[Bug] VS Code Codex extension cannot run tasks reliably: connector logo overload, plugin manifest warnings, and repeated Cloudflare/telemetry 403 for non-browser clients

## Description

The Codex VS Code extension is currently unreliable on my Windows machine. Browser access to Codex works, and `codex login status` reports that I am logged in with ChatGPT, but the VS Code extension cannot reliably run tasks.

The issue appears to involve three recurring error classes in the VS Code Output panel:

1. connector logo fetch failures with `Server overloaded; retry later`;
2. repeated plugin/skill manifest validation warnings surfaced through `[CodexMcpConnection]`;
3. repeated `403 Forbidden` requests to `https://chatgpt.com/ces/v1/rgstr...`.

In addition, I reproduced a strong Cloudflare / User-Agent pattern against `https://auth.openai.com`:

- default curl User-Agent returns `403 Forbidden` with `Cf-Mitigated: challenge`;
- Chrome-like User-Agent returns `200 OK`;
- `reqwest/0.12.0` User-Agent returns `403 Forbidden` with `Cf-Mitigated: challenge`.

This suggests that at least part of the issue may be caused by non-browser HTTP clients, possibly `reqwest`-based clients, being challenged by Cloudflare, while browser-like traffic is allowed.

## Environment

```text
OS: Windows x64
IDE: VS Code
Shell: PowerShell
Codex CLI version: codex-cli 0.129.0
Auth mode: Logged in using ChatGPT

Codex command path:
  C:\nvm4w\nodejs\codex.ps1
  C:\nvm4w\nodejs\codex.cmd
  C:\nvm4w\nodejs\codex

Get-AppxPackage *Codex*:
  no Codex Appx package found

Observed Cloudflare edges:
  SIN and HKG in CF-RAY values
```

## Current Codex CLI status

```powershell
PS C:\Users\admin\.codex> codex --version
codex-cli 0.129.0

PS C:\Users\admin\.codex> codex login status
Logged in using ChatGPT

PS C:\Users\admin\.codex> Get-Command codex -All

CommandType     Name          Source
-----------     ----          ------
ExternalScript  codex.ps1     C:\nvm4w\nodejs\codex.ps1
Application     codex.cmd     C:\nvm4w\nodejs\codex.cmd
Application     codex         C:\nvm4w\nodejs\codex
```

## Local proxy checks

No local proxy appears to be configured.

```powershell
PS C:\Users\admin> Get-ChildItem Env:*proxy*
# no output

PS C:\Users\admin> netsh winhttp show proxy

Current WinHTTP proxy settings:

    Direct access (no proxy server).

PS C:\Users\admin> npm config get proxy
null

PS C:\Users\admin> npm config get https-proxy
null

PS C:\Users\admin> git config --global --get http.proxy
# no output

PS C:\Users\admin> git config --global --get https.proxy
# no output
```

## VS Code Output errors

### 1. Connector logo fetch overload

```text
2026-05-08 19:17:29.735 [error] Error fetching error={"code":-32001,"message":"Server overloaded; retry later."} url=/aip/connectors/asdk_app_69b754303dec8191a9661710f5ff60f4/logo?theme=dark
```

This looks like a background connector/logo fetch failure. It should not make task execution unreliable, and it should probably be cached, throttled, or retried with backoff.

### 2. Plugin / skill manifest warnings surfaced as `[CodexMcpConnection]` errors

```text
2026-05-08 19:17:29.979 [error] [CodexMcpConnection] cli: message="
2026-05-08T12:17:29.682171Z  WARN codex_core_plugins::manifest: ignoring interface.defaultPrompt: prompt must be at most 128 characters path=C:\\Users\\admin\\.codex\\.tmp\\plugins\\plugins\\build-ios-apps\\.codex-plugin/plugin.json
2026-05-08T12:17:29.682904Z  WARN codex_core_plugins::manifest: ignoring interface.defaultPrompt: maximum of 3 prompts is supported path=C:\\Users\\admin\\.codex\\.tmp\\plugins\\plugins\\plugin-eval\\.codex-plugin/plugin.json
2026-05-08T12:17:29.687512Z  WARN codex_core_plugins::manifest: ignoring interface.defaultPrompt: maximum of 3 prompts is supported path=C:\\Users\\admin\\.codex\\.tmp\\plugins\\plugins\\twilio-developer-kit\\.codex-plugin/plugin.json
2026-05-08T12:17:29.726083Z  WARN codex_core_skills::loader: ignoring interface.icon_small: icon path must not contain '..'
2026-05-08T12:17:29.726118Z  WARN codex_core_skills::loader: ignoring interface.icon_large: icon path must not contain '..'
..."
```

