Codex app crashes silently during task execution on MacBook Pro (M2 Pro)

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

Latest version (as of Feb 8, 2026)

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What issue are you seeing?

Description

The Codex desktop app crashes silently during task execution on my MacBook Pro. The app was working fine a few days ago, but starting today (February 8, 2026), it crashes frequently while performing tasks.

Key Characteristics of the Crash

Silent crash: The app disappears completely without triggering macOS's standard application crash dialog
Random timing: Crashes occur in the middle of task execution, not at a consistent point
No error logs visible: Unable to identify the root cause without crash reports
Cannot complete tasks: The issue prevents me from finishing any task successfully

System Information

MacBook Pro Configuration:

Model: MacBook Pro 14-inch, 2023
Chip: Apple M2 Pro
Memory: 16 GB
Serial Number: H71PQL3PG9

Additional Context:

I use Codex on both Mac Mini and MacBook Pro
Mac Mini works fine - no crashes observed
Only MacBook Pro started experiencing this issue today
The app was completely stable until February 8, 2026

Expected Behavior

The app should remain stable during task execution and complete tasks without crashing.

Impact

This is blocking my workflow - I cannot complete any tasks on my MacBook Pro, which is my primary development machine.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Steps to Reproduce

Open Codex desktop app on MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 16GB RAM)
Start any task (e.g., code generation, file editing, project analysis)
Continue working on the task for a random amount of time
App crashes silently without warning - the window simply disappears
No macOS crash dialog appears
Attempting to restart and continue the task results in the same crash

Frequency

Happens multiple times per session
Cannot complete a full task without experiencing a crash
Started occurring on February 8, 2026
Was completely stable before this date

What is the expected behavior?

The Codex app should remain stable and continue running during task execution without any crashes. Tasks should complete successfully, and the application should only terminate when the user explicitly closes it.

Additional information

_## Additional Notes

The Mac Mini with the same Codex version continues to work without any crashes
This suggests the issue may be specific to certain hardware configurations or system states
I have not made any recent macOS system updates or changed system settings
No other applications are experiencing similar crashes
The crashes started suddenly on February 8, 2026, with no apparent trigger

If there are any crash logs you need me to collect or diagnostic steps to run, please let me know._

Update: Crash occurs even when idle

I just experienced another crash with a new finding:

What happened:

Opened the Codex app
Did absolutely nothing - just left it running in the background
After some time, the app crashed silently on its own
Still no crash dialog or error messages from macOS

Key observation:
The crash is not limited to active task execution. The app crashes even when completely idle, which suggests this may be a memory leak, background process issue, or automatic sync/update mechanism problem.

This makes the issue even more severe as I can't keep the app open at all on my MacBook Pro.

it's about two releases that it's pretty unstable for me, Codex Helper (Renderer) at full blast, unresponsive UI, these crashes, but was pretty stable few hours ago

I have the exact same issue. Is the project directory a large file? That seems to be the issue here: #10996

Just waiting on a update

I also have the exact same issue, tried many things and hours of Codex app itself to fix this, it still happens very randomly. Using M3 Max Macbook pro.

Same issue for me. Starts work and then just freezes though isn't it is more hanging.

same, my app crashes about every 15 seconds with nothing running

I'm on the M4 Mac mini as well, and I'm having crashing issues too.

I have the same issues on mac air m3

I also encountered the same problem. The CPU and memory usage was extremely high. Currently, it is completely unusable.

Unusable state right now. For every 3-4 mins crashing.

It seems that they released a new update and fixed it.

Still doesn't work on Version 260208.1016 (571), keeps crashing

Update: Got actual error dialog this time!

The app just crashed again, and this time I actually got an error dialog (instead of silent crash). Here's the error:

Error Message:

A JavaScript error occurred in the main process

Uncaught Exception:
Error: dlopen(/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node, 0x0001): 
tried: '/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/better-sqlite3/build/Release/better_sqlite3.node' 
(code signature in <CE73FAC6-3E95-396F-A8D5-54D93722043C> not valid for use in process: library load denied by system policy)

Key Finding:

The error is related to better-sqlite3 library being blocked by macOS system policy due to invalid code signature.

This explains:

Why it's specific to certain machines (different security settings)
Why it started suddenly (possibly after a Codex update that broke code signing)
Why Mac Mini works but MacBook Pro doesn't (different security configurations)

Root Cause:

macOS is rejecting the better_sqlite3.node native module due to code signature validation failure.

Same issue on Mac Os 26.2 Tahoe Macbook Pro M1 Max, newest version

@KiuIras

We think that we've addressed the primary cause of the crash that most users were seeing, but it's quite possible that there were multiple causes.

