Windows Computer Use approval prompt never appears; launch_app fails with node_repl exec context not found #37180

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

26.730.8199.0 (Microsoft Store package OpenAI.Codex_26.730.8199.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0)

What subscription do you have?

Paid ChatGPT individual subscription (exact tier is not shown in the Codex About dialog)

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Summary

On Windows, the bundled Computer Use plugin loads successfully and can enumerate installed applications, but the approval/elicitation prompt never appears. Any attempt to launch a desktop application fails immediately with:

Error: node_repl exec context not found

For example, list_apps() returns 40 applications, while launch_app({ app: "mspaint.exe" }) fails before Paint opens. No Windows or Codex application-approval dialog is displayed.

This is reproducible after restarting Codex and after using Windows Settings > Apps > Codex > Advanced options > Repair.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install/update Codex Desktop from the Microsoft Store on Windows.
2. Enable the bundled Computer Use plugin.
3. Open a new task and grant Full access so the plugin can load from the installed app directory.
4. Ask Codex to open a simple Windows application such as Paint.
5. The underlying equivalent calls are:

const sky = await import("@oai/sky");
await sky.list_apps(); // succeeds and returns 40 apps
await sky.launch_app({ app: "mspaint.exe" }); // fails

6. Observe that no approval dialog appears and the call immediately returns Error: node_repl exec context not found.

The failure is reproducible across fresh tasks and after a complete app restart.

What is the expected behavior?

When Computer Use requests permission to control or launch a Windows application, Codex should display the documented application-approval prompt. After the user selects Allow, Paint should launch and become controllable.

Additional information

Additional diagnostics

• Codex App package: 26.730.8199.0
• Codex CLI bundled version: 0.147.0-alpha.1.2
• Bundled @oai/sky: 0.6.2
• Computer Use plugin materialization: 26.730.61639
• Windows-native runtime; WSL mode is not enabled.
• The current Windows user owns %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex and has Full Control.
• App Repair and restart did not change the result.
• The configuration was restored to its original state after testing; no broad trusted-code-path override remains.
• Key Computer Use runtime files in the plugin cache and current Store package were hash-compared and matched, so this does not appear to be a corrupt or partially updated plugin.
• The initial restricted task mode could not traverse %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenAI\Codex; Full access resolved that import problem. The separate node_repl exec context not found failure remains specifically when the helper attempts the app-approval flow.

Based on inspection of the bundled Windows transport, this appears to happen after an app approval request is returned and while the client attempts to create the elicitation UI. That is an inference, but it would explain both the missing prompt and the lost execution-context error.

All user names, project paths, and task/session identifiers have been omitted.