Bundled plugins (chrome, browser, computer-use) become unavailable after Microsoft Store auto-update #25878

Environment

• Codex version: 26.527.7698.0 (auto-updated from 26.527.3686.0 via Microsoft Store)
• Platform: Windows 11 Home China (24H2, build 26200)
• Installation: Microsoft Store (winget package: 9PLM9XGG6VKS)

Description

After the Codex desktop app is auto-updated via Microsoft Store, all openai-bundled plugins (chrome, browser, computer-use) become unavailable. Codex shows them
as "not installable in current channel" or silently fails to load them.

This has happened twice — once on 2026-06-01 and again on 2026-06-02 — each time triggered by a Microsoft Store auto-update.

Root Cause

The update process has a version mismatch bug:

1. MS Store updates the app (e.g., 26.527.3686.0 → 26.527.7698.0)
2. The bundled plugin marketplace source at %CODEX_HOME%\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\ is NOT refreshed — it stays at the old version and may
   even be incomplete
3. The plugin cache at %CODEX_HOME%\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\ stays at the old plugin version (e.g., 26.527.31326) while bundled plugins in the updated
   app package have a new version (e.g., 26.527.60818)
4. latest symlinks point to the stale/incomplete .tmp marketplace source
5. chrome-native-hosts.json references old binary hash paths (e.g., bin\7dea4a003bc76627\codex.exe) that no longer exist after the update

As a result, Codex cannot resolve any @openai-bundled plugins.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Codex desktop app from Microsoft Store (version A)
2. Ensure chrome, browser, computer-use plugins are installed and working
3. Wait for Microsoft Store to push an automatic update to version B
4. Open Codex — observe that the bundled plugins show as unavailable

Expected Behavior

After an app update, Codex should:

• Detect the version change and trigger a re-sync of bundled marketplaces
• Refresh the .tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\ source from the updated app package (WindowsApps\<new-version>\app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled\)
• Rebuild plugin caches with the new plugin version
• Update chrome-native-hosts.json with current binary paths
• Re-register the managed plugin IDs in the global state

Actual Behavior

None of the above happens automatically. The user must:

1. Kill all Codex processes (including lingering extension-host.exe and node.exe)
2. Delete stale .tmp\bundled-marketplaces\openai-bundled\ and plugins\cache\openai-bundled\
3. Manually copy fresh plugins from WindowsApps\<new-version>\app\resources\plugins\openai-bundled\
4. Recreate cache directories and latest symlinks
5. Update chrome-native-hosts.json with correct binary paths
6. Update config.toml notify path to match the new plugin version
7. Reset electron-chrome-extension-sync-managed-plugin-ids in .codex-global-state.json

This is not a reasonable manual fix for end users.

Impact

• Plugins silently break after every Microsoft Store update
• Users cannot use core features (Chrome browser control, in-app browser, Computer Use)
• Each update requires 30+ minutes of manual forensic repair work

Suggested Fix

1. On app startup after a version change, automatically re-sync or re-copy the bundled marketplace from the new app package to
   %CODEX_HOME%\.tmp\bundled-marketplaces\
2. Detect plugin version mismatches between cache and the current app, and trigger a re-sync
3. Update chrome-native-hosts.json (and similar config files) during the update migration step
4. Or, alternatively: do not require the .tmp marketplace cache to exactly match the app version — use the bundled plugins directly from the app package as the
   canonical source

Workaround (for affected users)

See the detailed manual repair steps above. A PowerShell script could automate most of it, but this should not be necessary.

Related

• Issue Windows Store Codex App crashes after update: sandbox ACL setup fails on WindowsApps path #15179 (Windows Store app crashes after update — may share a root cause around update migration logic)