Windows Computer Use plugin fails to bootstrap: native pipe path is unavailable

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• #25220
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Same here .... seems the release is very rushed

Same here. In my case Computer Use was working at first, then it stopped working during the same Codex Desktop session.

Additional observations from local logs:

• Computer Use successfully started earlier and created a pipe, e.g. computer-use native pipe startup ready with a \\.\pipe\codex-computer-use-... path.
• Later in the same session, logs show computer-use native pipe helper paths changed, immediately followed by reason=missing-helper-path and Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable.
• After that, bootstrapping fails with Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable because SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY is not present in the execution environment.
• The helper binary itself still exists under the bundled Computer Use plugin cache, so this does not look like the file is missing from disk. It looks more like the host app stopped injecting / publishing the helper pipe path.
• Around the time it broke, the logs also show bundled plugin reconciliation / cache issues, including Windows file lock errors such as EBUSY: resource busy or locked and plugin_cache_windows_file_lock.
• After this happened, the Plugins UI no longer showed Computer Use and Chrome either, even though they had been available earlier.

Version details from my machine:

• Codex Windows app: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64
• Computer Use plugin cache observed: 26.527.31326
• Windows x64

So for me the sequence was: works initially -> bundled plugin/cache reconciliation happens -> Computer Use helper path changes to missing -> native pipe path is no longer injected -> Computer Use and Chrome disappear from the plugin UI.

我也遇到了同样的问题，一开始“计算机使用”功能正常，后来突然就无法使用了，不仅如此，连同chrome 插件一并在插件ui中无法找到，在设置中也显示不可用。非常的离谱，但是我通过指令，依然可以调用chrome，computer use却用不了了，不知道openai在干嘛

Adding another Windows datapoint with a slightly different recovery behavior.

Computer Use was unavailable before, and in earlier occurrences a Codex app restart was enough to recover. This time it did not recover even after a full PC restart.

Observed state:

• Codex Windows app: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64
• Computer Use plugin cache exists: openai-bundled/computer-use/26.527.31326
• computer-use@openai-bundled is still present and enabled = true in config.toml
• The plugin manifest exists and has displayName: "Computer Use"
• The Settings UI no longer shows Computer Use as an available plugin / option
• codex-computer-use.exe is not running after app/PC restart
• Importing scripts/computer-use-client.mjs succeeds
• setupComputerUseRuntime({ globals: globalThis }) fails with:
• Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable
• In the Node REPL environment, SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY is not present
• nodeRepl.requestMeta does not contain a computerUse entry

Other browser backends in the same session are still available:

• Chrome extension backend works through agent.browsers.get("extension")
• extension.user.openTabs() succeeds
• In-app browser backend works through agent.browsers.get("iab")
• iab.tabs.list() succeeds

Local profile / region details checked:

• runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = false
• Windows culture/home location/time zone are Japan / Tokyo, so this does not look like the documented EEA / UK / Switzerland availability restriction

This looks less like a missing plugin file and more like the host app is not creating or injecting the Computer Use native pipe capability for the session. The main difference from my earlier transient occurrences is that app restart used to recover it, but this reproduction survives a full PC restart.

我也有同样的问题，问题发生在我将window系统下的codex桌面应用完成与手机ios系统绑定之后，发生的computer Use无法使用，目前未解决。只能等待官方发布新的修复补丁。本机日志为：reason=missing-helper-path status=skipped
Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable。应该是管道创建的问题。

I hit what looks like the same Windows bundled-plugin / Chrome / Computer Use failure, and the fix was to reinstall Codex onto the C: drive.

Environment / symptoms:

• Codex Windows app version observed: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64
• Codex was previously installed under a non-C drive WindowsApps path, e.g. D:\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\...
• Computer Use and Chrome were missing or unavailable from Plugins.
• Logs included:
• Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable
• computer-use native pipe startup failed
• bundled_executable_relocation_failed ... node_repl.exe ... copy_file
• The bundled plugin files existed on disk, but Codex did not reliably expose/use them.
• Manually repairing plugin cache, native host manifest, registry keys, and node_repl.exe paths only partially helped:
• computer-use@openai-bundled and chrome@openai-bundled became visible
• Computer Use started working
• node_repl became available in new threads
• Chrome still remained unreliable/unusable because the native host/runtime paths kept pointing at stale or mixed locations

Final fix:

1. Completely uninstall Codex.
2. Reinstall Codex onto the C: drive.
3. Let Codex regenerate the .codex state/plugin cache/native host paths normally.
4. Reinstall/reconnect Chrome plugin from Codex Plugins UI if needed.

