Windows Desktop: focused window shows black / wallpaper-colored transparent border unless opaqueWindows is enabled
What happened?
After updating Codex Desktop on Windows, clicking/focusing the Codex window causes the outer window/background area to render as black or as a wallpaper-colored translucent region instead of the expected solid Codex surface.
This reproduced on two Windows machines. On one machine, after restoring the Windows theme/wallpaper settings to their original state, the artifact changed from a black border to a blue wallpaper-colored translucent border, which suggests the window backdrop is letting the desktop/Mica background bleed through.
Environment
- Codex Desktop:
26.527.3686.0 - OS tested in detail: Windows 10 Enterprise, build
19045, 64-bit - Windows app theme: light apps with dark system shell (
AppsUseLightTheme=1,SystemUsesLightTheme=0) - Windows transparency effects enabled
Steps to reproduce
- Launch Codex Desktop on Windows.
- Open any conversation.
- Click/focus the Codex window.
- Observe the outer window/sidebar/background region around the main content.
Expected behavior
The Codex window should render with an opaque, solid app chrome/background. Focusing the window should not reveal a black backdrop or the desktop wallpaper color around the content.
Actual behavior
When the window is focused, parts of the Codex window background appear black or translucent/wallpaper-colored. The effect is visible around the window chrome/sidebar/main content boundary.
Workaround found
Setting both desktop chrome themes to use opaque windows fixes the issue locally:
[desktop]
appearanceLightChromeTheme = { accent = "#339cff", contrast = 45, fonts = { code = "", ui = "" }, ink = "#1a1c1f", opaqueWindows = true, semanticColors = { diffAdded = "#00a240", diffRemoved = "#ba2623", skill = "#924ff7" }, surface = "#ffffff" }
appearanceDarkChromeTheme = { accent = "#339cff", contrast = 60, fonts = { code = "", ui = "" }, ink = "#ffffff", opaqueWindows = true, semanticColors = { diffAdded = "#40c977", diffRemoved = "#fa423e", skill = "#ad7bf9" }, surface = "#181818" }
After restarting Codex with the above config, the border/transparency artifact disappears.
Suspected cause
This looks like a Windows Desktop regression in the transparent/Mica window backdrop path. In the app bundle, the Windows non-opaque path appears to use a transparent background with backgroundMaterial: "mica"; forcing opaqueWindows=true avoids that path and renders the window with a solid surface.
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