[Bug] Windows desktop flashes visible PowerShell window during background command monitoring

Codex app version

26.715.2305.0 (Microsoft Store; no newer update currently offered)

Platform

• Microsoft Windows 11 Home
• Version 10.0.26200, build 26200
• ARM64

What issue are you seeing?

While Codex Desktop is open and agents are performing background work, a visible PowerShell console window repeatedly appears and disappears. This can happen every few minutes during active multi-threaded/background agent work and interrupts normal desktop use.

Process inspection during an occurrence showed:

• powershell.exe launched with -NoProfile -NonInteractive -Command ...
• Parent process: ChatGPT.exe
• A corresponding conhost.exe was created for the PowerShell process
• The PowerShell command appears to collect process/CPU information using Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfProc_Process

The full command body is intentionally omitted because it contains verbose local process details, but I can provide a redacted copy if useful.

This is not an Armatus/project scheduled task: the relevant Windows Task Scheduler job already uses -WindowStyle Hidden. A separate long-lived Codex PowerShell command-safety helper had no window handle. Codex's process registry showed 200 historical records but zero commands with a live OS PID, so no orphaned background command was present.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Run persistent/background agent tasks that execute local commands.
3. Continue using the desktop while those tasks run.
4. Observe a PowerShell window briefly appear and disappear periodically.

The frequency increases during active background-agent command execution. The issue began becoming obvious after configuring multiple persistent role tasks, but it is the Codex Desktop process—not the project scripts—that launches the visible PowerShell process.

Expected behavior

All noninteractive PowerShell processes used for command execution or process monitoring should launch without a visible console window (for example using the appropriate Windows no-window creation flag). Background agent work should not flash or focus a console window.

Actual behavior

ChatGPT.exe launches a short-lived PowerShell process with a console host, producing a visible window that repeatedly flashes on screen.

Related issue

Possibly related to #17208, which reports Codex launching an encoded, noninteractive PowerShell process behind ordinary commands on Windows. This report is specifically about the resulting visible recurring console window in Codex Desktop.