Bundled Codex plugins disappear after switching accounts on Windows

Bug Report: Bundled Codex Plugins Disappear After Switching Accounts

Summary

After signing out of Codex Desktop and signing back in with a different account, bundled local plugins such as Browser, Chrome, and Computer Use disappear or become unavailable in the Codex app UI.

The local plugin cache still exists and config.toml still marks the plugins as enabled, but the Codex app reports that the in-app browser plugin cannot be found. This appears to be a local bundled plugin snapshot/index regeneration issue after account switching.

Impact

• Browser settings page shows: "Cannot find in-app browser plugin."
• In-app Browser / Browser Use is unavailable.
• Chrome plugin appears disconnected or missing.
• Computer Use also appears missing or disconnected.
• This happens repeatedly when switching accounts by logging out and logging back in.
• The issue did not occur previously; it started recently after newer Codex Desktop updates.

Environment

• OS: Windows
• Codex Desktop package version: 26.602.3474.0
• Codex runtime observed: codex-cli 0.137.0-alpha.4
• Codex app/browser-use version in config: 26.602.30954
• Bundled plugin cache version observed: 26.601.21317
• Authentication method: ChatGPT account sign-in
• Trigger: sign out, then sign in with a different account

Personal paths and account identifiers are intentionally masked below.

Reproduction Steps

1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Confirm Browser / Chrome / Computer Use plugins are installed and working.
3. Sign out of the current account.
4. Sign in with a different account.
5. Open Codex settings, then Browser settings.
6. Observe that Browser settings reports the in-app browser plugin cannot be found.
7. Check Chrome / Computer Use settings; they appear missing, disconnected, or unavailable.

Expected Result

Switching accounts should not corrupt or remove local bundled plugin registration.

If account/workspace permissions differ, Codex should show a clear permissions or availability message. Local bundled plugin manifests should remain discoverable, or the bundled plugin snapshot should be regenerated completely.

Actual Result

The UI cannot find the bundled in-app browser plugin, even though local config and cache still indicate the plugin is installed/enabled.

Observed UI message:

Cannot find in-app browser plugin.

Local Evidence

The following config entries still exist:

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

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

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

The local plugin cache still exists:

<USER_HOME>\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\browser\26.601.21317\.codex-plugin\plugin.json
<USER_HOME>\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\chrome\26.601.21317\
<USER_HOME>\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\computer-use\26.601.21317\.codex-plugin\plugin.json

However, the bundled marketplace snapshot appears incomplete after account switching:

<USER_HOME>\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\

Only a partial Chrome extension-host tree is present there. The expected Browser and Computer Use plugin manifests are not present in that bundled marketplace snapshot.

The configured bundled marketplace source points to this incomplete snapshot:

[marketplaces.openai-bundled]
source_type = "local"
source = "\\?\<USER_HOME>\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled"

This creates a mismatch:

• Plugin cache exists.
• Plugin config says enabled.
• Bundled marketplace snapshot is incomplete.
• Codex Desktop UI cannot find the bundled plugin.

Suspected Regression

This looks like a regression in the recent Codex Desktop app/runtime update path where account/profile switching triggers regeneration of the bundled plugin marketplace snapshot, but the snapshot is only partially rebuilt.

Relevant recent product areas:

• Windows Computer Use
• Browser Use / in-app browser stability changes
• Codex profiles / identity switching
• Bundled plugin marketplace snapshot generation

The issue appears specifically tied to account switching, not to manual deletion of plugin files.

Workaround

Quitting Codex Desktop and forcing regeneration of temporary bundled marketplace snapshots may restore the plugins:

$codexHome = "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex"
$stamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd-HHmmss"

Rename-Item "$codexHome\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces" "bundled-marketplaces.bak-$stamp" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Rename-Item "$codexHome\.tmp\plugins" "plugins.bak-$stamp" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Then restart Codex Desktop and open a new thread.

This workaround avoids touching:

• auth.json
• session history
• plugin cache
• user projects

Request

Please investigate why switching accounts can leave <USER_HOME>\.codex\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled in an incomplete state while config.toml still references it and marks bundled plugins as enabled.

Ideally Codex should either:

1. Regenerate the bundled marketplace snapshot completely after account/profile changes.
2. Fall back to the existing plugin cache if the temporary bundled snapshot is incomplete.
3. Detect the mismatch and repair it automatically.
4. Show a clear diagnostic message instead of "Cannot find in-app browser plugin."