VS Code Background Agents tab intermittently disappears during an active Goal

What version of the IDE extension are you using?

openai.chatgpt@26.721.41059

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

Which IDE are you using?

VS Code 1.131.0, connecting from Windows to a remote Linux workspace

What platform is your computer?

Client: Windows x64

Remote workspace:

Linux 6.8.0-1061-aws x86_64 x86_64

What issue are you seeing?

While a Goal is active and background agents are running, the Background Agents tab/control appears and disappears unpredictably from the Codex IDE interface.

The tab can be visible earlier in the same Goal, then disappear completely even though:

• The Goal is still active.
• The main agent is still working.
• Background monitoring or agent lanes are still reported as running.
• The conversation remains open and continues receiving updates.

In the captured example, the chat explicitly reports that the Goal remains active and that monitoring lanes are still running, but the Background Agents tab is absent from the interface. There is no indication that the agents stopped, no empty-state placeholder, and no alternative way to reopen their status from that location.

This makes the UI state inconsistent with the underlying Goal state and prevents the user from reliably checking background-agent activity.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On Windows, open VS Code and connect to a remote Linux workspace.
2. Open the Codex IDE extension.
3. Start a Goal that launches or uses background agents.
4. Confirm that the Background Agents tab/control is initially visible.
5. Continue working in the same Goal while background agents or monitoring lanes remain active.
6. Observe the interface over time or after additional agent/chat updates.
7. Notice that the Background Agents tab sometimes disappears completely.
8. Continue the Goal and observe that the tab may later reappear without an obvious state change.

The disappearance is intermittent and does not appear to correspond reliably to the Goal or background agents completing.

What is the expected behavior?

The Background Agents tab should have stable, predictable visibility.

While a Goal has active or recently active background agents, the tab should remain available so their state can be inspected. If no background agents are active, the UI should either retain the tab with a clear empty/completed state or explain why it was removed.

The tab should not appear and disappear solely because the conversation rerenders or receives new updates.

Additional information

A screenshot was captured while the Goal was active. The conversation stated:

• “Goal remains active.”
• “Azure, Telegram, and telemetry monitoring lanes are still running.”

Despite that state, the Background Agents tab was completely absent.

Related but distinct report:

• #36200 — background-agent activity chips such as “Execution telemetry 3 — updated” are visible but unresponsive when clicked: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/36200

This report concerns the unpredictable disappearance of the overall Background Agents tab/control, rather than click handling on individual agent activity chips.