These look like plugin/skill manifest validation warnings rather than the primary task execution failure. However, they are repeatedly surfaced through `[CodexMcpConnection]` and add significant noise to the Output panel.

If these manifests are from bundled or remotely downloaded registry/plugin metadata, the extension should either sanitize them before loading or deduplicate/downgrade these warnings.

### 3. Repeated telemetry / CES 403

```text
2026-05-08 19:17:53.023 [error] Error fetching httpStatus=403 requestId=9f8867eb5bea40fc-SIN statusText=Forbidden url=https://chatgpt.com/ces/v1/rgstr?k=client-sYWqzCYMRkUg4DqqiZcR5DGTNl2iD7zNJY0HoeDLzxR&st=javascript-client-react&sv=3.32.6&t=1778242672580&sid=a88e1687-a19b-4d23-b9f8-09853b7ca2db&ec=10&gz=1
```

This looks like a telemetry/analytics endpoint failure. It should not prevent task execution, spam Output indefinitely, or degrade prompt/task responsiveness. A failed telemetry request should use backoff or be disabled for the session after repeated failures.

## Cloudflare / User-Agent reproduction

I ran these direct checks against `https://auth.openai.com`.

### Default curl User-Agent: blocked

Command:

```powershell
curl.exe -I https://auth.openai.com 2>&1 | Select-String -Pattern "HTTP|cf-mitigated|server|location|cf-ray" -CaseSensitive:$false
```

Result:

```text
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Cf-Mitigated: challenge
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 9f88286d3f8f2f2a-SIN
```

A later run produced:

```text
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Cf-Mitigated: challenge
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 9f885f468e946e52-HKG
```

### Chrome-like User-Agent: succeeds

Command:

```powershell
curl.exe -I -A "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/131.0.0.0 Safari/537.36" https://auth.openai.com 2>&1 | Select-String -Pattern "HTTP|cf-mitigated|server|location|cf-ray" -CaseSensitive:$false
```

Result:

```text
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 9f8828878843c4af-SIN
```

A later run produced:

```text
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 9f885f47fbb3b419-HKG
```

### reqwest-like User-Agent: blocked

Command:

```powershell
curl.exe -I -A "reqwest/0.12.0" https://auth.openai.com 2>&1 | Select-String -Pattern "HTTP|cf-mitigated|server|location|cf-ray" -CaseSensitive:$false
```

Result:

```text
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Cf-Mitigated: challenge
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 9f8828b34b59811b-SIN
```

A later run produced:

```text
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Cf-Mitigated: challenge
Server: cloudflare
CF-RAY: 9f885f541eecb852-HKG
```

This pattern suggests that Cloudflare may be challenging or blocking non-browser HTTP clients, especially reqwest-like clients, while browser-like traffic succeeds.

## Expected behavior

The VS Code Codex extension should be able to run tasks reliably after ChatGPT login.

More specifically:

- connector logo fetch failures should be cached, throttled, retried with backoff, or treated as non-fatal;
- plugin/skill manifest validation warnings should not repeatedly surface as extension errors;
- telemetry `/ces/v1/rgstr` failures should not spam Output or affect task execution;
- if Cloudflare returns `Cf-Mitigated: challenge`, the extension should detect it and show a clear diagnostic;
- internal non-browser HTTP clients should use a supported User-Agent / request path so they are not repeatedly challenged;
- VS Code task execution should be isolated from background connector/logo/telemetry/plugin loading failures.

