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Codex Issues / #35101

ChatGPT for Mac continuously flickers on macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 (Apple Silicon)

Open 💬 4 comments Opened Jul 24, 2026 by xue-fei-git
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

Codex 150.0.7871.128

What subscription do you have?

personal/business

What platform is your computer?

macOS Tahoe 26.5.2, Apple M1 Pro

What issue are you seeing?

Summary

The latest ChatGPT for Mac continuously flickers and cannot be used on macOS Tahoe 26.5.2.

The application alternates between a gray blank window and the normal ChatGPT UI every second.

The web version works normally.

---

Environment

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021)

Apple M1 Pro

32 GB RAM

macOS Tahoe 26.5.2

ChatGPT.app

Bundle Identifier:

com.openai.codex

Version:

Codex 150.0.7871.128

---

Reproduction

  1. Install the latest ChatGPT for Mac.
  2. Launch ChatGPT.
  3. The window continuously flickers.
  4. Sometimes the sidebar briefly appears, then disappears again.
  5. The application never becomes usable.

This happens every launch.

---

Expected behavior

ChatGPT launches normally.

---

Actual behavior

The window continuously alternates between:

  • gray blank window
  • fully rendered ChatGPT UI

The application never stabilizes.

The web version at chatgpt.com works correctly.

---

Things already tested

Completely removed ChatGPT.app.

Deleted all caches and application support folders.

Deleted preferences.

Fresh reinstall.

Restarted macOS.

Disabled DisplayLink.

Deleted all defaults:

defaults delete com.openai.codex

No improvement.

Tried launching with:

open -na ChatGPT --args --disable-gpu

The Dock icon appears briefly, but no window opens and the application must be Force Quit.

---

WindowServer logs

WindowServer continuously reports:

_CGXPackagesSetWindowConstraints: Invalid window

repeatedly while ChatGPT is starting.

The ChatGPT process itself does not crash.

There are no GPU Process exited or WebContent terminated errors.

---

Additional notes

This appears to be related to macOS Tahoe 26.5.2.

Another user has reported a nearly identical issue on Tahoe 26.5.2 with the latest ChatGPT desktop app:

https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/34773

The issue persists after a completely clean reinstall.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Install the latest ChatGPT for Mac.
  2. Launch ChatGPT.
  3. The window continuously flickers.
  4. Sometimes the sidebar briefly appears, then disappears again.
  5. The application never becomes usable.

This happens every launch.

What is the expected behavior?

_No response_

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 1 month ago

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

  • #34773

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ryanzen9 · 1 month ago

I have also encountered this issue.

HarrisonHBUFC · 18 days ago

@ryanzen9 @xue-fei-git This may be the same account-bootstrap retry loop just root-caused on Windows: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/34351#issuecomment-5233658910

Worth checking whether your app logs contain deactivated_workspace repeating constantly; that happens when the signed-in workspace has lapsed billing and the backend 402s everything, and the app renders the endless retries as flicker. On macOS the equivalent workaround is: quit the app fully, back up and remove ~/.codex/auth.json and the app's web session data (under ~/Library/Application Support), relaunch, then sign in with an account/workspace that's active. If your logs show that error, please report back whether this fixes it, it would confirm the cause across platforms.

warong · 1 day ago

@HarrisonHBUFC Thanks for the suggestion!

This solved this very issue for my account with lapsed billing.