Windows Desktop App - Extremely sluggish and unusable as of last update - Windows firewall related?

Open 💬 11 comments Opened Jun 1, 2026 by pingu2k4

💡 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)?

26.527.60818

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

I didn't use the app for a day or two, but installed an update just tonight, and the app has become unusable.

Whenever I switch focus from Codex to any other app, the window chrome (menubar and side nav) go transparent for a significant period of time before reverting to their original colour. Doing anything (repositioning cursor in the text box, selecting a different project...) takes many seconds to actually respond. Pasting a couple lines of text into the text box takes 10+ seconds to react, during which time the entire app is completely unresponsive. Pasting any more lines of text than that locks the app seemingly indefinitely.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

All I know is that I open the app, and it happens right away.

I have uninstalled the app and reinstalled but get the same problem.

What is the expected behavior?

Not to freeze etc.

Additional information

I've uninstalled and reinstalled, no luck.
Oh and forgot to mention, Windows defender keeps telling me it wants to send config.toml form the codex folder in user root for diagnostics, so I feel like this may be part of the issue. No idea why it keeps wanting to do that.

View original on GitHub ↗

11 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 2 months ago

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

#25605
#25432
#25461
#25382
#25547

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pingu2k4 · 2 months ago

Not sure its definitely a dupe - the transparent chrome certainly is, but the freezing and config.toml file don't definitely line up with others...

kendonB · 2 months ago

Shockingly bad on WSL mode. Switching from one chat to another takes more than a full minute

kendonB · 2 months ago

I would much rather they invest in performance for Windows and quit adding features until it's a usable app

abubakarkhanlakhwera · 2 months ago

yes @kendonB they are not taking windows seriously

ZlyCatherine · 2 months ago

I am seeing the same issue after updating the Windows desktop app. I opened #25767 as an additional reproduction and diagnostic supplement.

My observations:

Longer plain-text pastes can freeze the entire app, while short text and image pastes still work.
The paste freeze is intermittent: after reproducing it repeatedly, longer text could later be submitted successfully without changing the installed app version.
The issue may be related to network conditions or synchronization of the TXT attachment automatically created for longer pasted text. This is only a hypothesis; a stalled request should not freeze the entire desktop UI.
When the app is maximized, the sidebar, top bar, and bottom/status areas become transparent and show the desktop wallpaper.

Environment: Windows 10 Enterprise build 19044, Codex package 26.527.7698.0.

mattmarcin · 2 months ago

I am seeing the same issue after updating the Windows desktop app. I opened #25767 as an additional reproduction and diagnostic supplement. My observations: Longer plain-text pastes can freeze the entire app, while short text and image pastes still work. The paste freeze is intermittent: after reproducing it repeatedly, longer text could later be submitted successfully without changing the installed app version. The issue may be related to network conditions or synchronization of the TXT attachment automatically created for longer pasted text. This is only a hypothesis; a stalled request should not freeze the entire desktop UI. When the app is maximized, the sidebar, top bar, and bottom/status areas become transparent and show the desktop wallpaper. Environment: Windows 10 Enterprise build 19044, Codex package 26.527.7698.0.

Started having this same exact issue today. New chats don't fix it. 26.602.40724

TYzzt · 2 months ago

Codex delivers extremely poor performance on Windows, which has become unbearable.

kendonB · 2 months ago

I have basically given up on the Codex App on Windows except for dictation

ray2301 · 2 months ago

"Windows defender keeps telling me it wants to send config.toml" - This happens to me every single time the file is updated. I didn’t want to solve the problem by adding the file to Defender’s exclusions list, but after being prompted about 20 times, I finally did.

emanon312 · 1 month ago

I am experiencing the exact same issues on Windows 11 (Codex Desktop 26.721.4979.0). On top of the UI freezes and sluggishness, the memory footprint is absolutely ridiculous. The moment Codex Desktop launches, my laptop fans spin up to maximum — before I even type a single character. Just sitting idle, it consumes more RAM than a full IDE with multiple projects open.

Meanwhile, the Mac version runs smoothly on the same account, same subscription. The disparity between the two platforms is genuinely shocking — Windows users are getting a completely different, vastly inferior product.

At this point it feels like the Windows build simply is not being tested or profiled on real Windows hardware before release. A desktop chat app should never be the most resource-intensive process on my machine while doing literally nothing.