Windows desktop app can hang on send and may relaunch after close; plugin/connectors discovery gets Cloudflare 403 HTML

[johnsilvavlogs]

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

26.325.3894.0

Windows Store package observed locally:
OpenAI.Codex_26.325.3894.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200 x64

What issue are you seeing?

I am seeing two likely-related desktop app problems on Windows:

1. Sending a prompt in the Codex desktop app can leave the UI loading forever.
2. In some sessions, closing the Codex window causes the app to immediately launch again.

The strongest local evidence points to desktop/app-server instability around remote apps/connectors discovery:

• the desktop/app-server path repeatedly receives 403 Forbidden HTML challenge responses from chatgpt.com instead of JSON for plugin/connectors discovery
• the desktop app also logs repeated updater manifest 404 failures
• during at least one spontaneous restart window, the logs show IpcClient timeouts, then Stopping app-server transport, then Worker exited code=1, then a fresh Launching app about 300 ms later

Important isolation detail:

• the local CLI path still works on the same machine/account
• curated app/plugin bundles look intact locally
• connector smoke tests succeed

So this does not look like a broken local installation or missing packages. It looks like a Windows desktop runtime issue, likely amplified by the Cloudflare/403 app discovery path.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

The prompt-loading symptom:

1. Install/open the Codex desktop app from the Microsoft Store on Windows 11.
2. Sign in with a ChatGPT Pro account.
3. Open a new or existing thread.
4. Send a prompt.
5. In affected sessions, the UI stays loading indefinitely instead of returning a response.
6. Inspect %USERPROFILE%\\.codex\\log\\codex-tui.log and the packaged desktop logs under:
   C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0\LocalCache\Local\Codex\Logs\YYYY\MM\DD
7. The logs show remote plugin/connectors discovery failing with 403 Forbidden and Cloudflare HTML (Enable JavaScript and cookies to continue).

The close/reopen symptom:

1. Use the app normally until it has been open for a while.
2. Close the Codex window.
3. On April 2, 2026 this happened multiple times where the app launched again immediately after closing.
4. Around one of those windows, the desktop logs show:
   • warning [IpcClient] Initialize failed errorMessage=timeout
   • info [AppServerConnection] Stopping app-server transport
   • warning [worker-manager] Worker exited code=1
   • a new Launching app ... packaged=true platform=win32 entry about 300 ms later

Notes:

• the close/reopen symptom seems intermittent; a controlled Alt+F4 close later stayed closed
• that makes it look state/timing-sensitive, not a simple startup setting

What is the expected behavior?

• Sending a prompt in the Windows desktop app should complete normally and not stay loading forever.
• Plugin/connectors/apps discovery should return valid JSON responses, not Cloudflare challenge HTML.
• Closing the Codex window should keep the app closed.
• Internal worker failures should not trigger a visible app relaunch loop.

Additional information

What I verified locally before filing:

• App package version: 26.325.3894.0
• Local CLI version: codex-cli 0.118.0
• codex exec --skip-git-repo-check --ephemeral "Reply with exactly: ok" returned ok
• curated plugin bundles (github, gmail, google-drive) are present locally
• connector profile calls succeed, so the local app/plugin packages are not obviously broken
• targeted cleanup of transient temp dirs did not remove the 403 / 404 signatures

Representative local evidence:

startup remote plugin sync failed; will retry on next app-server start
error=remote plugin sync request to https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/plugins/list failed with status 403 Forbidden

failed to load full apps list; falling back to installed apps snapshot
failed to refresh apps list; retaining current apps snapshot
failed to load discoverable tool suggestions

error [windows-updater] Failed to check for Windows updates
errorMessage="Windows update manifest request failed (404 )"

warning [IpcClient] Initialize failed errorMessage=timeout
info [AppServerConnection] Stopping app-server transport
warning [worker-manager] Worker exited code=1

Concrete restart window from April 2, 2026:

18:39:08.845Z Launching app
18:39:20.175Z warning [IpcClient] Initialize failed errorMessage=timeout
18:39:26.198Z warning [IpcClient] Initialize failed errorMessage=timeout
18:39:32.224Z warning [IpcClient] Initialize failed errorMessage=timeout
18:39:33.743Z info [AppServerConnection] Stopping app-server transport
18:39:33.753Z warning [worker-manager] Worker exited code=1
18:39:34.046Z Launching app

Related issues that seem adjacent but not identical:

• VS Code Codex extension receives Cloudflare challenge HTML (403) instead of JSON, causing authentication failure and unstable state #16341
• Resuming same thread crashes Codex #16143
• Desktop app hangs on Thinking indefinitely on macOS; forcing external codex fixes it #13709
• Codex App UI freezes: worker crashes, massive git/worktree errors, and concurrent orphaned app-server processes #11090

If helpful, I can add more exact log excerpts from both %USERPROFILE%\\.codex\\log\\codex-tui.log and the packaged desktop log files.

[github-actions]

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

• #0.118.0 gets stuck on startup when plugins/featured returns a Cloudflare challenge page #16543
• #[Windows App] App reopens itself after closing normally #15949
• #VS Code Codex extension receives Cloudflare challenge HTML (403) instead of JSON, causing authentication failure and unstable state #16341
• #Codex on Windows reopens in English and loses Automations sidebar after closing window, while Settings still shows Chinese #16540

Powered by Codex Action