Codex Desktop new conversations spend several minutes at Reconnecting 5/5 before starting normally #29169

Summary

Codex Desktop eventually starts each new conversation/task normally, but almost every new task first spends several minutes in a pre-start reconnect/timeout state.

This is not a permanent failure. After I submit a prompt, Codex often shows Reconnecting 5/5 and request timed out before any real task progress appears. After that delay, the task usually starts and runs normally.

Once the task begins, streaming/output speed looks generally normal. The bottleneck is the time between prompt submission and the first real task activity.

Environment

• Product: Codex Desktop
• Version: 26.616.32156
• Release shown in About dialog: Released Jun 19, 2026
• macOS: Tahoe 26.5.1
• Hardware: MacBook Pro 16-inch, Apple M5 Max, 128 GB memory

Observed pattern

Affected new conversations/tasks show a status like Worked for 7m 15s or Worked for 11m 14s, while still displaying Reconnecting 5/5 and request timed out. Then the task content appears and the conversation proceeds normally.

Expected behavior

A new task should begin shortly after the prompt is submitted. If a retry or fallback is needed, it should recover quickly rather than spending several minutes before each task starts.

Actual behavior

New tasks can start successfully, but they frequently start only after a long reconnect/timeout delay. This wastes usable time because the same pre-start stall repeats at the beginning of many new tasks.

Recent affected feedback IDs

• 019ee018-4ffa-7d21-a90d-30d33882d6ae
• 019ee292-a992-7101-9a56-b7fc2116092e
• 019ee326-b74b-7503-9bb6-d8bc84213e06