[macOS][ChatGPT Desktop] Computer Use startup reconciliation recreates a disabled stale MCP override

[macOS][ChatGPT Desktop] Computer Use startup reconciliation recreates a disabled stale MCP override

Classification

• Type: Bug
• Scope: Public OpenAI/Codex product
• Target repository: openai/codex
• Privacy class: Public-safe
• Owner: omarpinarecords
• Attempted feedback/correlation ID: 01a022f3-5719-7031-89cc-51c641d82a96
• Diagnostic upload status: NOT_PROVED — the app displayed “We couldn't submit your feedback.”

Environment

• ChatGPT desktop: 26.818.31338 (build 6892)
• macOS: 26.6.2 (25G83)
• Architecture: Apple Silicon (arm64)
• Computer Use plugin: 1.0.1000816

Summary

The OpenAI-bundled Computer Use plugin remains installed and enabled, but ChatGPT desktop startup/plugin reconciliation has repeatedly recreated a stale explicit computer-use MCP override with enabled = false and an invalid app-relative command. This can turn the Computer Use MCP toggle off or leave the persisted MCP state inconsistent with the enabled plugin.

The bundled plugin's current manifest correctly uses ./bin/computer-use-client-launcher. The stale override instead points directly to ./Codex Computer Use.app/.../SkyComputerUseClient with cwd = ".".

Observed stale configuration

[mcp_servers.computer-use]
command = "./Codex Computer Use.app/Contents/SharedSupport/SkyComputerUseClient.app/Contents/MacOS/SkyComputerUseClient"
args = ["mcp"]
cwd = "."
enabled = false

The plugin itself remains enabled:

[plugins."computer-use@openai-bundled"]
enabled = true

Expected behavior

1. The Computer Use server and skill enabled states persist across application restarts unless the user disables them.
2. Startup/plugin reconciliation does not create a disabled user-level override for an enabled bundled plugin.
3. The server resolves through the bundled computer-use-client-launcher instead of the stale direct relative path.
4. Persisted configuration and the visible toggles remain consistent.

Actual behavior

After startup/restart, a stale explicit MCP override can reappear with enabled = false. Manual removal restores the plugin-managed server for the current session, but the state has recurred.

Current verification after manual repair

• Computer Use plugin: installed and enabled.
• Computer Use skill: enabled.
• Computer Use MCP server: enabled through ./bin/computer-use-client-launcher.
• MCP initialization and tool listing: successful.
• Managed @oai/sky runtime smoke test: successful.
• Required macOS permissions and helper signatures: valid.
• No ChatGPT restart was performed solely to reproduce the problem because active tasks were running.

This indicates that the helper/runtime works and the defect is in persisted enabled-state or startup/plugin-reconciliation behavior.

Requested investigation

Please inspect bundled-plugin reconciliation and configuration migration for Computer Use. It should not recreate a stale disabled explicit MCP override when the bundled plugin supplies a valid managed launcher.

Related issues

• #36461 — Computer Use MCP server enabled state resets after ChatGPT Desktop restart.
• #35448 — Disabled Computer Use MCP config uses an invalid relative path.

Private diagnostics

Attempted /feedback correlation/task ID: 01a022f3-5719-7031-89cc-51c641d82a96

The app displayed the ID while diagnostics were uploading and later reported “We couldn't submit your feedback. Please try again in a moment.” Therefore, successful receipt of the feedback text or diagnostics is not proved. The separate feedback-pipeline defect is tracked in #39892.

No private logs, account details, usernames, or local absolute paths are included in this public report.