Codex VS Code: all remote plugin thumbnails are missing in chat sessions on Windows

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

26.707.71524

What subscription do you have?

Not included (this appears to be a client-side rendering issue)

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code 1.128.0 (x64)

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.8655 x64

What issue are you seeing?

All remote plugin thumbnails/icons fail to render when plugins are mentioned or invoked in Codex chat sessions.

This reproduces with multiple plugins from openai-curated-remote, including:

• GitHub
• Zotero
• Remotion

The plugin integrations remain present, but their thumbnails are missing or broken in the conversation UI.

This is broader than #32677: it is not limited to one plugin or only to a remote URL returning HTTP 403. For GitHub and Zotero, the catalog icon URLs return valid images with HTTP 200, but the thumbnails still do not render. Remotion's catalog URL returns HTTP 403.

The symptom began during the last week. The current extension version was installed on 2026-07-14, while the three catalog icon URLs are unchanged from a locally cached catalog dated 2026-07-12.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open the Codex sidebar in VS Code on Windows.
2. Start or open a chat session.
3. Mention or invoke a remote plugin such as GitHub, Zotero, or Remotion.
4. Observe the plugin thumbnail/icon in the conversation UI.
5. Repeat with the other remote plugins.

All tested plugin thumbnails are missing or broken.

What is the expected behavior?

Each plugin should display its catalog or packaged icon consistently when mentioned or invoked in a chat session.

If a remote icon URL cannot be loaded, Codex should fall back to the valid icon packaged in the locally cached plugin bundle.

Additional information

Read-only diagnostics:

• All 13 locally cached plugin manifests inspected have valid icon/logo asset paths, and the referenced local files exist.
• GitHub's files.openai.com/content icon request returns HTTP 200 with an SVG, and the response bytes match the locally cached SVG.
• Zotero's files.openai.com/content icon request returns HTTP 200 with a PNG, and the response bytes match the locally cached PNG.
• Remotion's chatgpt.com/backend-api/estuary/content icon request returns HTTP 403 with:

``json
{"detail":"File stream access denied."}
``

• The remote catalog icon URLs for these plugins are unchanged from the 2026-07-12 cache.
• Inspection of the installed webview bundle indicates that local icon paths are converted to data URLs, while HTTPS icon URLs are passed directly to an <img>. No fallback from a failed or unusable remote URL to the packaged local icon was found.

Because valid HTTP 200 images also fail to display, the 403 response alone does not explain the full symptom. The evidence is consistent with a client-side plugin thumbnail rendering regression, combined with a separate access failure for some remote catalog assets.

Possibly related:

• #32677 — remote plugin composer icon is broken and the catalog URL returns File stream access denied
• #29748 — plugin icons are not rendered in the Plugins tab on Windows