Image in WSL do not work.

[jamneutrino]

What version of Codex is running?

0.44

Which model were you using?

5-Codex

What platform is your computer?

Windows via WSL

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Copy/Pasting an image or dragging image into the CLI

What is the expected behavior?

It should be an image readable by the Model

What do you see instead?

SImply a path to the image

Additional information

No response

[github-actions]

Potential duplicates detected:

• Image in WSL do not work. #4683
• Undo does not work #3567
• Image input doesn't work for AoAI model #3700
• Selecting "always" doesn't work #3008
• MacOS Image Pasting/placing doesn't work at all #2777

Powered by Codex Action

[dedrisian-oai]

This used to work?

[Waxime64]

Same
OS: Windows 11
Codex-Cli version : 0.46 installed with npm install -g @openai/codex
Execute WSL
move to project directory
type codex for start codex-cli
paste image not working

[esdrasrenan]

paste image not working also

[yaliyy]

paste image not working also

[Waxime64]

Summary (WSL): image paste/drag does not attach the actual image

• In WSL terminals, pasting or drag-and-dropping an image does not transfer binary data to Codex TUI. Most terminals only insert a Windows path string like C:\Users\me\Desktop\shot.png (or nothing), so the TUI never receives an image payload.

Environment

• Windows 11 + WSL2 (Ubuntu)
• Terminal: Windows Terminal / conhost (same behavior with most terminals)
• Codex CLI 0.48.0 (also reproducible in 0.47.x)

Expected

• Paste or drag an image → Codex attaches the image to the message.

Actual

• Paste → nothing or plaintext path.
• Drag-and-drop → plaintext C:\... path inserted in the composer; no image attached.

Root cause (why this happens)

• PTY/TTY is a text channel; there’s no standard VT/ANSI protocol for binary file upload.
• The Windows↔WSL clipboard bridge is text-only for paste events.
• Terminals commonly convert drag-and-drop into a path string, not a file upload.

---

Product enhancement proposal

If Codex detects that paste/drag produced a Windows path (not binary), it could:

1. Offer to copy the file into a temp folder (e.g., ~/.codex/tmp/images/<sha>.png or project-local ./.codex/tmp/images/),
2. Attach that temp file automatically,
3. Prompt to auto-delete after send (rememberable preference).

This would make drag-and-drop usable in WSL without requiring users to switch to --image manually.