After reinstalling Codex on C:, both Computer Use and Chrome worked normally.

My takeaway: for Windows, if Computer Use + Chrome + bundled plugins fail together and logs mention missing helper paths or bundled executable relocation failures, check whether Codex is installed on a non-C drive first. Moving/reinstalling Codex to C: may be a much faster fix than manually repairing .codex, native messaging manifests, or node_repl paths.

Workaround for Windows Computer Use: missing-helper-path

Root cause in my case: the Codex Chrome/Brave native messaging helper was running from the bundled plugin marketplace path, which locked:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\plugins\chrome\extension-host\windows\x64

Codex Desktop then failed bundled plugin reconciliation with EBUSY, so Computer Use could not resolve its helper paths and logged:

Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable

Fix/workaround

1. Close Codex.
2. Close Chrome/Brave completely, or stop the Codex extension host process.
3. Move the browser native host executable out of the Codex bundled plugin cache so it no longer locks the marketplace path.

PowerShell:

$src = "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\chrome\latest\extension-host\windows\x64\extension-host.exe"
$dstDir = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\OpenAI\extension"
$dst = Join-Path $dstDir "extension-host.exe"
$manifest = Join-Path $dstDir "com.openai.codexextension.json"
$backup = Join-Path $dstDir "com.openai.codexextension.json.bak"

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $dstDir -Force | Out-Null
Copy-Item -LiteralPath $src -Destination $dst -Force
Copy-Item -LiteralPath $manifest -Destination $backup -Force

(Get-Content -LiteralPath $manifest -Raw) `
  -replace [regex]::Escape($src), ($dst -replace '\\','\\') |
  Set-Content -LiteralPath $manifest -Encoding UTF8

Same issue still reproduces on a newer Windows Codex build.

Environment:

• Codex Windows app: OpenAI.Codex_26.601.2237.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Computer Use plugin cache observed: 26.527.31326
• Platform: Windows x64
• Region: Taiwan
• Agent mode: Windows-native / PowerShell, not WSL as far as config indicates

Symptoms:

• Settings > Computer use shows: 找不到 Computer Use 外掛程式 / cannot find Computer Use plugin.
• computer-use@openai-bundled is still enabled in %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml.
• The bundled client exists:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.527.31326\scripts\computer-use-client.mjs

• The helper binary also exists under:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.527.31326\node_modules\@oai\sky\bin\windows\codex-computer-use.exe

Runtime failure:

• Official Computer Use bootstrap fails before sky.list_apps() returns.
• nodeRepl.env.SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY is missing.
• Error returned by the Computer Use client:

Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable

Desktop logs show:

• Browser pipe starts successfully.
• Computer Use startup fails with:

computer-use notify config ensure finished platform=win32 reason=missing-helper-path status=skipped
computer-use native pipe startup failed errorMessage="Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable"

This looks similar to the previously reported missing native pipe/helper path issue, but it is still occurring on 26.601.2237.0, and the Settings UI now says the Computer Use plugin cannot be found even though the plugin is enabled and files exist on disk.

Thanks for documenting the native pipe failure. I maintain a small community Codex Skill focused specifically on Windows Codex Desktop failures around the bundled Chrome and Computer Use plugins:

https://github.com/navi118/codex-desktop-doctor-skill

It is not a general Codex repair script, and it does not make automatic destructive changes. The goal is to help an agent collect the relevant local evidence first, especially around Computer Use helper/native pipe availability, bundled marketplace/cache state, the Codex Chrome Extension/native host, and Windows file-lock / access-denied patterns such as plugin_cache_windows_file_lock, EBUSY, missing-helper-path, or Windows Computer Use helper paths are unavailable.

For this issue, the Skill may be useful mainly to distinguish between:

• Computer Use files missing from the bundled cache,
• Computer Use files present but the Desktop host not publishing SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY,
• bundled marketplace/cache reconciliation failures,
• and Chrome native-host file locks causing shared openai-bundled state to become incomplete.

Sharing it here in case it helps gather cleaner evidence before attempting any manual cache repair or reinstall workaround.

Module not found: /mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs

but everything is installed

Retry Computer Use connection
Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable

@gshershov That exact path is an important clue:

/mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs

If that file is missing, then the active runtime is trying to load computer-use from a versioned cache directory that is not actually complete, even if the plugin still appears installed/enabled elsewhere.

