Computer Use plugin is removed on restart and reappears only after manual reinstall

[OhHeyAlan]

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

• Codex Desktop: 26.601.21317
• codex-cli: 0.136.0-alpha.2

What subscription do you have?

• Pro

What platform is your computer?

• macOS

What is the issue?

computer-use@openai-bundled is not persistent across restarts. It is installed and works, but after quitting and relaunching Codex it appears uninstalled/unavailable again. Reinstalling fixes it temporarily, but the next restart repeats the same issue.

What does this prevent? (steps to reproduce)

1. Install computer-use@openai-bundled in Codex Desktop (UI or CLI).
2. Verify it is installed/enabled.
3. Quit Codex Desktop.
4. Relaunch Codex Desktop.
5. computer-use is now missing/unavailable/removed again.
6. Reinstalling the plugin restores it, but it disappears again after the next restart.

What is the expected behavior?

computer-use@openai-bundled should stay installed and enabled across restarts without requiring reinstallation each time.

What is happening instead?

• Startup appears to remove plugin state and does not reliably reattach/install it.
• The plugin can be reinstalled but does not persist.

What local logs / evidence to share

Repeated startup signatures:

• bundled_plugins_reconcile_started hasExternalPluginStateSync=false reason=startup
• bundled_plugins_runtime_marketplace_written pluginCount=1 pluginNames=["latex"]
• bundled_plugin_uninstall_requested pluginId=computer-use@openai-bundled reason=not_in_bundled_marketplace_plugin_names
• Later in same session:
  • bundled_plugins_runtime_marketplace_written pluginCount=4 pluginNames=["browser","chrome","computer-use","latex"]
  • bundled_plugin_install_skipped_missing pluginName=computer-use

This suggests a startup reconciliation race/inconsistent marketplace snapshot that marks computer-use as missing and removes it.

Additional context

• Permissions for accessibility/screen recording were already enabled, but this behavior is consistent without changing permissions.

[github-actions]

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

• Codex Desktop: Computer Use is lost after restart and archived threads trigger restore error #26270
• Codex App overwrites bundled plugin config/cache and removes Computer Use/Browser plugins #25758
• macOS Desktop filters computer-use out of bundled marketplace even though bundled plugin is present #25813
• Codex Desktop plugins disappear after restart; Chrome native host manifest is not created and computer-use MCP is not attached #25809
• Computer Use sometimes needs to be re-added and macOS permissions do not seem to persist reliably #26185

Powered by Codex Action

[GGBondBlueWhale]

I didn't realize it until you mentioned it—I have the same problem!

[vm-code01]

I am also facing the same issue and i have filed an issue on the same. Codex told me error is due to:

Browser/Chrome fail because their node_repl kernel cannot start. The immediate error is:

windows sandbox failed: spawn setup refresh

The likely reason is that Codex Desktop is trying to refresh the Windows elevated sandbox from a normal non-elevated session, but Windows rejects that helper launch with ERROR_ELEVATION_REQUIRED. The same sandbox test works in Administrator PowerShell, so the sandbox itself is functional; the failing part is the non-elevated setup-refresh path.

@alexi-openai please look into this issue its seriously impacting the workflows and productivity