Codex desktop hangs indefinitely in a long media-heavy handoff conversation #51136

Reported behavior

On macOS, reopening or continuing an existing long handoff conversation can leave Codex desktop unresponsive indefinitely. The affected conversation contains accumulated generated images and videos. The user also reports repeated crashes while working with it. A separate text-focused conversation remains usable, so this report concerns the affected conversation rather than all chats.

Expected behavior

Long conversations should remain usable. Heavy media should load lazily, and a failed conversation/context load should recover or show an actionable error instead of hanging indefinitely.

Scope and uncertainty

Accumulated media or context size is a suspected trigger, not a confirmed root cause. Exact app version, error output, and a minimal reproduction have not been verified. This is a user-reported issue, not a claim based on an inspected crash log.

Privacy

No chat contents, conversation titles or IDs, screenshots, media, logs, local paths, project details, financial data, or real names are included or attached.