Windows Computer Use: privileged node_repl/nativePipe bridge is not injected (`Windows Computer Use Sky runtime is unavailable`)

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

26.623.5546.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 Home Chinese Edition, x64, version 10.0.26200, build 26200

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop on Windows does not start the Computer Use privileged native pipe bridge. The regular node_repl MCP server is available and JavaScript execution works, but it is not the privileged Computer Use runtime: nodeRepl.nativePipe and nodeRepl.config are missing.

As a result, the Computer Use plugin cannot bootstrap and fails with:

Error: Windows Computer Use Sky runtime is unavailable

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install/enable computer-use@openai-bundled.
2. Set the bundled marketplace source to a stable local path.
3. Confirm features.computer_use = true.
4. Fully restart Codex Desktop.
5. Start or open a thread using the Computer Use plugin.
6. Inspect the current node_repl runtime:

JSON.stringify({
  nodeReplKeys: Object.keys(globalThis.nodeRepl || {}).sort(),
  hasConfig: !!globalThis.nodeRepl?.config,
  hasNativePipe: !!globalThis.nodeRepl?.nativePipe,
  hasNativePipeCreateConnection: !!globalThis.nodeRepl?.nativePipe?.createConnection,
}, null, 2)

Actual result:

{
  "hasConfig": false,
  "hasNativePipe": false,
  "hasNativePipeCreateConnection": false
}

1. Try bootstrapping Computer Use:

const { setupComputerUseRuntime } =
  await import("file:///C:/Users/<user>/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/computer-use/26.623.42026/scripts/computer-use-client.mjs");

await setupComputerUseRuntime({ globals: globalThis });

Actual error:

Error: Windows Computer Use Sky runtime is unavailable

What is the expected behavior?

Codex Desktop should start the Windows Computer Use native pipe and inject a privileged node_repl runtime with:

nodeRepl.config
nodeRepl.nativePipe
nodeRepl.nativePipe.createConnection

There should also be a named pipe like:

\\.\pipe\codex-computer-use-*

Then setupComputerUseRuntime() should succeed and Computer Use tools should be available in the thread.

Additional information

What actually happens?

Only browser-use pipes are created:

codex-browser-use-*
codex-ipc

No codex-computer-use-* pipe appears.

The helper log is not updated after restarting Codex Desktop:

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\OpenAI\Codex\computer-use-local-helper.log

The current node_repl MCP server appears to be the regular browser/chrome REPL, not the privileged Computer Use REPL.

Additional diagnostics

After restart, config.toml is recreated with a normal [mcp_servers.node_repl] block, but its environment only contains browser/chrome-related variables such as:

BROWSER_USE_AVAILABLE_BACKENDS=chrome,iab
NODE_REPL_INSTRUCTIONS_USE_CASE_BROWSER=...
NODE_REPL_INSTRUCTIONS_USE_CASE_CHROME=...

It does not include Computer Use native pipe variables such as:

SKY_CUA_NATIVE_PIPE_DIRECTORY

Local package files appear to exist, including:

@oai/sky
computer-use-client.mjs
codex-computer-use.exe

I also added the missing @oai/sky package export for:

"./dist/project/cua/sky_js/src/targets/windows/internal/computer_use_client_base.js"

That fixed the package export side, but the current failure is earlier: the Desktop host does not appear to enable/start the Computer Use native pipe bridge.

Suspected cause

The Desktop renderer/host availability path may be resolving Computer Use as unavailable, so the host never starts the Windows Computer Use native pipe. From the current bundled code, native pipe startup appears to require both:

computerUse === true
computerUseNodeRepl === true

The likely blockers are one of:

Statsig gate 1506311413
Statsig gate 2212532336
account beta_settings.windows_computer_use
local computer_use experimental feature

Even with CODEX_ELECTRON_ENABLE_WINDOWS_COMPUTER_USE=1, the runtime still ends up as a non-privileged node_repl.

Workarounds tried

• Moved openai-bundled marketplace source from .codex\.tmp\... to stable .codex\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled
• Reinstalled computer-use@openai-bundled
• Added missing @oai/sky package export
• Removed manual [mcp_servers.node_repl] block and restarted Codex Desktop
• Verified CODEX_ELECTRON_ENABLE_WINDOWS_COMPUTER_USE=1
• Verified features.computer_use = true

None of these caused codex-computer-use-* pipe creation or privileged nodeRepl.nativePipe injection.