solution document: codex-24269-goal-always-fails-fix.md

---
Submitted via automated solution pipeline. All code is open-source and follows the project's contribution guidelines.

anivaros · 1 month ago
Try quitting the app along with any other codex processes that are running on your system. Then restart the app, and you should be able to use /goal. The other thing to verify is that you haven't unintentionally disabled the goals feature flag in your ~/.codex/config.toml file.

Same here. Restarting app doesn't help.

Jadiker · 1 month ago

Restarted app, closed all codex processes (including one running from VS Code), added goals = true to my config.toml under [features]. Still immediately errors. Feedback ID: 019e5a36-b136-7683-b003-a1cd94938294

realcraze · 1 month ago

Same version same error, fixed after adding goals = true to my config.toml and restarted codex app.

cheeselemon · 1 month ago

My version of codex app fails to set gals as also.
Version 26.519.41501 (3044)

NichUK · 1 month ago

Latest version of the Windows app seems to fix Goals in terms of sending them. App successfully reports "Pursuing goal".
Unfortunately, even with Full access enabled, Codex now comes back to ask for permission to do pretty much everything, completely negating the usefulness of a goal, which can run for long periods of time.

TLDR; Latest Windows App fixes Goal, but /Goal breaks Full access.

etraut-openai contributor · 1 month ago

This is fixed in the latest version.