In-app browser inspection is blocked when node_repl requires Node >= 22.22.0 but desktop environment resolves Node 18 #21246

What version of Codex is running?

Unknown from UI; observed on May 5, 2026 in the Codex desktop app on Windows.

Which model were you using?

GPT-5 based Codex coding agent in the desktop app.

What platform is your computer?

Windows

What happened?

While trying to inspect the currently selected in-app browser tab from Codex desktop, the browser-use workflow could not start because the node_repl runtime resolved the local Node installation at:

C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe

That runtime was version:

v18.17.1

The tool reported that it requires:

>= v22.22.0

As a result, in-app browser inspection was blocked even though the browser tab was already open and the Browser Use plugin was available.

Error shown

Node runtime too old for node_repl (resolved C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe): found v18.17.1, requires >= v22.22.0. Install/update Node or set NODE_REPL_NODE_PATH to a newer runtime.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Codex desktop on Windows.
2. Have a browser tab open in the in-app browser.
3. Ask Codex to inspect or interact with the current browser tab using the Browser Use workflow.
4. Observe that the workflow fails before inspecting the tab because node_repl resolves an older system Node runtime.

Expected behavior

Codex desktop should either:

• bundle or use a compatible Node runtime for node_repl, or
• gracefully fall back without blocking browser inspection, or
• provide a clearer setup path before browser tooling is attempted.

Actual behavior

Browser inspection fails immediately due to a Node version dependency mismatch in the local environment.

Additional context

This came up while trying to inspect an already open Codex browser tab and correlate an uploaded feedback report with thread ID:

019df9f1-7d90-7950-8e06-b329535708db

The issue appears to be environmental/dependency-related rather than specific to the page content being inspected.