Windows: terminal windows repeatedly flash during requests after installing the Codex daemon

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.157.0

What subscription do you have?

pro

Which model were you using?

astra

What platform is your computer?

win 11

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

win terminal cmd

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

Description:

After installing the Codex daemon, several terminal windows briefly open and close during every request. This happens repeatedly and is distracting.

Environment:

OS: Windows
Codex daemon version: 0.157.0
Client: Codex CLI
Windows sandbox setting: elevated

Steps to reproduce:

Install and start the Codex daemon.
Start an interactive Codex CLI session using the daemon.
Submit a request.
Observe several terminal windows briefly appearing and disappearing.

Expected behavior:

Background processes should run without opening visible terminal windows.

Actual behavior:

Several terminal windows flash on screen during each request. I started noticing this after installing the daemon.

Additional context:

The daemon is running with app-server --listen unix:// --managed-daemon. A child codex-code-mode-host.exe process is also running, but I have not identified which process creates the flashing windows.

Running with codex --no-daemon has been suggested as a diagnostic step, but I have not tested it yet.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Install and start the Codex daemon on Windows (version 0.157.0).
Open Codex CLI and start a session using the daemon.
Submit a request that involves running shell commands or reading local files.
Observe several terminal windows briefly opening and closing while Codex processes the request.
Submit another request and observe the same behavior.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should process requests and run background commands without opening visible terminal windows or interrupting the current terminal session.

Additional information

No response

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

[Windows][Codex CLI 0.157.0] Terminal windows repeatedly pop up during normal use #48059
Windows 11: console windows flash during tool execution after updating to CLI 0.157.0 #48036
Windows CLI regression in 0.156.x/0.157.0: startup and command execution open multiple terminal windows #48070
Windows: background Git checks open Terminal windows at turn start (fix commit) #48029
Windows remote-control daemon spawns visible console windows for tool and MCP child processes #46949

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I agree with this too; it keeps flashing terminal windows over and over after the new update.

same problem with me. keep opening new tab. just after recent update.

Spams terminals with C:\Users\Admin\.local\bin\uv.exe in my case...

Same issue with thread ID 01a0d8c1-491a-7380-9a03-d01e62f26b48

Using Windows Terminal and trying to run codex gives me these errors:

Error: host Job Object prevents daemon detachment; start from a host that allows breakaway
To work without the background server, rerun the same command with --no-daemon (including resume or fork and its arguments).

same problem with me

Downgrading Codex to version 0.155.1 fixed the issue for me. You can try it with:

npm install -g @openai/codex@0.155.1

For the same issue, a temporary workaround is codex --no-daemon.

For the same issue, a temporary workaround is codex --no-daemon.

so i can use the latest version, with no terminal issues with this command?

Possible cause: Codex 0.157.0 enabled automatic app-server daemon startup by default (https://github.com/openai/codex/releases/tag/rust-v0.157.0). My doctor report confirmed the background server was running. The daemon may be launching console-based helper processes without suppressing their Windows terminal windows .

They must compare daemon startup and helper process creation in 0.156.0 and 0.157.0.

I initially thought my PC was causing this. I rolled back to 0.156.0 without changing my terminal setup. The extra windows and flashing stopped, and Codex now works normally.

I'm on Codex CLI v0.160.0, i still get this terminal windows pop up issue in windows 11!

This issue was reproduced on Codex CLI v0.160.0 on windows 11.

I can confirm that updating to Codex CLI 0.160.0 is not enough.
Like others have said, you also need to update the daemon to the latest version. Why this doesn't happen automatically, only OpenAI knows.

To add insult to injury, doing this from within the Codex CLI using the provided /daemon route (and selecting) didn't work for me. It just fails with the following:

Updating the local background server...
Error: standalone Codex updater exited with status exit code: 1
Error: Daemon update failed with status exit code: 1

No logs, no explanation, nada.

I let Luna figure this one out and she found a workaround:

I replaced 0.157.1 with the installed CLI package using codex app-server daemon update --from-cli --yes.

