Windows commandPrompt shell: nested quotes in cmd.exe /c command are not preserved

What version of Codex is running?

codex-cli 0.142.3

Codex app/session context also included BROWSER_USE_CODEX_APP_VERSION=26.623.42026. I did not independently check the About Codex dialog.

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.8737] x64

Shell/config context:

• Native Windows Codex session
• sandbox_mode = "workspace-write"
• [windows] sandbox = "elevated"
• Desktop setting integratedTerminalShell = "commandPrompt"
• The tool call selected shell="cmd"
• Node: v26.3.0, resolved as C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe

What issue are you seeing?

A Codex shell/tool command using the Windows cmd shell failed because nested double quotes were not preserved through the cmd.exe /c wrapper.

The command I asked the tool layer to run was:

.\.venv\Scripts\activate.bat && node -e "console.log('node ok')"

The visible command shape in the session/log was effectively:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe" /c ".\.venv\Scripts\activate.bat && node -e "console.log('node ok')

The inner quote before console.log(...) appears to terminate or corrupt the /c command string instead of being passed as part of the node -e argument. Node then received a malformed script and failed with:

[eval]:1
"console.log('node
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Unterminated string constant

SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token
    at makeContextifyScript (node:internal/vm:194:14)
    at compileScript (node:internal/process/execution:420:10)
    at evalTypeScript (node:internal/process/execution:292:22)
    at node:internal/main/eval_string:71:3

Node.js v26.3.0

This is separate from a local Python virtual-environment access problem that was being investigated in the same session. Simple commands without nested quoting, such as node --version, where node, and ver, worked.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Start a native Windows Codex session using the commandPrompt/cmd shell path.
2. Run a command through the Codex shell/tool layer with shell="cmd" that contains an inner double-quoted argument, for example:

node -e "console.log('node ok')"

or, in a Python project that activates a venv first:

.\.venv\Scripts\activate.bat && node -e "console.log('node ok')"

1. Observe that the inner quotes are not preserved through the cmd.exe /c "..." layer and Node receives a malformed eval string.

What is the expected behavior?

Either:

1. Codex should transport/escape the command string so a common command like node -e "console.log('node ok')" reaches cmd.exe/Node correctly, or
2. Codex should reject or clearly diagnose command strings that contain unsupported nested quoting for the selected Windows shell.

The expected Node behavior is simply:

node ok

Related issues checked

I searched existing issues before filing this. These are related but not exact matches:

• #9581: closed as model behavior; covers fragile Windows cmd.exe /c quoting and inline interpreter failures, but it was closed and predates this 0.142.3 repro.
• #21667: open, but about unquoted PowerShell path metacharacters.
• #23484: open, but about approval-rule parsing for bare comma gh --json args.
• #17451: open, but about Node script execution crashing with ncrypto::CSPRNG(nullptr, 0), whereas this repro is a Node SyntaxError caused by malformed quoting.

Additional information

This may still be partly agent-command-generation behavior: an agent chose a nested-quote one-liner. The reason I am filing this separately is that quoted arguments are common on Windows (node -e, python -c, gh --json "...", search strings, etc.), and the tool layer either needs to preserve them safely for the selected shell or surface a deterministic diagnostic so agents can choose a safer transport before executing.