[Windows Desktop] Stale CODEX_CLI_PATH after app update breaks paginated thread restore

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

26.820.7780.0 (Windows package OpenAI.Codex_26.820.7780.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT account (exact tier omitted; the failure is local app-server compatibility)

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

After the Windows desktop app updated, it continued launching the executable selected by the user-level CODEX_CLI_PATH override even though that CLI was older than the app-server capabilities required by the updated desktop client.

The selected executable reported:

codex-cli 0.144.5

Opening an existing local conversation that used paginated history then failed with:

恢复对话失败
paginated_threads is not supported yet

!Codex Desktop showing the restore failure: paginated_threads is not supported yet

As a result, the conversation and its local project/file context could not be restored. The desktop UI did not identify the selected CLI path or explain that the CLI was incompatible with the updated client.

Updating the same CLI installation to 0.149.1, fully exiting the desktop app, and reopening it resolved the failure. The same conversation could then be restored normally.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On Windows, install/update Codex Desktop to 26.820.7780.0.
2. Set the user-level CODEX_CLI_PATH to a valid codex.exe that reports codex-cli 0.144.5.
3. Fully restart the desktop app so it inherits the environment variable.
4. Open an existing local conversation whose history uses the newer paginated thread format.
5. Observe the restore failure: paginated_threads is not supported yet.
6. Update the executable at CODEX_CLI_PATH to codex-cli 0.149.1 and fully restart the desktop app.
7. Open the same conversation again; it restores successfully.

The sanitized override used in this reproduction was:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\OpenAI\Codex\bin\codex.exe

What is the expected behavior?

Before using an externally selected app-server binary, Codex Desktop should validate its version or required protocol capabilities.

If CODEX_CLI_PATH points to an incompatible CLI, the app should either:

• fall back to its compatible bundled CLI when safe, or
• stop before opening a thread and show an actionable compatibility error that includes the selected path, detected CLI version, required capability/minimum version, and update guidance.

It should not allow an updated desktop client to fail later with the internal implementation message paginated_threads is not supported yet.

Additional information

• This was a version/capability mismatch, not missing or corrupted conversation data.
• Before update: codex-cli 0.144.5.
• After update: codex-cli 0.149.1; the issue no longer reproduced.
• The current public release is rust-v0.149.1.
• This can compound Windows bundled-runtime discovery/relocation failures such as #40700: setting CODEX_CLI_PATH is a common workaround for startup, but it can silently pin Desktop to a stale app-server.
• A related class of problems involving desktop runtime selection and paginated history is discussed in #40178.

Suggested regression coverage: launch the desktop/app-server integration with a deliberately old external CLI override and assert that the client rejects it with a compatibility-specific error before attempting thread/resume or paginated history operations.