Codex VS Code extension fails to initialize with "ReferenceError: process is not defined" on Windows 11
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
VS Code Extension (openai.chatgpt) 26.721.30844 VS Code 1.130.0
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT Pro
What platform is your computer?
Windows 11 x64 OS Version: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 VS Code 1.130.0 Electron 42.6.0
What issue are you seeing?
After updating to version 26.721.30844, the Codex VS Code extension no longer loads.
The Codex panel immediately displays:
Oops, an error has occurred
The UI never finishes rendering:
- The conversation history is not shown.
- The "+" button to create a new conversation never appears.
- The panel crashes before initialization.
Browser version works correctly.
ChatGPT Work works correctly.
Only the VS Code extension is affected.
Developer Tools consistently reports:
ReferenceError: process is not definedEnvironment
- ChatGPT Pro
- VS Code 1.130.0
- Extension: openai.chatgpt 26.721.30844
- Windows 11 x64
What I already tried
- Reinstalled the extension
- Tested both Release and Pre-release versions
- Restarted VS Code
- Cleared the extension installation
- Verified that ChatGPT/Codex works in the browser
- Updated VS Code to the latest version
The issue persists.
This appears to be an extension initialization bug rather than an account or service issue.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Install the latest official OpenAI Codex VS Code extension (openai.chatgpt 26.721.30844).
- Open VS Code 1.130.0 on Windows 11 x64.
- Open the Codex panel from the Activity Bar.
- The panel immediately fails to initialize and shows:
"Oops, an error has occurred"
- Open Developer Tools (Developer: Toggle Developer Tools).
- The console consistently reports:
ReferenceError: process is not defined
The issue happens every time VS Code starts or when opening the Codex panel.
Additional tests performed:
- Reinstalled the extension
- Switched between Release and Pre-release
- Restarted VS Code
- Verified browser version works correctly
- ChatGPT Work works correctly
- Only the VS Code extension is affected
What is the expected behavior?
The Codex panel should initialize normally.
I should be able to:
- View previous conversations
- Create a new conversation
- Use the "+" button
- Interact with Codex inside VS Code
Instead, the UI crashes before rendering and only displays:
"Oops, an error has occurred"
Additional information
Developer Tools consistently show:
ReferenceError: process is not defined
Browser behavior:
- ChatGPT Work works correctly.
- Browser conversations work normally.
- Coding tasks execute successfully.
VS Code extension behavior:
- Conversation history never loads.
- "+" button never appears.
- Reinstalling the extension does not resolve the issue.
- Release and Pre-release versions behave the same.
Environment:
- ChatGPT Pro
- Windows 11 x64
- VS Code 1.130.0
- Electron 42.6.0
- Extension: openai.chatgpt 26.721.30844
<img width="1913" height="991" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1cf97ba5-2455-41eb-9cb9-f120ffd90739" />
<img width="1916" height="958" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a6c2a7dc-0af2-4ed9-89e8-276852aa636e" />
<img width="1906" height="1011" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2acae73f-371a-42a9-bf88-55d8220e7375" />
6 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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I found issue #8336, but my stack trace is different.
Their crash is caused by:
Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'type')
Mine consistently fails with:
ReferenceError: process is not defined
The resulting UI is the same ("Oops, an error has occurred"), but the underlying exception appears to be different.
Update:
The issue appears to be resolved now.
I did not change anything else besides the troubleshooting steps already described.
The extension now initializes correctly and no longer shows "Oops, an error has occurred".
If this was fixed by a backend rollout or a recent extension change, thank you.
Additional reproducible finding:
This is not related to one specific project.
The Codex panel initializes correctly in an empty VS Code window. As soon as I open or add any local folder/project, the panel crashes again with:
ReferenceError: process is not defined
I reproduced this with multiple unrelated projects and on two different Windows computers.
Reproduction:
Therefore, this appears to be related to initializing Codex inside a non-empty workspace, rather than corrupted project data or long conversation history.
Additional finding:
Downgrading the extension from 26.721.30844 to 26.5609.30741 fixes the workspace crash completely.
However, version 26.5609.30741 is too old to use gpt-5.6-sol and returns:
"The 'gpt-5.6-sol' model requires a newer version of Codex."
This confirms that the crash is a regression introduced after 26.5609.30741. I am testing intermediate versions to identify the first affected release.
Additional finding:
I tested an intermediate extension version.
Therefore, the last known good stable version is 26.715.61943 and the first known bad stable version is 26.721.30844.
The regression appears to be related to workspace-specific webview initialization and a browser-side path resolver calling process.cwd().