[Windows] Codex Desktop exits when opening @/+ composer picker and can enter startup exit loop

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

26.818.3698.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64 Windows 11 25H2, build 26200.8655 System locale: en-US

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop on Windows terminates the entire AppX process when interacting with the composer picker.

The issue originally reproduced consistently by typing or pasting @ into the composer. It later reproduced by clicking the + button in the lower-left of the composer as well.

There is no error dialog. The entire desktop process exits.

The issue has since escalated further. After reproducing the + crash, relaunching Codex and returning to the affected chat can cause repeated whole-app exits. Several recent launches exited approximately 17–22 seconds after startup without any further interaction.

The backend Skills request appears to complete successfully before the process exits. A typical sequence is:

Skills/list request
response_routed ... errorCode=null ... method=skills/list
Skills/list ok entryCount=1

The app log then ends abruptly.

Windows records the Codex AppX container being destroyed, but there is no corresponding Application Error event, Windows Error Reporting crash, Crashpad dump, or graceful shutdown entry.

Codex CLI and the VS Code extension continue to work normally.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Reproduction A: @

1. Restart Windows.
2. Launch Codex Desktop.
3. Start a new chat without opening a workspace.
4. Type @ into the composer.

The entire Codex Desktop process exits immediately.

Pasting @ instead of typing it produces the same result, so this does not appear to be a keyboard-shortcut conflict.

Reproduction B: +

1. Launch Codex Desktop.
2. Open a chat.
3. Click the + button in the lower-left of the composer.
4. Codex performs a skills/list request.
5. The request completes successfully.
6. The entire Desktop process exits immediately afterward.

During one verified reproduction:

2026-08-21T06:51:11.163Z  Skills/list request
2026-08-21T06:51:11.327Z  successful skills/list response, errorCode=null

The successful response is the final line in the application log.

Windows recorded the AppX container being destroyed at approximately 13:51:11 ICT.

Reproduction C: startup loop after the crash

After reproducing the issue and relaunching Codex, returning to the affected chat can cause the application to exit again.

Several recent launches showed the following behavior:

| Process | Started (ICT) | AppX container destroyed (ICT) |
|---|---:|---:|
| 21952 | 13:51:20 | 13:51:42 |
| 20844 | 13:52:45 | 13:53:05 |
| 11840 | 13:58:10 | 13:58:31 |
| 4900 | 14:02:59 | 14:03:16 |
| 7484 | 14:09:19 | 14:09:40 |

These exits occurred approximately 17–22 seconds after launch, sometimes without further interaction.

What is the expected behavior?

Typing or pasting @, or clicking the + button, should open the corresponding composer picker/menu without terminating Codex Desktop.

A successful skills/list response should be handled by the renderer normally.

If a picker item or Skills entry contains malformed or unexpected data, the UI should reject or skip that entry and report an error rather than terminating the entire AppX process.

Relaunching Codex after such an error should also remain stable and should not enter a repeated startup exit loop.

Additional information

App package:

OpenAI.Codex_26.818.3698.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Internal desktop release shown in logs:

26.818.31338

Diagnostic observations:

• The issue has reproduced since the initial installation around July 2026.
• Restarting Windows does not resolve it.
• Typing and pasting @ both reproduce the issue.
• Clicking + later reproduced the same whole-app exit.
• Codex CLI works normally.
• The Codex VS Code extension works normally.
• The issue reproduces without opening a workspace.
• thread/read, thread/resume, and thread/items/list complete successfully during affected relaunches.
• skills/list completes successfully before verified @ / + exits.
• There is no corresponding Codex Application Error event in the Windows Application log.
• No Windows Error Reporting crash record was generated.
• No Crashpad .dmp or .mdmp was generated.
• Application logs stop without a graceful shutdown entry.
• Windows only records the Desktop AppX container being destroyed.

The logs also contain:

Skills/list missing short_description count ... missingShortDescriptionCount=123

However, this message also occurs during sessions that continue running, so I do not consider it confirmed as the root cause.

The evidence currently suggests a Windows Desktop renderer/composer-picker failure while processing or displaying data returned by the Skills/picker path, but there is no crash stack to confirm the exact failing entry or component.

Feedback ID:

01a02273-313f-7d91-82b6-88cc5378eb0e

A diagnostic feedback report containing the relevant ChatGPT/Codex session logs has already been submitted through the Codex Desktop Send Feedback feature.

Raw desktop logs are not attached publicly because they contain local filesystem paths, account identifiers, request IDs, and thread IDs. Sanitized excerpts can be provided if needed.