Be careful though, this pins your daemon version to the one bundled to the current CLI, so you're now stuck on 0.160.0.
codex app-server daemon update should return you back to production updates but also fails with the same useless logless error code.

Possible cause (again, by Luna):

The installed Codex 0.160.0 binary contains a production-update error: “the latest production release does not support daemon migration yet; the legacy daemon was left running.” The standalone updater has a matching migration guard. That points to Codex’s production daemon migration being unsupported; /daemon then appears to hide the useful error and report only “updater exited with status 1.” That conclusion is based on the updater messages embedded in your local binary; the failure itself wasn’t logged with a more specific cause.

In short, this is a major clusterfuck. The terminal spamming makes the regular codex usage unworkable (the windows steal focus). Luckily we have --no-daemon.

@SchrodingerFish

solution from @SchrodingerFish worked. Launched codex using codex command, triggered /daemon command from withing codex, chose use this cli ...., then chose update... worked and flashing terminal windows are gone.

@etraut-openai

@etraut-openai this is not fixed ffs.

Confirming this issue no longer occurs after an update to codex-cli 0.160.1 on Windows 11. I did not use the /daemon trick described above.

Confirming this issue no longer occurs after an update to codex-cli 0.160.1 on Windows 11. While running the prescribed steps the output says "The selected package will be pinned. Run codex app-server daemon update to return to production updates.". However this command gives output:

Error: standalone Codex updater exited with status exit code: 1

@russeg

@russeg @Stavr0sStuff is it worth upgrading yet?

I'm still on 0.156.1 and I'm waiting until this issue is completely stable without having to perform any extra daemon update steps.

@getupkid

@getupkid Results seem to differ from person to person; I cannot tell you if it will work for you.
codex app-server daemon update --from-cli works for me, and I run this every time codex is updated.
The regular codex app-server daemon update (which is supposed to return back to 'production updates') still borks out with a useless error message and no logs.

It would be good of someone from OpenAI can tell us what the plans are. Is this supposed to work out-of-the-box or still in preview?

@Stavr0sStuff

@Stavr0sStuff Yep, same boat as you... finally got the update but now we're stuck at a specific version, and the error messages have no meaningful information. I might just do a full uninstall/reinstall at some point.

I still got popups in codex-cli 0.161.0 the codex app-server daemon update --from-cli command helped.

It might have been solved!

Updating to codex v0.162.1, then updating the pin to the new cli version (codex app-server daemon update --from-cli), and then reverting back to prod updates codex app-server daemon update from Powershell finally get the following result:

{"status":"updated","managedCodexPath":"<REDACTED>\\.codex\\packages/app-server-daemon\\current\\bin\\codex.exe","installedVersion":"0.162.1","runningVersion":null,"message":"The managed installation is ready; no daemon was running when the updater checked."}

Context: I'm on a windows machine but my terminal defaults to git bash / zsh. codex update has never worked for me from zsh (

[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.UTF8Encoding]::new($false); try { Invoke-Expression ([Console]::In.ReadToEnd()
) } catch { Write-Error $_; exit 1 } : Downloaded Codex package archive did not contain the expected package layout.
)

, I've always had to resort to powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.ps1 | iex" from within a Powershell shell. Maybe this is related, I don't remember if I tried previous daemon updates from bash or from powershell.

Nope still not fixed, still making life miserable and making typing impossible when it opens a thousand windows breaking yoru flow

@Stavr0sStuff

@Stavr0sStuff would you mind sharing the full list of steps you did to achieve this?

Nothing works and its spawned over 500 terminal windows now just doing a small task ffs

Dropping and going Anthropic at the end of the month, I LITERALLY CAN'T WORK NOW!

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Windows: terminal windows repeatedly flash during requests after installing the Codex daemon #48074

What version of Codex CLI is running?

What subscription do you have?

Which model were you using?

What platform is your computer?

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

What is the expected behavior?

Additional information

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Windows: terminal windows repeatedly flash during requests after installing the Codex daemon #48074

Description

What version of Codex CLI is running?

What subscription do you have?

Which model were you using?

What platform is your computer?

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

What steps can reproduce the bug?

What is the expected behavior?

Additional information

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