macOS Desktop app returns HTTP 429 for every Chat message while Web and iOS work normally

Open 💬 2 comments Opened Aug 15, 2026 by omermaz

💡 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)?

26.810.52044

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.6.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

The Chat surface in the new unified ChatGPT desktop app for macOS fails with HTTP 429 on every message.

Exact error:
Request failed with status 429

The problem occurs in both existing conversations and completely new chats, including when sending only:

test

The same OpenAI account works normally at the same time:

in ChatGPT Web on the same Mac
in the ChatGPT iOS app

The failure appears isolated to the macOS desktop client.

Feedback ID:
no-active-thread-01a0076b-c203-7601-8d65-80b6f65e0203

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Feedback ID: no-active-thread-01a0076b-c203-7601-8d65-80b6f65e0203

What is the expected behavior?

Open the new ChatGPT desktop app on macOS.
Select ChatGPT and use the normal Chat experience.
Start a completely new chat.
Send the message:

test

The app immediately returns:

Request failed with status 429

Repeat in another new chat - the same 429 occurs.
Fully quit the app with Cmd+Q and reopen it - still fails.
Restart the Mac - still fails.
Log out of the desktop app and log back in - still fails.
Switch the Mac from the normal Internet connection to an iPhone hotspot - still fails.
Open ChatGPT Web on the SAME Mac, using the SAME account and SAME hotspot - Web works normally.
Test the SAME account in the ChatGPT iOS app - iOS works normally.
Uninstall and reinstall the ChatGPT desktop application - still fails.
Check for updates - the app reports version 26.810.52044 is currently the newest available version.

The issue is therefore reproducible only in the macOS desktop client.

Session ID:
I do not currently have a session ID exposed by the app.

Feedback ID:
no-active-thread-01a0076b-c203-7601-8d65-80b6f65e0203

Context window:
The issue reproduces in a completely new chat with only the single word "test", so it is not dependent on a large conversation context.

Token/context usage:
Exact token usage is not exposed to me for the failed Chat request.

Additional observation:
The desktop sidebar shows "Usage 0% left", but normal Chat continues to work through Web and iOS using the same account.

Additional information

This is specifically a failure of Chat inside the new unified desktop app, not a Codex coding task.

View original on GitHub ↗

2 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 12 days ago

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

#38632
#38804

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wencapybara · 10 days ago

I’m experiencing what appears to be the same issue on macOS.

On August 17, 2026, at approximately 2:07 PM Taipei time (UTC+8), the Chat surface in the macOS desktop app again returned:

Request failed with status 429

The failure occurred in a regular new Chat. This is intermittent rather than permanently affecting every message, but it has recurred multiple times.

Additional troubleshooting I have already tried:

signing in with a different ChatGPT account;
testing from a separate macOS user account with a different user profile and home folder; and
updating macOS to the latest version available to me.

The issue persisted despite those changes, so it does not appear limited to the original ChatGPT account, macOS user profile, or previous macOS version.

I have also reported this privately to OpenAI Support as Case 12751158, including a screen recording, timestamps, environment details, comparisons between affected and working surfaces, and screenshots from the latest recurrence. I am omitting account identifiers and private screenshots here.