Codex app repeatedly surfaces self-inspection warning when Computer Use targets Codex

Open 💬 2 comments Opened May 27, 2026 by omarpinarecords

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

Version 26.519.81530 (3178)

What subscription do you have?

Pro 20x

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex app repeatedly surfaced a self-inspection limitation message after Computer Use was asked to inspect the Codex app itself.

User-facing message:

Computer Use cannot inspect the Codex app itself from inside Codex, so I cannot visually confirm the sidebar.

The underlying Computer Use tool refusal is:

Computer Use is not allowed to use the app 'com.openai.codex' for safety reasons.

The safety boundary makes sense. The issue is that Codex appears to allow the agent path to reach this known-denied target and then surfaces a noisy, low-action explanation to the user instead of preflighting/suppressing the attempt or presenting a single clear fallback.

Feedback ID / conversation ID:

019e6834-96ee-7241-8849-243ae305b74d

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Open a Codex app thread.
  2. Ask Codex to use Computer Use to inspect or visually confirm something in the Codex app UI itself, such as the sidebar.
  3. Computer Use refuses to inspect com.openai.codex.
  4. Codex surfaces the self-inspection limitation message to the user.

I also uploaded feedback/trace from the app for this occurrence.

Feedback ID:

019e6834-96ee-7241-8849-243ae305b74d

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should preflight or suppress Computer Use attempts against com.openai.codex, since that target is intentionally blocked.

Expected behavior would be one of:

  • Avoid selecting Computer Use for the Codex app itself.
  • Show a single clear fallback message explaining that Codex cannot inspect its own UI.
  • Continue with non-visual/local-state verification when available, without repeatedly surfacing the self-inspection warning.

Additional information

Environment:

Codex app: Version 26.519.81530 (3178)
Platform: Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm
Subscription: Pro 20x

Trace/performance evidence was uploaded through the app. During local repro, a short performance sample of the running Codex app showed the app mostly idle in the AppKit/Electron event loop during the sample window. The related app log showed feedback/upload completing for the feedback/conversation ID above.

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