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Codex Issues / #29786

Computer Use fails when per-user runtime app is missing

Open 💬 3 comments Opened Jun 24, 2026 by BryanTegomoh
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

Computer Use failed to start in Codex Desktop with:

Computer Use could not start because its runtime app is missing.

Setup:

  • macOS, Codex Desktop app build 26.616.81150
  • computer-use@openai-bundled enabled, version 1.0.829
  • Browser backends enabled: chrome,iab
  • ~/.codex/config.toml had notify pointing at ~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app/.../SkyComputerUseClient

What I found:

  • ~/.codex/computer-use/ contained config.json, but Codex Computer Use.app was missing.
  • The bundled app still existed under the Codex app resources and plugin cache.
  • Existing SkyComputerUseClient helper processes were stale, and Computer Use calls failed before any desktop task could start.

Workaround:

  • Restored ~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app as a symlink to the bundled Computer Use app.
  • Killed stale SkyComputerUseClient helpers.
  • Restarted Codex so the Computer Use MCP transport could reconnect.

Expected behavior:

  • Codex should repair or reinstall the missing per-user Computer Use runtime automatically, or surface a one-click repair path.
  • The MCP transport should recover cleanly after the runtime path is repaired.

Possibly related to #28485, but this failure mode was a missing per-user runtime app path, not a macOS damaged-app dialog.

cc @tibo-openai @jif-oai

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 2 months ago

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

  • #29101

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BryanTegomoh · 2 months ago

Reviewed #29101, related, but I believe this is a distinct failure mode, so noting the differences before any close:

  • Platform: Apple Silicon (arm64). The bundled Codex Computer Use.app under /Applications/Codex.app is intact and its helper runs. codesign --verify --deep --strict passes once the per-user path is restored.
  • What actually broke: the per-user runtime path ~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app was missing while the bundled copy was present. So this is a sync/reconciliation gap between the bundled app and the per-user directory, not an unshipped or arch-incompatible helper.
  • Fix was local: symlink the per-user path to the bundled app, kill stale SkyComputerUseClient helpers, restart so the Computer Use MCP transport reconnects. (The Intel x64 reports like #24053 / #24437 are a different class: the helper isn't shipped for x64 at all, so there's no local fix there.)
  • Symptom: hard startup failure (runtime app is missing) before any desktop task can begin, rather than an Appshot capture failure.

Happy to fold this into #29101 if maintainers see it as the same root cause. Leaving open for now so the specific request stays tracked: on launch, Codex should rebuild/relink the per-user runtime path (or offer one-click repair) instead of hard-failing.

FujiwaraChoki · 2 months ago
Reviewed #29101, related, but I believe this is a distinct failure mode, so noting the differences before any close: Platform: Apple Silicon (arm64). The bundled Codex Computer Use.app under /Applications/Codex.app is intact and its helper runs. codesign --verify --deep --strict passes once the per-user path is restored. What actually broke: the _per-user_ runtime path ~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app was missing while the bundled copy was present. So this is a sync/reconciliation gap between the bundled app and the per-user directory, not an unshipped or arch-incompatible helper. Fix was local: symlink the per-user path to the bundled app, kill stale SkyComputerUseClient helpers, restart so the Computer Use MCP transport reconnects. (The Intel x64 reports like Codex Desktop x64 build missing computer-use appshot service, causing "Unable to attach appshot" #24053 / Intel macOS x64 26.519.41501 still missing computer-use helper for Appshots and Locked use #24437 are a different class: the helper isn't shipped for x64 at all, so there's no local fix there.) Symptom: hard startup failure (runtime app is missing) before any desktop task can begin, rather than an Appshot capture failure. Happy to fold this into #29101 if maintainers see it as the same root cause. Leaving open for now so the specific request stays tracked: on launch, Codex should rebuild/relink the per-user runtime path (or offer one-click repair) instead of hard-failing.

Thanks, this worked wonderfully.