Windows: repeated 272 MB .staging runtime folders under mojibake user path fill C: drive

<img width="1356" height="485" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/78b1cf56-6a2a-4577-81a8-e6bc0af6386a" />

Summary

On Windows, Codex repeatedly creates large .staging-* runtime folders under AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node. Each staging folder is about 272 MB, and many of them can be created within minutes, quickly filling the C: drive.

This appears related to a non-ASCII Windows user profile path. The actual Windows username contains Chinese characters, but the path shown by Codex / Explorer appears as mojibake.

Environment

• OS: Windows
• Codex app: desktop app
• User profile path contains Chinese characters
• Observed date: 2026-06-17

Path

C:\Users\<mojibake username>\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node

In my case, the real username is Chinese, but the folder shown in Explorer appears mojibake, for example:

C:\Users\寮犵...\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\runtimes\cua_node

Observed behavior

Codex created multiple staging directories in a short period:

.staging-789504f803e82e2b-GyDDsT
.staging-789504f803e82e2b-U2UHZe
.staging-789504f803e82e2b-c0PV0t
.staging-789504f803e82e2b-wEMdXj
.staging-789504f803e82e2b-kgZMnC
.staging-789504f803e82e2b-mjtoyD
.staging-789504f803e82e2b-OKm86E

Each folder is approximately 272 MB. In my local check, 7 folders used about 1.9 GB total.

Expected behavior

Codex should either:

• successfully reuse or finalize the downloaded cua_node runtime, or
• clean up failed .staging-* directories automatically, or
• avoid repeatedly downloading/extracting the same runtime.

Actual behavior

Codex keeps creating new .staging-* folders and leaves old ones behind. This can fill the C: drive very quickly.

Possible cause

This may be related to Unicode / non-ASCII Windows user profile paths. The real username contains Chinese characters, but the runtime cache path appears under a mojibake username path.

Screenshot

Attached screenshot shows the repeated .staging-* folders in Windows Explorer.