ChatGPT / Codex for Mac "Computer Use" spawns unbounded `SkyComputerUseService` threads → CPU pegged + app aborts on launch (SIGABRT / V8 OOM)

Open 💬 6 comments Opened Aug 18, 2026 by jimmywang1994

💡 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 (build 6662) Also reproduced on the previous two builds: - 26.810.41047 (build 6570) - 26.810.50856 (build 6644) A newer build has not fixed it so far.

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What platform is your computer?

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What issue are you seeing?

<HTML><BODY><p>When the "Computer Use" feature is enabled, every turn spawns a <code>SkyComputerUseService</code> helper process. That process bootstraps itself by sending a <strong>synchronous Apple Event</strong> (<code>AESendMessage</code>) to a PIP/rendezvous service and then <strong>blocks forever waiting for a response that never arrives</strong>. Because it never exits, every turn spawns another one. They accumulate, each holding a V8 isolate, until the process hits the dispatch-thread soft limit (64) and then <strong>V8 runs out of memory and aborts the whole app (<code>SIGABRT</code>)</strong> — typically within ~2 minutes of launch.</p><p>The "CPU spike on launch" and the "app crashes on launch" symptoms are the <strong>same bug</strong>, not two separate problems.</p><h3>Symptoms observed</h3><ol><li>Open ChatGPT (or trigger Computer Use). Within seconds, <code>pgrep -f SkyComputerUseService | wc -l</code> climbs from 0 → 50 → 200+ and never stops.</li></ol><ol><li><code>sysctl vm.loadavg</code> spikes to 60–150 on a 12-core machine (≈5–12× overload).</li></ol><ol><li>After roughly 1–2 minutes, the app aborts. Console shows a <code>ChatGPT</code> (or <code>Codex (Service)</code>) crash report with <code>bug_type 309</code>.</li></ol><ol><li>In the degraded state, the app logs <code>Sky Computer Use service startup request failed</code> on every turn.</li></ol><h3>Crash signature (from the attached report, PID 4374)</h3><pre><code></code></pre><h3>Evidence</h3><ul><li>Attached crash report: <strong>106 threads total</strong>, of which <strong>~45 are blocked on the identical <code>sendBootstrapToServiceWithProcessIdentifier:</code> synchronous IPC call</strong>; crash thread is the V8 <code>OOMErrorHandler</code>. The header explicitly states <code>Dispatch Thread Soft Limit Reached: 64</code>.</li></ul><ul><li>Live observation across multiple occurrences: <code>SkyComputerUseService</code> count reached <strong>200–400+</strong> before the app died; <code>vm.loadavg</code> reached <strong>60–150</strong> on a 12-core CPU.</li></ul><ul><li>The standalone <code>Codex (Service)</code> process crashes with the same signature (fresh crash report dated 2026-08-16), so this is not limited to the ChatGPT app.</li></ul><h3>Root cause analysis</h3><ol><li><strong>Trigger.</strong> Each turn, <code>~/.codex/config.toml</code> fires a <code>notify</code> hook:<pre><code></code></pre><p>plus an <code>[mcp_servers.computer-use]</code> (and <code>[plugins."computer-use@openai-bundled"]</code>) entry whose <code>command</code> launches the Computer Use helper.</p></li></ol><ol><li><strong>The hang.</strong> <code>SkyComputerUseClient</code> / <code>SkyComputerUseService</code> bootstraps by sending a <strong>synchronous</strong> Apple Event to <code>RemoteHostedPIPContentService</code> (<code>sendBootstrapToServiceWithProcessIdentifier:rendezvousPort:attempt:</code> → <code>AESendMessage</code>). In this build that IPC call <strong>blocks indefinitely and never returns</strong>, so the helper process sits on a dispatch thread forever and is never reaped.</li></ol><ol><li><strong>The leak.</strong> Because the helper never exits, the next turn spawns another one. They accumulate. Each holds a V8 isolate, so JavaScript heap + GC pressure grow without bound.</li></ol><ol><li><strong>The crash.</strong> Once 64+ dispatch threads are blocked in synchronous operations (<code>Dispatch Thread Soft Limit Reached: 64</code>), the V8 isolate hits <code>node::OOMErrorHandler</code> → <code>abort()</code> → <code>SIGABRT</code>. Hence "crashes on launch" is the same failure mode as "CPU pegged".</li></ol><h3>Workarounds attempted (and why they do not fully work)</h3>
Workaround | Result
-- | --
Delete the bundled Codex Computer Use.app under ~/.codex/computer-use/ (then chflags uchg the parent dir to stop the app's self-repair from recreating it) | Stops the leak (sky count stays 0, app stable). Downside: Computer Use is dead and logs Sky Computer Use service startup request failed every turn. This is the only reliable mitigation.
Edit ~/.codex/config.toml (set command = "/bin/false", disable [mcp_servers.computer-use] / [plugins."computer-use"], comment the notify hook) | Does not stick. The app rewrites config.toml on the next launch (self-healing config), restoring the notify hook and the mcp server entry — including on the newest build 26.810.52044.
Replace / rename the SkyComputerUseService / SkyComputerUseClient binaries with a no-op | Blocked. The bundled .app and its binaries are protected by macOS (com.apple.macl / com.apple.provenance xattrs, and a uchg immutable flag on the parent directory); xattr -d / chmod / mv / rm as a normal user are denied.

