Codex Desktop macOS: Computer Use skill loads but required node_repl tool is not exposed

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

26.707.91948

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

The official Computer Use plugin loads, but the task is not given the node_repl JavaScript tool required by the Computer Use skill.

Using @Computer with this prompt:

List my currently open applications. Do not change anything. Do not use terminal commands or create a fallback bridge. If the required Computer Use tool is unavailable, stop and report the exact missing tool.

produces this exact response:

Cannot proceed: the required node_repl Computer Use tool is unavailable in this task. No changes were made.

The plugin is enabled, Workspace Dependencies diagnostics report healthy, and codex mcp get node_repl reports the server as enabled. Resetting and reinstalling Workspace Dependencies did not fix it.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Enable the official computer-use@openai-bundled plugin.
2. Confirm Codex Workspace Dependencies are enabled.
3. Run Workspace Dependencies diagnostics and confirm they report healthy.
4. Start a new Codex Desktop task.
5. Invoke @Computer.
6. Enter:

List my currently open applications. Do not change anything. Do not use terminal commands or create a fallback bridge. If the required Computer Use tool is unavailable, stop and report the exact missing tool.

1. The Computer Use skill loads, but reports that its required node_repl tool is unavailable.

Session/task ID:

019f6c3b-3dba-7bd2-a43f-d59aab5aed5d

I also reset and reinstalled Workspace Dependencies, restarted Codex, and reproduced the failure again.

What is the expected behavior?

Invoking the official Computer Use plugin should expose the Node REPL JavaScript tool required by its skill—apparently mcp__node_repl__js.

The skill should then initialize its bundled Computer Use client and list the open applications without using terminal commands or a fallback bridge.

Additional information

Environment:

• Codex Desktop: 26.707.91948
• Codex CLI: 0.144.5
• Computer Use plugin: 1.0.1000387
• Reproduced: July 16, 2026, approximately 2:40–3:50 PM EDT
• Workspace Dependencies diagnostics: Healthy
• Workspace Dependencies reinstalled: Yes, with no effect
• node_repl MCP configuration: Enabled
• Bundled Node REPL and Computer Use processes: Running

I manually registered the bundled Computer Use client as a direct stdio MCP server with mcp as its argument. The underlying server exposed tools such as list_apps, get_app_state, click, and type_text, and a terminal-side bridge successfully called list_apps.

However, neither the normal Computer Use JavaScript tool nor the manually registered direct MCP tools were exposed natively in the task's callable tool panel.

This suggests that the underlying Computer Use service is healthy and that the failure occurs during task-level tool provisioning.

Possibly related Browser Use report: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/20579