Mac desktop app freezes on launch (blank screen, high CPU) — corrupted ~/.codex session; fixed by moving the folder aside

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

Version 26.602.30954 • Released Jun 4, 2026

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

_No response_

What issue are you seeing?

Environment

• Codex desktop app version: 26.601.21317
• macOS: Apple M3 Max
• Mac: apple silicon

Summary
The desktop app froze permanently on launch — blank/translucent window
showing only the Codex logo, no sign-in screen, no UI. Activity Monitor
showed CPU climbing and staying elevated the whole time the app was open,
suggesting it was stuck processing something on startup rather than idle.

How it started
It began mid-session in a long conversation: the input field froze and I
could no longer click, type, or switch conversations. I quit and reopened;
a new conversation worked briefly, then stalled the same way. After a couple
of cycles, the app would no longer get past the loading screen on launch.

Possibly relevant: around this time I deleted a folder in ~/Documents that
Codex had been using as a working directory for the stuck conversation. The
freeze may be the app failing to handle an active session whose working
folder no longer exists.

What did NOT fix it

• Quitting and relaunching
• Restarting / shutting down the Mac
• Confirming the app was on the latest version
• Logging out
• Clearing ~/Library/Application Support/Codex (fresh profile still froze)

What DID fix it
Renaming ~/.codex to ~/.codex.OLD and relaunching. The app then loaded the
normal sign-in screen and worked. This points to a corrupted session/state
file in ~/.codex that the app chokes on at startup instead of skipping or
recovering gracefully.

Suggested fix
The app should fail gracefully on a corrupt/oversized session file — skip it
and still render the UI — rather than hanging the whole app on launch.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

see "What issue are you seeing"

How it started
It began mid-session in a long conversation: the input field froze and I
could no longer click, type, or switch conversations. I quit and reopened;
a new conversation worked briefly, then stalled the same way. After a couple
of cycles, the app would no longer get past the loading screen on launch.

Possibly relevant: around this time I deleted a folder in ~/Documents that
Codex had been using as a working directory for the stuck conversation. The
freeze may be the app failing to handle an active session whose working
folder no longer exists.

What is the expected behavior?

see "What issue are you seeing"

Summary
The desktop app froze permanently on launch — blank/translucent window
showing only the Codex logo, no sign-in screen, no UI. Activity Monitor
showed CPU climbing and staying elevated the whole time the app was open,
suggesting it was stuck processing something on startup rather than idle.

Additional information

_No response_