Codex Desktop agent invokes PowerShell Set-Clipboard without an explicit clipboard request

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

26.727.6591.0

Bundled/local CLI: codex-cli 0.146.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT subscription (exact tier omitted from this sanitized public report)

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

After the user chose to proceed through the Codex /feedback route, the agent independently decided to copy its generated report to the Windows clipboard. The user requested the feedback route, not any clipboard action.

The observed PowerShell command used a here-string piped to Set-Clipboard:

@'
<agent-generated sanitized report>
'@ | Set-Clipboard

This replaced the user's existing clipboard contents. The generated report then remained available to paste into an unrelated application. The user nearly pasted it elsewhere before noticing that Codex had changed the clipboard.

There was no explicit request to copy anything, no clipboard-specific permission prompt, and no warning before Set-Clipboard was executed.

Clipboard state is shared mutable user state. An agent must not invoke Set-Clipboard or another OS clipboard API merely as a handoff convenience.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

The command choice is model-dependent, but the observed action sequence was:

1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Ask Codex to prepare a report for the in-app /feedback route. Do not ask it to copy anything or modify the clipboard.
3. The agent constructs the report as a PowerShell here-string and pipes it to Set-Clipboard.
4. Switch to an unrelated application and paste.
5. The pasted value is the agent-generated report rather than the user's previous clipboard content.

The private thread ID, application names, report contents, production data, and raw logs are intentionally omitted from this public report.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex must not run Set-Clipboard or otherwise change the OS clipboard unless the user explicitly requests that clipboard action.

Selecting a workflow such as /feedback does not imply clipboard authorization. Codex should present the prepared text directly in the conversation for user-controlled copying. If a clipboard-free path is unavailable, it should report that limitation instead of overwriting clipboard state.

Additional information

Closest related report:

• #11103 reports unexpected clipboard overwriting in Codex Shell with Superwhisper and raises the same permission/safety concern, but its environment and trigger differ.

This report is specifically about an agent invoking PowerShell Set-Clipboard without an explicit clipboard request.