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Codex Issues / #31186

Codex macOS Dock icon setting does not update app launcher / notification icon surfaces

Open 💬 6 comments Opened Jul 5, 2026 by svan71
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of Codex are you using?

Codex App 26.623.101652 (CFBundleVersion 4674)
Bundled Codex reports: Codex 149.0.7827.197

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.5.1 (25F80), Apple Silicon / arm64

What issue are you seeing?

Changing the icon in Settings → Appearance → Dock icon updates the running Dock icon, but other macOS app identity surfaces continue to show the old/default Codex icon.

Observed:

  • Dock icon changes to the selected Codex icon.
  • macOS app launcher / Applications view continues to show the old/default icon.
  • Notification surfaces also appear to keep using the old/default app icon.

This makes the setting behave as Dock-only in practice, even though the UI reads like an app icon preference.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Open Codex App on macOS.
  2. Go to Settings → Appearance → Dock icon.
  3. Select the dark Codex icon.
  4. Observe the Dock icon updates.
  5. Open the macOS app launcher / Applications view and locate Codex.
  6. Observe that Codex still shows the old/default icon there.
  7. Trigger or observe a Codex notification and note that it also appears to use the old/default icon.

What is the expected behavior?

Either:

  • The selected Codex icon should be used consistently anywhere macOS displays the app identity, including Dock, app launcher / Applications view, and notifications; or
  • The setting should be renamed/clarified as strictly changing only the Dock tile icon.

Additional information

Local investigation suggests the preference only affects the Dock tile and does not update the app bundle / LaunchServices icon identity that macOS uses for other surfaces.

Before local workaround, /Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Info.plist had both:

CFBundleIconFile = electron.icns
CFBundleIconName = Icon

The app bundle also contained the desired dark icon asset at:

/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/icon-codex-dark-color.png

A local workaround fixed the app launcher icon by doing the following:

  1. Rebuilt electron.icns, icon.icns, and app.icns from icon-codex-dark-color.png.
  2. Replaced top-level icon.png with the same dark icon asset.
  3. Removed CFBundleIconName from Info.plist.
  4. Left CFBundleIconFile = electron.icns.
  5. Re-signed the modified bundle ad hoc.
  6. Re-registered the app with LaunchServices and cleared Finder/Dock/IconServices caches.

After that, the macOS app launcher showed the correct dark Codex icon.

That workaround is not suitable as a real fix because it replaces OpenAI's notarized signature with a local ad-hoc signature. The app should ship or manage the selected icon in a way that updates the relevant macOS icon surfaces without requiring users to modify the bundle.

View original on GitHub ↗

6 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 15 days ago

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

  • #31068

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svan71 · 15 days ago

Reviewed #31068. This is related, but I do not think it is an exact duplicate.

#31068 covers the default/bundled app icon resolving to an internal Icon_Assets/CodexDark layer in macOS surfaces.

This issue is specifically about the Settings → Appearance → Dock icon preference only affecting the running Dock tile while macOS app identity surfaces such as the app launcher / Applications view and notifications continue to use the bundle/LaunchServices icon. In this case the selected Dock icon was correct, but the app launcher stayed wrong until the top-level bundle icon resources were replaced and CFBundleIconName was removed.

So the likely root area overlaps (CFBundleIconName = Icon, Assets.car, bundle icon resources, LaunchServices/IconServices), but the user-facing bug is a separate settings-scope issue: the preference appears to promise an app icon choice, while in practice it is Dock-only unless the bundle icon path is changed.

jyxjjj · 6 days ago

Recently, I found that if I quit the Codex (now ChatGPT) app, its Dock icon reverts to the ChatGPT logo.

<img width="165" height="97" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/34a386a2-7b19-41f6-b63c-c9ecd29fb844" />

As you can see, I chose Codex Logo.

<img width="91" height="112" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b032d374-4c7b-479c-9e5f-aeafe755c526" />

While the app is running, the Dock icon is displayed correctly.

<img width="64" height="79" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/647c6095-6f82-4a00-af0b-486c29b4062a" />

After I quit the app, the Dock icon reverts to the ChatGPT logo.

I have already tried:

	sudo -v
	sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store
	sudo find /private/var/folders -name 'com.apple.iconservices.store' -delete
	sudo find /private/var/folders -name 'com.apple.iconservices' -delete
	qlmanage -r
	qlmanage -r cache
	killall Dock
	killall Finder
	killall SystemUIServer
oscar-fern · 5 days ago

Confirming the quit/relaunch variant on another Mac.

Environment

  • Codex app 26.707.31428 (build 5059)
  • macOS 26.5.1 (25F80), Apple Silicon
  • Dark appearance
  • Dock icon setting: System (codex-system)

Observed behavior

  1. While Codex is running, its pinned Dock icon uses the correct dark appearance.
  2. After quitting Codex, the pinned icon changes to the white/light variant.
  3. When Codex is reopened, the icon remains white during launch and switches back to dark once the app starts.

The attached muted recording shows the closed white icon, relaunch, and switch back to dark at approximately 3.7 seconds. It begins after the quit action, so it does not show the initial dark-to-white transition.

Expected behavior

The selected/System-resolved Dock icon should remain consistent whether Codex is running or closed.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/817149e4-b74a-453d-bd4e-6a8a42af3256

jyxjjj · 5 days ago

Your reproduction is almost identical to mine, but I don’t think you cleared the icon cache. Before I cleared it, the behavior looked exactly the same as in your recording. After clearing the cache, however, the icon changes to the ChatGPT icon when Codex quits, instead of remaining the Codex icon.

The available icon options are only:

  • ChatGPT Light
  • Codex Dark

Current behavior:

  • While Codex is running: Codex Dark
  • After Codex quits: ChatGPT Light

Expected behavior:

  • Codex Dark should remain both while Codex is running and after it quits.
Michael-IT001 · 2 days ago

Same issue here on the recent unified ChatGPT/Codex desktop app.

After Codex/ChatGPT is closed or quits, the macOS app identity can fall back to the regular ChatGPT logo instead of staying on the selected Codex icon. While Codex is running, I expect the app to remain visually identifiable as Codex; after it closes, it should not switch back to the ChatGPT logo.

This also overlaps with the missing Codex Light icon problem in #28861. Please restore the Codex Light icon option and keep the selected Codex icon consistent across Dock, launcher, and closed/running app states.

Screenshot of the closed/launcher state showing the ChatGPT logo:

<img width="152" height="200" alt="Codex closed state falls back to ChatGPT logo" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/52c8fa00-0e10-4d78-bbd6-aa5aff10b72b" />