Update prompt suggests 0.87.0, but npm @openai/codex latest is 0.84.0 (0.85.0–0.87.0 not published)

Resolved 💬 1 comment Opened Jan 18, 2026 by airplne Closed Jan 18, 2026

Summary

Codex CLI’s update checker prompts to upgrade from 0.84.0 → 0.87.0, but 0.87.0 (and 0.85.0, 0.86.0) does not appear to be available on the npm registry. As a result, selecting Update now (or re-running npm install -g @openai/codex) cannot resolve the prompt, and it reappears on every run.

This creates a broken/looping upgrade experience for npm-installed users.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install via npm:
  • npm install -g @openai/codex
  1. Run:
  • codex
  1. Observe prompt:
  • ✨ Update available! 0.84.0 -> 0.87.0
  1. Choose Update now (or manually run npm install -g @openai/codex)
  2. Run codex again — the same update prompt appears again

Expected Behavior

One of the following:

  • 0.87.0 is published to npm (so the update prompt is actionable), OR
  • The update checker compares against npm registry dist-tags/versions when installed via npm (so it only prompts for versions users can actually install), OR
  • The prompt detects the install channel and provides the correct upgrade path (e.g., Homebrew cask / GitHub release binary) instead of suggesting an unavailable npm version.

Actual Behavior

  • npm reports 0.84.0 as the latest available version
  • Attempting to install 0.87.0 fails with ETARGET
  • The update prompt repeats indefinitely on every Codex run

Diagnostics / Evidence

# npm latest appears to be 0.84.0
npm view @openai/codex version
# 0.84.0

# 0.87.0 (and likely 0.85.0/0.86.0) not found on npm
npm install -g @openai/codex@0.87.0
# npm ERR! code ETARGET
# npm ERR! notarget No matching version found for @openai/codex@0.87.0.

# version list ends at 0.84.0
npm view @openai/codex versions --json | tail -n 10
# ...
# "0.81.0",
# "0.82.0-alpha.1",
# "0.82.0-alpha.2",
# "0.82.0-alpha.3",
# "0.84.0"
# ]

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