Windows Codex Desktop notification click launches Electron with type=click&tag as app path

[Nortoz]

What version of Codex App are you using?

26.527.3686.0

What platform is your computer?

Windows x64

What issue are you seeing?

Clicking a Windows toast notification from Codex opens an Electron error dialog instead of focusing/opening the Codex app. The Codex app itself can run normally; the failure is specific to clicking the Windows notification.

The error dialog says:

Error launching app
Unable to find Electron app at C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.52...\type=click&tag=<notification-tag>

Cannot find module 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.52...\type=click&tag=<notification-tag>'

This looks like the toast activation payload (type=click&tag=...) is being appended/interpreted as an Electron app path rather than being handled as notification activation data.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install/run Codex Desktop for Windows from the Microsoft Store package.
2. Wait for a Codex Windows toast notification.
3. Click the notification in the bottom-right toast/notification center.
4. Observe the Electron "Error launching app" dialog.

Expected behavior

Clicking a Codex notification should focus/open Codex and route to the relevant conversation/message, or at minimum do nothing gracefully. It should not launch Electron with the notification click payload as an app path.

Troubleshooting already attempted

• Verified the AppX package is installed and Codex launches normally.
• Verified the AppUserModelID is OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App.
• Cleared Codex notification history.
• Attempted AppX re-registration, but it was blocked while Codex background processes were still running.
• New notifications can still reproduce the same type=click&tag=... error.

Additional information

This report intentionally omits local usernames, local file paths outside the standard WindowsApps package path, notification tag values, screenshots, and machine-specific identifiers.

[github-actions]

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

• Windows Desktop 26.527.3686.0: clicking toast notification launches Codex.exe with raw type=click&tag=... and shows Electron error #25227
• Windows desktop notification click opens invalid WindowsApps path with type=click query #25197

Powered by Codex Action

[lightcoloror]

I can confirm this still reproduces after clearing Windows notification history, fully exiting Codex, reopening Codex, and rebooting Windows.

Environment observed locally:

• Windows x64
• Codex Desktop package path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\...
• Multiple active Codex/Codex helper processes were present while the main app itself remained usable.

The failing dialog continues to show a fresh notification activation payload each time, for example:

Error launching app

Unable to find Electron app at C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.52...\type=click&tag=<new-notification-tag>

Cannot find module 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.52...\type=click&tag=<new-notification-tag>'

The tag value changes between occurrences, so this does not appear to be only a stale notification-center entry. It still looks like new Windows toast activation arguments are being interpreted as an Electron app path.

Temporary workaround is to disable Codex notifications in Windows settings, but that means notification click routing remains unusable.

[Nortoz]

Additional evidence: the same Electron launch error also occurs when invoking Codex from the Codex Chrome extension. In that case, the path ends with google-chrome instead of type=click&tag=....

This suggests the issue is not limited to Windows toast notifications. External activation arguments such as type=click&tag=... and google-chrome appear to be interpreted as an Electron app path under the AppX WindowsApps directory.

I also checked the Chrome Native Messaging host registration and manifest path locally; they appear to point to the expected Codex extension host, so this does not look like a broken Chrome native host manifest.

[D2Rich]

I can reproduce this on another Windows Codex Desktop install, and one extra data point may be useful: a successful AppX re-registration did not fix the issue.

Environment:

• Windows x64
• Codex Desktop package: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Codex app version: 26.527.3686.0

Minimal repro from PowerShell:

Start-Process "codex://?type=click&tag=after-successful-reregister-test"

Observed result:

"C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\app\Codex.exe" codex:///?type=click&tag=after-successful-reregister-test

That new process opens the Electron dialog:

Error launching app
Unable to find Electron app at C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527...\?type=click&tag=...
Cannot find module 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527...\?type=click&tag=...'

Troubleshooting performed:

1. Removed user-level codex:// protocol overrides under HKCU\Software\Classes\codex.
2. Removed user-level AppXybfp6cjpb1wf0pftw0fd4bz59gzn1401 overrides.
3. Force-closed all Codex/Codex app-server processes.
4. Re-registered the AppX manifest:

Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\AppxManifest.xml" -ForceApplicationShutdown

The registration completed successfully, and HKCR\AppXybfp6cjpb1wf0pftw0fd4bz59gzn1401\Shell\open\command was restored to:

DelegateExecute    REG_SZ    {A56A841F-E974-45C1-8001-7E3F8A085917}

However, triggering codex://?type=click&tag=... still launched a new Codex.exe process with the raw URI as a normal argument and reproduced the Electron app-path error.

Temporary local workaround:

Overriding the user-level AppXybfp6cjpb1wf0pftw0fd4bz59gzn1401\Shell\open\command to a no-op wscript.exe handler stops the popups, but it also disables codex:// deep link activation entirely. So this is only a workaround, not a real fix.

This makes it look like the AppX protocol activation reaches Codex.exe, but the Windows deep link / notification activation argument is not being consumed before Electron interprets it as an app path.

[TheExiledSword]

Adding another Windows repro from Codex Desktop.

Environment:

• Codex package: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Install location exists: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• app\Codex.exe and app\resources\app.asar are present
• Local helper binaries also exist under %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex\bin
• Windows codex protocol registration exists under HKCU/HKCR

Trigger observed by user: tabbing/focusing back into Codex after receiving/returning from a desktop notification.

Observed dialog:

Error launching app

Unable to find Electron app at C:\Program
Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x...\?type=click&tag=10984320831992122427

Cannot find module 'C:\Program
Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x...\?type=click&tag=10984320831992122427'

Screenshot from the affected machine: https://i.imgur.com/ghe8f7v.png

This appears to be the same notification/deep-link activation path issue where the type=click&tag=... payload is interpreted as an Electron app/module path rather than activation data.

[drspangle]

Repro confirmed on Windows 11 with Codex Desktop 26.527.3686.0.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Codex Desktop.
2. Start a task and wait for the completion toast.
3. Click the toast notification that says Codex completed a step.

Expected result
The existing Codex window should be focused, or the completed thread should open.

Actual result
Windows launches a fresh packaged Codex activation and shows an Electron error dialog instead of focusing Codex.

The dialog says:

Error launching app

Unable to find Electron app at C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\...\type=click&tag=...

Cannot find module C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0\...\type=click&tag=...

Environment

• Windows 11
• Codex Desktop build 26.527.3686.0
• Package: OpenAI.Codex_26.527.3686.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• AppUserModelID: OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App

Evidence

• Microsoft-Windows-AppModel-Runtime/Admin logs a fresh OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0!App launch when the popup is clicked.
• Microsoft-Windows-PushNotifications-Platform/Operational shows the toast being delivered immediately before the error.

Workarounds tried

• Disabling Codex notifications
• Clearing notification history
• Adding a user-level codex: protocol override
• The issue still reproduces every time I click the completion toast