## Actual behavior

The VS Code extension repeatedly logs:

- `Server overloaded; retry later` for connector logo fetches;
- plugin/skill manifest validation warnings through `[CodexMcpConnection]`;
- `403 Forbidden` for `https://chatgpt.com/ces/v1/rgstr`;
- Cloudflare challenge responses for non-browser requests to `auth.openai.com`.

As a result, the VS Code extension cannot reliably run tasks on this machine.

## Troubleshooting already performed

- Browser access to Codex works.
- `codex login status` reports `Logged in using ChatGPT`.
- Another machine works normally.
- Switching networks did not fix this affected machine.
- Local Cloudflare/WARP was removed.
- Multiple resets/reinstalls were attempted.
- No environment proxy is configured.
- WinHTTP reports direct access.
- npm proxy is null.
- git proxy is empty.
- `curl` with Chrome-like User-Agent returns `200 OK`.
- `curl` with default User-Agent returns `403 Forbidden` with `Cf-Mitigated: challenge`.
- `curl` with `reqwest/0.12.0` User-Agent returns `403 Forbidden` with `Cf-Mitigated: challenge`.

## Related issues

Possibly related:

- #19366 — VS Code extension repeatedly fetches connector logos and logs `Server overloaded; retry later`
- #19371 — VS Code extension repeatedly logs telemetry 403 errors for `/ces/v1/rgstr`
- #18456 — `reqwest` HTTP clients missing User-Agent override, Cloudflare 403 from HKG edge
- #16052 — `codex login` fails because Cloudflare challenge blocks CLI auth flow
- #16341 — VS Code extension receives Cloudflare challenge HTML `403` instead of JSON
- #17860 — WSL/Linux Codex blocked by Cloudflare 403 for ChatGPT-auth path

## Request

Could the Codex team check whether the VS Code extension and bundled CLI are making some internal requests with default curl/reqwest-like User-Agent or non-browser HTTP fingerprints?

In particular:

1. Are all internal Rust/reqwest HTTP clients consistently overriding User-Agent?
2. Can connector logo requests be cached/throttled/backed off when the server returns `-32001 Server overloaded`?
3. Can telemetry `/ces/v1/rgstr` failures be disabled or backed off after repeated `403`?
4. Can `Cf-Mitigated: challenge` be detected explicitly and shown as a clear diagnostic?
5. Can plugin/skill manifest validation warnings be downgraded or deduplicated if they come from bundled/remote registry metadata?
6. Can task execution be isolated from background connector/logo/telemetry/plugin loading failures?

## Redaction note

I intentionally omitted cookies, auth tokens, and full `set-cookie` values from this report.


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[Bug] VS Code Codex extension cannot run tasks reliably: connector logo overload, plugin manifest warnings, and repeated Cloudflare/telemetry 403 for non-browser clients #21735

Description

Environment

Current Codex CLI status

Local proxy checks

VS Code Output errors

1. Connector logo fetch overload

2. Plugin / skill manifest warnings surfaced as `[CodexMcpConnection]` errors

3. Repeated telemetry / CES 403

Cloudflare / User-Agent reproduction

Default curl User-Agent: blocked

Chrome-like User-Agent: succeeds

reqwest-like User-Agent: blocked

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

Troubleshooting already performed

Related issues

Request

Redaction note

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Fields

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Development

[Bug] VS Code Codex extension cannot run tasks reliably: connector logo overload, plugin manifest warnings, and repeated Cloudflare/telemetry 403 for non-browser clients #21735

Description

Description

Environment

Current Codex CLI status

Local proxy checks

VS Code Output errors

1. Connector logo fetch overload

2. Plugin / skill manifest warnings surfaced as [CodexMcpConnection] errors

3. Repeated telemetry / CES 403

Cloudflare / User-Agent reproduction

Default curl User-Agent: blocked

Chrome-like User-Agent: succeeds

reqwest-like User-Agent: blocked

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

Troubleshooting already performed

Related issues

Request

Redaction note

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Fields

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions

2. Plugin / skill manifest warnings surfaced as `[CodexMcpConnection]` errors