@KiuIras, please update to the latest version and see if that fixes it.

@danielauriginal, which version are you running? Do you have any other repro steps or details that could help us isolate the cause?

@etraut-openai

@etraut-openai I am running on Mac OS, Macbook Pro M1 Max, I am running other codex instances parallel on a different IDE (Antigravity) as an extension and I don't know if it is colliding with that. I run the latest version (Version 260210.1703 (602)) On Tahoe 26.2. I also feel major lags sometimes (freezes, hanging, etc.)

@etraut-openai

@etraut-openai Hi i am still having crash issue even in the latest update (Version 260210.1703 (602)) On Tahoe 26.2. I have macbook air m3

@etraut-openai

@etraut-openai app has been quite stable for, has not aborted in the past 3 hours. Looks like fixed for me, thanks!

@wailii

I don't know what causes it, but if you get, like @wailii library load denied by system policy errors, a solution is to run:

security unlock-keychain

In a terminal, then enter your password and then everything works again.

Codex Version 260210.1703 (602) still silently crashes in few minutes after app started. Often while I still entering some (long) task description. Happens on Macbook Pro M1 Max running Tahoe 26.2.

@SS-42

@SS-42, do you have a reliable way to repro it, or does it appear somewhat random? When you say "long" task description, are you talking about a thousand characters? Tens of thousands?

@SS-42, do you have a reliable way to repro it, or does it appear somewhat random? When you say "long" task description, are you talking about a thousand characters? Tens of thousands?

No exact steps. Just launch an app and in new thread I started to entering some text, less than 2000 characters is what I managed to enter until app silently crashed last time.
I think it depends more on time since launched rather than how many characters are entered. As I started Codex again leaved it running on background and it again exited silently while I was in the middle of writing this message.

Any specific log I can provide to the team for troubleshooting?

Same issue with Macbook Pro Max 2. Codex is practically unusable!

This is a new issue that I see past 2-3 days. When Codex was released, first 7 days it had no such issues

It is still crashing, even when the app is just open. I simply open it and do nothing, and after a couple of minutes it silently crashes and closes.

No crashes anymore on Version 26.212.1823 (661). Great job.

@wailii

@wailii, are you still seeing a crash? If not, I'd like to close this issue.

etraut-openai yeah so crashing is over. However, if i switch conversation tabs its pretty ugly. So it sometimes takes up to 20s to switch to another conversation. This issue is also in the vs code extension. pls fix that :3

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

Codex app crashes silently during task execution on MacBook Pro (M2 Pro) #11016

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

What subscription do you have?

What issue are you seeing?

Description

Key Characteristics of the Crash

System Information

Expected Behavior

Impact

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Steps to Reproduce

Frequency

What is the expected behavior?

Additional information

Update: Crash occurs even when idle

Update: Got actual error dialog this time!

Error Message:

Key Finding:

Root Cause:

12 remaining items

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Codex app crashes silently during task execution on MacBook Pro (M2 Pro) #11016

Description

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

What subscription do you have?

What issue are you seeing?

Description

Key Characteristics of the Crash

System Information

Expected Behavior

Impact

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Steps to Reproduce

Frequency

What is the expected behavior?

Additional information

Activity

wailii commented on Feb 7, 2026

Update: Crash occurs even when idle

masterkain commented on Feb 7, 2026

jorgengk commented on Feb 7, 2026

Biodecoder commented on Feb 8, 2026

maxmilneaus commented on Feb 8, 2026

wilsmex commented on Feb 8, 2026

YiFengLu1999 commented on Feb 8, 2026

MSheikhian commented on Feb 8, 2026

Skies-syx commented on Feb 8, 2026

0xhalil commented on Feb 8, 2026

MSheikhian commented on Feb 8, 2026

chawlaaditya commented on Feb 8, 2026

wailii commented on Feb 9, 2026

Update: Got actual error dialog this time!

Error Message:

Key Finding:

Root Cause:

12 remaining items

danielauriginal commented on Feb 11, 2026

etraut-openai commented on Feb 11, 2026

danielauriginal commented on Feb 11, 2026

MSheikhian commented on Feb 11, 2026

Biodecoder commented on Feb 11, 2026

lapfelix commented on Feb 12, 2026

SS-42 commented on Feb 12, 2026

etraut-openai commented on Feb 12, 2026

SS-42 commented on Feb 12, 2026

sarenabg commented on Feb 12, 2026

MSheikhian commented on Feb 12, 2026

SS-42 commented on Feb 16, 2026

etraut-openai commented on Feb 16, 2026

robin-grenzdoerfer commented on Feb 16, 2026

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions