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Codex Issues / #39513

[Windows Desktop 26.814.41957] Task composer and chat creation fail after combined-app update

Open 💬 5 comments Opened Aug 19, 2026 by Bracken-Partnership
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

Codex app version

  • Codex Desktop client: 26.814.41957
  • Embedded CLI: codex-cli 0.148.0-alpha.15

Platform

  • Windows x64
  • Windows build: 10.0.26200.9168 (25H2)

Issue

Since the forced update to the combined ChatGPT/Codex desktop app on 19 August 2026, the desktop UI has repeatedly lost the ability to submit or create tasks.

Two failure modes occurred on the same day:

  1. Existing task composer fails
  • Text entered in an idle task becomes a local card showing Steer, delete, and menu controls.
  • The message cannot be submitted.
  • The message is absent from backend task history.
  • The backend task itself remains idle and responsive; API-based task messaging still succeeds.
  • Fully restarting the desktop app restores the composer temporarily.
  1. Creating a task fails
  • The app displays:

``
Error creating chat
{"value":{},"source":"owned","hooks":[],"promises":[]}
``

  • Restarting the app or Windows temporarily restores task creation.

This happened multiple times in one day and interrupted concurrent long-running tasks.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows after updating to client 26.814.41957.
  2. Work with several existing long-running tasks.
  3. Attempt either:
  • to submit a message in an idle existing task; or
  • to create a new task.
  1. Observe either a stuck local Steer draft or the Error creating chat notification.
  2. Fully restart the app.
  3. Submission/task creation works again temporarily.

Expected behavior

  • An idle task composer submits immediately.
  • Creating a new task succeeds.
  • If renderer task ownership/hook state becomes stale, the app should rehydrate automatically or show a recoverable error.
  • Restarting Codex or Windows should not be required.

Diagnostics

  • The backend/app-server remained active while the UI submission path failed.
  • Local logs identify client version 26.814.41957.
  • After restart, the app rehydrated very large histories (approximately 112,000 and 35,000 events in two tasks).
  • Around the failure window, local logs also contained repeated hook warnings:

``
after_agent hook failed; continuing
The filename or extension is too long. (os error 206)
``

  • The exact owned/hooks/promises error appeared in the desktop notification but was not recorded as a backend task-creation error, suggesting the failure may be renderer/UI-state-side.

Frequency and impact

  • Reproduced multiple times on 19 August 2026 after the forced update.
  • Blocks normal task submission and creation.
  • Requires a full app restart, disrupting unrelated active tasks.

Privacy

Private task names, task IDs, local repository paths, prompts, and screenshots have been deliberately omitted.

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 8 days ago

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

  • #39226

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basashi365-web · 7 days ago

Additional reproduction detail from Windows Desktop:

I found a strong window/project correlation with the same Error creating chat / {"value":{},"source":"owned","hooks":[],"promises":[]} failure.

Observed behavior:

  • In a single Codex Desktop window, work with Project A and submit a prompt successfully.
  • Then switch to Project B in the same window and try to submit/create a chat.
  • The operation fails with the opaque source:"owned" error.
  • Creating/opening a separate Codex Desktop window for Project B and submitting from that window succeeds.

So, in my reproduction, using one window across multiple projects triggers the failure, while keeping one project per window avoids it.

This may help narrow the issue to renderer/window-scoped conversation or project ownership state during project switching, rather than the backend/app-server or prompt content itself.

ITFinesse · 6 days ago

Same , driving me nuts!

CodingLikeAMadMonkey · 3 days ago

Confirming this issue persists on a newer Windows build.

Environment

  • Codex Desktop MSIX package: OpenAI.Codex_26.818.5229.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
  • OS: Windows Enterprise 25H2, NT build 10.0.26200.9168, x64

Observed behavior

  • Only some existing conversations are affected; other conversations continue to submit normally.
  • In an affected conversation, the local composer/draft card remains in the Steer state.
  • Clicking Steer does nothing.
  • Edit message works locally, but resubmitting does not repair or reset the composer state.

This appears scoped to per-conversation renderer/session state rather than a global input or account problem, and confirms the regression persists beyond client 26.814.41957.

Sanitized diagnostics

  • At inspection time, the active desktop log contained 1,107 ResizeObserver loop completed with undelivered notifications renderer errors and 3 turn/steer events.
  • No task IDs, paths, prompts, or other private contents are included here.
axelburn-coder · 1 day ago

Confirming this issue still occurs on Windows with Codex Desktop 26.820.60940, released August 25, 2026.

The error is exactly:

Error creating chat {"value":{},"source":"owned","hooks":[],"promises":[]}

A full restart does not resolve it permanently. After restarting Codex Desktop, I was able to send one message successfully, and then the same error appeared again.

Codex CLI works normally with the same project, so the problem appears to be specific to the Desktop application/UI state rather than the project itself.

No private project details are included here.