A few useful checks before treating it as a normal install:

1. From Windows PowerShell, check whether the same file exists at the Windows path:

``text
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.601.21317\scripts\computer-use-client.mjs
``

1. Check which computer-use version directories actually exist under:

``text
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use
``

1. If the client exists under a different version but the runtime is importing 26.601.21317, that points to a stale version pointer / partial cache reconcile rather than the helper binary alone being missing.

1. Because your path is /mnt/c/..., it would also be useful to note whether Codex is running in WSL mode (runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true) or Windows-native mode. The Computer Use native pipe/helper path is Windows-specific, so WSL-vs-Windows runtime mode matters for this failure class.

I would avoid deleting or rewriting cache state until those version/path facts are clear.

1. From Windows PowerShell, check whether the same file exists at the Windows path:

C:\Users\admin\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.601.21317\scripts\computer-use-client.mjs - exist

so version as u see is new

@gshershov Thanks, that rules out the simple "Windows cache file is missing" case.

If the file exists at:

C:\Users\admin\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.601.21317\scripts\computer-use-client.mjs

but the runtime reports:

Module not found: /mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs

then the next thing to separate is Windows path exists vs the active Codex runtime can read the same file through its /mnt/c/... view.

Useful next checks:

1. From the same WSL shell / agent runtime that produced /mnt/c/..., check whether this exact path is visible there:

``bash
ls -l /mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs
``

1. Confirm whether this Codex session is running in WSL mode or Windows-native mode. The /mnt/c/... import path strongly suggests WSL is involved, but the Computer Use native pipe/helper is Windows-side, so runtime mode matters.

1. If the file is visible from WSL and import still fails, the issue may be in how the module path is being resolved/loaded by the Node runtime rather than the cache itself.

1. The later error:

``text
Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable
``

is a separate but related signal: even after the client file is found, the Desktop host still needs to publish/inject the Computer Use native pipe path, usually via SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY / request metadata. If that value is missing, the client cannot start Computer Use by itself.

So at this point I would not treat it as "not installed". It looks more like either a WSL-vs-Windows runtime visibility/path issue, or a Desktop host native-pipe injection failure after the cache file is present.

ls -l /mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs

-rwxrwxrwx 1 myusername myusername 6730 Jun  3 15:38 /mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs

@navi118 looks good

@gshershov Great, then this is no longer a missing-file/cache-copy problem.

Given the file exists from both Windows and /mnt/c, the fix path I would try is to restore Windows-native runtime mode for Computer Use and force Codex Desktop to recreate the Computer Use native pipe. Copying the plugin files again is unlikely to help now.

Suggested recovery:

1. In %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml, make sure Codex is not running this session through WSL:

``toml
runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = false
``

If that key is currently true, switch it to false for the Computer Use session.

1. Fully quit Codex Desktop, not just the current thread.

1. Make sure old Codex helper/runtime processes are gone before restarting, especially:

``text
Codex.exe
codex.exe
node_repl.exe
codex-computer-use.exe
``

If Chrome integration is enabled and you also see Chrome/plugin cache lock errors, also close Chrome and any stale extension-host.exe before restarting Codex.

1. Start Codex Desktop again and open a new Windows-native / PowerShell thread.

1. Retry Computer Use. The important success signal is no longer the client file existing; it is that the Desktop host injects the native pipe metadata, for example SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY, and logs show something like:

``text
computer-use native pipe startup ready
``

If this still fails after Windows-native restart, then the remaining issue is likely in Codex Desktop's Computer Use native-pipe startup/injection path, not in the computer-use-client.mjs file or plugin cache contents.

In runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = false session everything is works fine. But when i've back to WSL mode - it same shit... It stops working again:
Module not found: /mnt/c/Users/admin/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.601.21317/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs

To use Codex in windows powershell sessions as coding tool is crazy idea xD .

@a1158779459-alt 我这边也正好是类似顺序：刚开始 Computer Use 是可以用的，后来我也连接/绑定了手机端，过了一会儿再看，Computer Use 插件就不见了，随后就开始出现 missing-helper-path / Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable 这一类错误。

So this may not be just a local cache/file-missing problem. The iOS/mobile binding step may be correlated with the Desktop host no longer publishing the Computer Use native pipe / helper metadata, or with bundled plugin reconciliation dropping Computer Use from the Settings UI.