<p>Note: in <code>config.toml</code>, both <code>[plugins."computer-use@openai-bundled"]</code> and <code>[mcp_servers.computer-use]</code> already show <code>enabled = false</code>, yet the top-level <code>notify</code> hook still invokes <code>SkyComputerUseClient</code> — so disabling those sections <strong>does not</strong> stop the spawn.</p><h3>Requested fix / questions</h3><ol><li>Please fix the <code>RemoteHostedPIPContentService sendBootstrapToServiceWithProcessIdentifier:</code> IPC path so it does not block synchronously forever (add a timeout / async handshake / proper cleanup of the spawned helper).</li></ol><ol><li>Please stop the unbounded accumulation: reap <code>SkyComputerUseService</code> when its IPC is unacknowledged, and cap concurrent helpers.</li></ol><ol><li>Is there a supported way to fully disable Computer Use that <strong>survives app relaunch</strong> (i.e., that the app's config self-healing will not re-enable)?</li></ol><ol><li>Is this specific to macOS 26 / Apple Silicon, or are Intel users affected too?</li></ol><ol><li>Which exact build carries the fix so we can verify? 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What steps can reproduce the bug?

Install ChatGPT for Mac 26.810.52044 (6662) on macOS 26.6.1 (Apple Silicon).
Enable the "Computer Use" feature (Settings → … → Use Computer), or have a session with Computer Use enabled.
Launch the app / start a session.
Observe Activity Monitor or run:

``bash pgrep -f SkyComputerUseService | wc -l # grows unbounded sysctl vm.loadavg # climbs to 60–150``

Within ~2 minutes the app crashes (SIGABRT). A report like ChatGPT-2026-08-18-1331…ips is produced.

Environment commands used for verification

defaults read /Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString   # 26.810.52044
defaults read /Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleVersion              # 6662
sw_vers -productVersion                                                              # 26.6.1
sysctl sysctl.proc_translated                                                       # 0 (native ARM-64)
pgrep -f SkyComputerUseService | wc -l
sysctl vm.loadavg

Happy to provide full crash reports, the relevant config.toml snippets, and pgrep/vm.loadavg captures to help reproduce.

What is the expected behavior?

_No response_

Additional information

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

6 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 10 days ago

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

#38813
#38841
#38939
#39110
#38771

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giri1991 · 10 days ago

This is happenning to me too for the past few days, app is completely broken, is there no update on a fix?

jimmywang1994 · 9 days ago

From what I can see, there's still no fix yet. I'd give it a bit more time or try reporting it through the official channel.

jarhot1992 · 4 days ago

The crash problem is still present in the latest version. After updating to the newest release, the application continues to crash frequently and the issue remains fully reproducible.

This bug significantly impacts normal usage, as the application becomes unstable and cannot be reliably used. Please investigate the root cause based on the crash reports and prioritize a fix.

SeeTomorrow · 2 days ago

Reproduced again on a substantially newer desktop build: ChatGPT/Codex 26.820.60940 (build 7119). The issue is still present.

Environment:

macOS 26.6.1 (25G76)
Apple Silicon (Darwin 25.6.0 arm64 arm)
App launched normally and was left idle; Computer Use was not manually invoked

Fresh crash captured on 2026-08-26:

Launch: 10:44:22
Crash: 10:46:19 (~117 seconds after launch)
EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT) / Abort trap: 6
323 total threads
184 threads named computer-use
64 threads blocked in RemoteHostedPIPContentService sendBootstrapToServiceWithProcessIdentifier:rendezvousPort:attempt: → AESendMessage
Crash report records Dispatch Thread Soft Limit: 64
Faulting thread: V8Worker, ending in node::OOMErrorHandler(...) → abort()

This is the same signature reported here, now confirmed on build 7119. It is not limited to the earlier 26.810 builds and still makes the desktop app crash shortly after a clean/idle launch.

I have retained the full .ips report and can provide a redacted copy if maintainers need it. Please prioritize a helper-spawn cap/backoff and a fix for the synchronous bootstrap path.

Quisharoo · 2 days ago

Fresh local confirmation on ChatGPT 26.820.60940 (build 7119), macOS 26.6.2 (25G83), native arm64 (Mac17,9). DiagnosticReport ChatGPT-2026-08-26-064754.ips: EXC_BREAKPOINT/SIGTRAP in a triggered computer-use worker during V8 isolate creation; 64-thread soft limit; multiple workers blocked in RemoteHostedPIPContentService sendBootstrapToServiceWithProcessIdentifier:rendezvousPort:attempt: → AESendMessage. This reproduces the same runaway Computer Use bootstrap/crash family on the current build. Full report is retained locally and can be supplied privately if maintainers request it.