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Windows 26.915.4065.0: renderer memory grows to ~3 GB, UI turns white while agent keeps running #47110
Description
Summary
On Windows, Codex desktop app version 26.915.4065.0 repeatedly goes to a blank/white screen after running for a while. The background agent/task continues running normally, and the same session remains usable from the ChatGPT mobile Remote view.
This appears to be a desktop renderer/UI failure rather than a backend task failure.
Environment
- OS: Windows
- Codex desktop app: Microsoft Store build 26.915.4065.0
- App package:
OpenAI.Codex_26.915.4065.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0 - Remote access from iPhone remains connected and functional during the white-screen event
Symptoms
- Codex opens and works normally at first.
- After some time, the Windows desktop window becomes blank/white and only the centered OpenAI/Codex logo may remain.
- The mobile Remote session does not disconnect.
- The agent continues executing development work in the background.
- Reopening/reinstalling did not resolve the issue.
Process / memory evidence
During the white-screen state:
ChatGPT.exe --type=renderergrew to about 2973 MB RAM- Main
ChatGPT.exeprocess was about 384 MB codex.exeapp-server was about 257 MB and continued working- GPU process was only about 89 MB
Relevant renderer command line included:
ChatGPT.exe --type=renderer ... --disable-gpu-compositing ...
So the renderer still grew to ~3 GB and failed even with GPU compositing disabled.
Workarounds tested
Tested separately:
--disable-gpu-compositing--disable-direct-composition
Neither prevented the white screen.
The background Codex task continued working in both cases.
Additional note
Remote connectivity itself was resolved separately by enabling TUN in the user's proxy setup. The white-screen issue still occurs after Remote/network connectivity is stable, so the renderer problem appears independent of the proxy issue.
Expected behavior
The desktop renderer should remain responsive and should not grow to multiple GB of RAM and blank out while the underlying Codex agent remains healthy.
Actual behavior
Renderer memory grows abnormally, the Windows UI becomes blank/white, but the underlying Codex app-server/agent keeps running and remains controllable through mobile Remote.
Reproducibility
Occurs repeatedly after running the desktop app for a period of time on version 26.915.4065.0.
Activity
github-actions commentedon Sep 21, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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gaborroos-glitch commentedon Sep 22, 2026
I can reproduce this issue repeatedly on Windows with Codex Desktop 26.915.4065.0.
My symptoms are very similar to this report, but I have some additional diagnostic information that may help because I do not see the ~3 GB renderer memory growth described in the original report.
Environment
OpenAI.Codex_26.915.4065.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0Reproduction
Importantly, the underlying Codex backend appears to remain alive when the UI disappears.
Memory observation
During one blank-screen occurrence, total memory usage of the ChatGPT/Codex process group was approximately 1.2 GB, with the largest individual process around 409 MB.
Therefore, unlike the original report, I did not observe a renderer growing to approximately 3 GB before the UI disappeared.
This may be another manifestation of the same renderer/UI regression, or a related state/rendering failure in the same build.
Remote debugging evidence
I launched the Codex MSIX application with:
--remote-debugging-port=9222while reproducing the issue.
When the Codex UI became blank, Chromium remote debugging was still available at:
127.0.0.1:9222/jsonThe main Codex renderer target was still present:
type:pageurl:app://-/index.htmlThere were also normal auxiliary targets/webviews.
So when the visible UI was blank:
codex.exeapp-server was alive;app://-/index.htmlrenderer target still existed;This strongly suggests that, in this reproduction, the conversation and backend are not crashing or disappearing. The failure appears to occur in the desktop UI/rendering/state layer.
Troubleshooting already performed
The following did not provide a lasting fix:
Ctrl+R/Ctrl+Shift+Rattempts.thread_history_1.sqlite, WAL and SHM files so Codex could recreate its thread-history state.--disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion.The
CalculateNativeWinOcclusionflag was confirmed on the main process and renderer child processes, but the blank UI still reproduced.Large local state observation
During troubleshooting I also found unusually large historical Codex session files, including approximately:
thread_history_1.sqliteThese were backed up/moved out of the active state.
Codex initially worked afterward, including completing development/test tasks, but the blank UI eventually returned.
Therefore those large files do not appear to be the sole cause.
Additional test result
The issue can occur after otherwise successful Codex work. For example, Codex successfully ran a Python test batch with 33 tests passing and 0 failing, and the application remained usable at that point. The blank UI later returned during subsequent tool/task activity.
Impact
This is making Codex Desktop unreliable for normal development work because a task can continue in the background while the Windows UI becomes unusable.
The particularly useful distinction from the original report may be:
Blank UI can reproduce on 26.915.4065.0 without a multi-gigabyte renderer memory spike, while the renderer target and Codex backend remain alive.
I am happy to collect additional renderer/app-server diagnostics while the application is in the blank state if there are specific logs, DevTools output, process dumps, or CDP commands that would be useful.