Adding another Windows datapoint on the newer 26.601 build.

Environment:

• Windows 11
• Codex Desktop package: OpenAI.Codex_26.601.2237.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Codex Desktop app version: 26.601.2237.0
• Bundled Codex CLI/runtime: 0.136.0-alpha.2
• Computer Use plugin version observed: 26.601.21317
• [windows] sandbox = "unelevated"
• Codex is installed on C:, not a non-C WindowsApps drive

Current state:

• browser@openai-bundled installed, enabled 26.601.21317
• chrome@openai-bundled installed, enabled 26.601.21317
• computer-use@openai-bundled installed, enabled 26.601.21317

Browser smoke test succeeds:

• In-app browser backend connects
• https://example.com loads
• Page title returned: Example Domain

Computer Use smoke test fails immediately:

Error: Computer Use native pipe path is unavailable

The plugin files are present, including:

• scripts/computer-use-client.mjs
• node_modules/@oai/sky/bin/windows/codex-computer-use.exe

The failing client expects:

globalThis.nodeRepl?.env?.SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY

That value does not appear to be injected into the active session.

Steps tried:

1. Registered the bundled openai-bundled marketplace.
2. Installed Browser, Chrome, and Computer Use.
3. Restarted Codex Desktop.
4. Reinstalled the plugins.
5. Started a fresh thread.
6. Confirmed Browser works.
7. Confirmed Computer Use still fails with the same native pipe error.

This looks like the plugin install/cache is now correct, but Codex Desktop is not creating or injecting the Computer Use native pipe path into the session.

@Baz-Len

Repeat the process but make sure chrome, chromium, brave, comet or any other browser is closed during this process.

临时解决 Codex Desktop on Windows 里 Computer Use 不可用的问题。

症状：Computer Use 插件已安装/启用，但没有 `\\.\pipe\codex-computer-use-*` 管道，或者 Codex 报 Computer Use native pipe unavailable。

我这边的根因是：`openai-bundled` marketplace 被指到了 `~\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled`，但这个 `.tmp` 目录启动时会被重写，而且内容不完整，缺少 `.agents\plugins\marketplace.json` 或 `plugins\computer-use`，导致 Codex 找不到 `computer-use@openai-bundled`，后端不会启动。

修复思路：把完整的 bundled marketplace 复制到稳定目录，然后让 `config.toml` 指向稳定目录。

PowerShell：

```powershell
$codexHome = Join-Path $HOME ".codex"
$dest = Join-Path $codexHome "bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled"

$pkg = Get-ChildItem "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" -Directory -Filter "OpenAI.Codex_*_x64__*" |
  Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
  Select-Object -First 1

$src = Join-Path $pkg.FullName "app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled"

if (!(Test-Path $src)) {
  throw "Cannot find bundled marketplace at $src"
}

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path (Split-Path $dest) | Out-Null

if (Test-Path $dest) {
  Remove-Item -LiteralPath $dest -Recurse -Force
}

Copy-Item -LiteralPath $src -Destination $dest -Recurse -Force

Test-Path "$dest\.agents\plugins\marketplace.json"
Test-Path "$dest\plugins\computer-use\.codex-plugin\plugin.json"

然后编辑：

notepad "$HOME\.codex\config.toml"

找到：

[marketplaces.openai-bundled]
source = '\\?\...\ .codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled'

把 source 改成你自己的稳定绝对路径，例如：

source = '\\?\C:\Users\YOUR_USER\.codex\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled'

同时确认有：

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

保存后彻底退出并重启 Codex Desktop。重启后验证：

Get-ChildItem '\\.\pipe\' | Where-Object Name -like 'codex-computer-use*'

如果能看到类似：

codex-computer-use-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

说明 Computer Use 后端已经启动。

注意：不要手动固定 SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY。它是每次 Codex Desktop 启动时动态生成的命名管道路径，形如 \\.\pipe\codex-computer-use-<uuid>，重启会变。真正要修的是让 computer-use@openai-bundled 被正确发现并启动。

我也遇到了同样的问题，一开始“计算机使用”功能正常，后来突然就无法使用了，不仅如此，连同chrome 插件一并在插件ui中无法找到，在设置中也显示不可用。非常的离谱，但是我通过指令，依然可以调用chrome，computer use却用不了了，不知道openai在干嘛

请问您有成功解决此问题吗