Windows Codex in-app browser cursor jitters between hand and arrow; Chrome does not reproduce

What version of the Codex App are you using?

OpenAI.Codex 26.608.1337.0

Observed executable/runtime details from local process inspection:

• Package: OpenAI.Codex_26.608.1337.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Chromium/Codex executable version shown in process annotations: 149.0.7827.54
• Renderer processes use --device-scale-factor=1.5

What platform is your computer?

Windows x64

Observed locally:

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex Desktop in-app browser on Windows shows persistent cursor jitter/flicker while hovering over a local web app. The visible pointer alternates between the expected hand/pointer state and the normal arrow. The user describes it as the cursor jittering or flipping between the hand and arrow.

Important details:

• This happens in the Codex in-app browser.
• The same app in regular Chrome does not reproduce the problem.
• The symptom appears across the in-app browser/app surface, not just one route or one element.
• It was first noticed recently; the same local app was reportedly behaving correctly a day or two earlier.
• The app being viewed is a local development app at http://localhost:5262/, but rollback testing makes this look unlikely to be caused by that app's current code.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Current reproduction case:

1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Open the in-app browser.
3. Navigate to a local app such as http://localhost:5262/.
4. Move the mouse over interactive areas such as a map, memorial/list surface, or other hoverable page areas.
5. Observe the physical cursor flickering/jittering between the hand/pointer and arrow cursor.

Expected behavior

The cursor should remain stable over the same hover target.

For example, when hovering over an interactive map/pan surface or clickable item, it should stay in the expected hand/pointer/grab state and should not repeatedly flip back to the default arrow.

Actual behavior

The cursor visibly jitters/flickers between cursor shapes, most noticeably hand/pointer and arrow. This makes the app feel unstable and hard to use inside the Codex in-app browser.

Local diagnostics and mitigations already tried

We tested this as a Codex/browser-layer problem rather than a local web-app code problem because regular Chrome does not reproduce it.

Tried and did not fix it:

• Restarted the local app server.
• Restarted the Codex app.
• Restarted Windows.
• Uninstalled and reinstalled Codex Desktop.
• Updated from 26.602.9276.0 to 26.608.1337.0 through reinstall.
• Reset the Codex embedded browser profile by moving:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Roaming\Codex\web\Codex
to a timestamped backup and allowing Codex to recreate it fresh.

• Tested the same local app with rollback worktrees/builds from several earlier dates, including May 26, June 2, and June 6 versions. The cursor still jittered in Codex's in-app browser.
• Temporarily disabled/removed a Browser Use config test; disabling Browser Use did not fix the cursor jitter.
• Temporarily tested a per-app Windows DPI override for Codex. It changed display behavior but did not fix the cursor jitter, and was removed.
• Confirmed there is no active per-user AppCompat DPI override remaining for Codex.
• Confirmed the local app data/status remained healthy while testing; the issue was visual/input behavior in Codex's browser surface.

Why this does not look like the local app's current code

• The same local app works normally in Chrome.
• The problem reproduces in Codex's in-app browser across multiple older versions of the local app code.
• Reinstalling Codex and recreating the Codex embedded-browser profile did not fix it.
• The symptom feels like a cursor/hit-test/input-layer issue in the Codex Windows in-app browser rather than a single CSS rule or route-level problem.

Related issues found during research

These are not exact duplicates, but they appear related to the same Windows Codex/browser/input/cursor layer:

• #16188: Playwright/browser automation in Codex App on Windows hijacks the physical mouse cursor
• #26325: Codex Desktop in-app browser annotations lose focus when pressing Space
• #25200: Windows Computer Use makes system cursor invisible after every session
• #26401: Windows Codex app micro-freezes, with Browser/IAB/Computer Use initialization showing in logs
• #25352: Windows Codex app edge hover/popup menu behavior interfering with mouse use

I did not find an exact existing report for "Codex in-app browser hand/arrow cursor jitter," so filing this as a separate issue.

Additional notes

This was reported from a real local debugging session where the user repeatedly confirmed the cursor jitter still reproduced after each attempted app/browser reset. The user specifically emphasized that Chrome was fine and the problem was inside Codex's in-app browser.