[macOS] Visualize 1.0.16 materializes live-disabled and does not register the native path

[macOS] Visualize 1.0.16 materializes the live-disabled variant and does not register the native visualization path

Codex App bug-template fields

• What version of the Codex App are you using? 26.727.40816 (build 6067)
• What subscription do you have? ChatGPT subscription; exact tier is not exposed by codex login status
• What platform is your computer? Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

Suggested labels

bug, app, skills

Environment

• Codex Desktop: 26.727.40816 (build 6067)
• Platform: macOS
• Bundled plugin: visualize@openai-bundled 1.0.16
• User configuration: Visualize is enabled

Summary

On this build, the bundled Visualize plugin is enabled but its installed runtime materializes a live-disabled content variant. A fresh native-capability check then finds no native Visualize registration. The Plugins UI's Try now affordance launches a task carrying the native plugin chip, but that task reports that the Visualize skill was omitted and then compensates by manually writing two-value-explorer.html and emitting the generic ::codex-inline-vis directive. This makes the product appear available while the live/native route is absent.

This is not the renderer-path problem in #32054, the helper-path documentation problem in #35211, or the standalone-HTML routing problem in #33164: the failing boundary here is bundled-plugin materialization/registration for the current app build.

Reproduction

1. Install Codex Desktop 26.727.40816 (build 6067) on macOS.
2. Confirm that visualize@openai-bundled is enabled in Codex configuration.
3. Start a fresh Codex task so the tool/skill surface is discovered anew.
4. Inspect the installed Visualize cache manifest and the runtime materialization state.
5. Run the normal fresh native-capability discovery for Visualize.
6. In the Plugins UI, select Visualize and use Try now.

Actual behavior

• The materialization key is liveVisualizationSkillVariant=live-disabled.
• The installed cache manifest records bundledContentVariant=live-disabled.
• Production feature dispatch contains visualizeLive:false.
• Fresh native discovery is absent-after-discovery: no native Visualize registration is exposed.
• The task launched by Try now carries the plugin chip but reports that the native skill was omitted; its agent then manually writes two-value-explorer.html and emits generic ::codex-inline-vis instead of invoking a registered native Visualize skill.

Expected behavior

With Visualize enabled, the shipped app should materialize the variant intended for its live/native experience, register that capability in a fresh task, and make Try now exercise the same supported path. In particular:

• the effective materialization key and cached manifest must agree with the enabled live/native feature;
• production dispatch must not leave the enabled plugin behind visualizeLive:false;
• fresh discovery must expose the native capability when the product presents Visualize as enabled; and
• Try now should be a native-path canary, not a separate manual HTML/directive fallback that can succeed while native registration is absent.

Evidence and integrity controls

All filesystem locations below are intentionally generalized (<CODEX_HOME>, <APP_BUNDLE>) to avoid disclosing user-specific paths.

| Evidence layer | Observed value |
| --- | --- |
| Configuration | Visualize enabled |
| Materialization key | liveVisualizationSkillVariant=live-disabled |
| Installed cache manifest | bundledContentVariant=live-disabled |
| Production feature dispatch | visualizeLive:false |
| Fresh-task native discovery | absent-after-discovery |
| Native UI canary provenance | Plugins UI -> Visualize -> Try now launches native-chip task -> task reports skill omitted -> agent manually writes two-value-explorer.html + generic ::codex-inline-vis |
| Version anchor | app 26.727.40816 build 6067; plugin 1.0.16 |

The evidence was cross-checked across the enabled configuration, materialization key, cached plugin manifest, production dispatch, a fresh discovery surface, and the first-party Plugins UI. It therefore does not rely solely on a stale thread, a single cache directory, or agent interpretation of a prompt response.

Why reinstalling the same build or clearing cache is not a supported repair

The failing values originate in the current build's materialization/feature-selection path: the enabled configuration, live-disabled materialization key, cache manifest variant, and production visualizeLive:false all agree. Reinstalling the same build or clearing the cache would merely rematerialize the same selected variant; it does not change the build-provided feature dispatch or create a missing native registration. Users should not need to mutate caches or patch bundled assets to make an enabled first-party plugin work.

Requested repair

1. Audit the macOS 26.727.40816 bundled Visualize release inputs so an enabled Visualize plugin selects and materializes the intended live/native variant.
2. Make registration and availability derive from one authoritative variant/feature decision; reject or visibly diagnose contradictory states such as “enabled in UI/config” plus live-disabled plus no native registration.
3. Make the Plugins Try now flow invoke the registered native path, and show a clear unsupported/unavailable state if it is not registered. Do not silently substitute a generic inline-HTML example.
4. Add release coverage that starts a fresh task and asserts: enabled config -> expected manifest/materialization variant -> enabled production dispatch -> discoverable native Visualize capability -> Try now exercises that same capability.
5. Surface a user-actionable diagnostic in the plugin UI when the bundle is intentionally live-disabled, including the effective variant and reason.

Related, but not duplicates

• #35211 — Visualize helper-path documentation is wrong; it assumes Visualize is already installed/materialized.
• #36100 — bundled-plugin content-variant reconciliation mismatch causing startup delay; related variant machinery, but different symptom and plugins.
• #21936 — stale bundled marketplace cache hides Chrome on macOS.
• #21138 — cache refresh can retain stale bundled/local contents without a version bump.
• #25990 — resumed threads can retain stale dynamic tool metadata; this report includes a fresh-task control and is about Visualize materialization/registration.
• #32054 — renderer reads a different visualization directory.
• #33164 — Visualize over-triggers for standalone HTML.

Duplicate search decision

No exact duplicate found as of 2026-07-30. I searched openai/codex issues and pull requests by Visualize, visualization, Try now, codex-inline-vis, two-value-explorer, live-disabled, and native registration, then inspected the closest Visualize, cache, and dynamic-tool reports listed above. Those reports cover adjacent documentation, path resolution, cache freshness, marketplace visibility, reconciliation performance, or stale thread metadata—not an enabled Visualize live-disabled materialization paired with fresh native absence and a non-native Try now route.