Codex Desktop disappeared after updating and was replaced by ChatGPT Desktop without the Codex workspace

What issue are you seeing?

After updating the standalone Codex Desktop application using the built-in Update Codex prompt, the update completed successfully but the Codex application disappeared completely.

The update removed Codex.app and installed ChatGPT.app.

However, the new ChatGPT desktop application did not contain the Codex workspace at all.

Observed behavior:

• Codex.app disappeared from /Applications
• only ChatGPT.app remained
• the Dock icon for Codex became a question mark
• launching the new ChatGPT application showed only the standard ChatGPT interface
• there was no Codex workspace
• there were no Agents, Skills or any Codex-related UI
• my OpenAI account still had full Codex access through https://chatgpt.com/codex

This created the impression that Codex Desktop had been removed from my machine.

The issue was resolved only after:

• backing up local OpenAI data,
• removing both ChatGPT.app and ChatGPT Classic.app,
• downloading the desktop application again from the Codex website,
• installing it from scratch.

After the clean installation, the Codex workspace appeared normally again.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Use the standalone Codex Desktop application.
2. Accept the built-in "Update Codex" prompt.
3. Allow the update to finish.
4. Launch the newly installed application.

Observed result:

• Codex.app no longer exists.
• ChatGPT.app is installed.
• The desktop application opens as a standard ChatGPT client without the Codex workspace.

In my case the problem disappeared only after completely removing both ChatGPT applications and installing the desktop application again from https://chatgpt.com/codex.

What is the expected behavior?

Updating Codex should preserve access to the Codex workspace.

If the standalone Codex application is migrated into the unified ChatGPT desktop application, the migration should:

• preserve the Codex workspace,
• preserve access to projects,
• avoid leaving the user with a standard ChatGPT interface only,
• complete without requiring manual removal and reinstallation.

Additional information

Environment

macOS
ChatGPT Desktop 1.2026.183

Account:
ChatGPT Pro (20×)

Important observations:

• Codex continued to work correctly in the web interface.
• The account still had full Codex access.
• The issue affected only the desktop application after the update.
• Reinstalling from https://chatgpt.com/codex resolved the problem.

I am including the successful recovery procedure because it may help other users until the underlying migration issue is resolved.