I’m reporting this under the connector’s current product name: Adobe (formerly Photoshop). This is not a request for a separate Lightroom connector.
Summary
In the native Codex macOS app, the Adobe (formerly Photoshop) connector successfully authenticates and searches connected Creative Cloud assets. Using its Lightroom catalogue search capability, it locates the requested asset and returns its rendition path. The next step—fetching or encoding that rendition for visual inspection—fails consistently with:
{"type":"Unexpected","description":"image encode: could not connect to https://bartlebee.private.adobe.io/api/v1/image/encode — 403: Forbidden","retryable":false}
A single immediate retry against the same rendition fails identically.
Reproduction
In Codex Desktop, connect Adobe (formerly Photoshop) to a personal, non-SSO Adobe account containing Creative Cloud assets.
Ask Codex to locate a known image using the connector’s asset-search capability.
The connector successfully returns a LightroomAsset and rendition path.
Ask Codex to inspect or preview the located image.
The downstream request to bartlebee.private.adobe.io/api/v1/image/encode returns the non-retryable 403 above.
Retry once; the same failure occurs.
Fresh read-only reproduction: 20 July 2026, approximately 17:15 UTC.
Environment
Codex App: 26.715.72359 (build 5718)
Bundled CLI: codex-cli 0.144.4
Platform: Darwin 24.6.0 x86_64 i386
Subscription: ChatGPT Pro
Expected behaviour
After the Adobe connector has authenticated and discovered the Creative Cloud asset, Codex should be able to fetch and encode the returned rendition. If the operation is not available to the account, the connector should return a clear entitlement/support message rather than an internal Bartlebee 403 after successful discovery.
Evidence and tracking
The issue has been reproduced independently on multiple dates. A screenshot, screen recording, connector logs and contemporaneous reproduction record exist. The logs and screenshot were submitted privately through Codex’s diagnostic feedback uploader; public screenshots are omitted because they contain private catalogue identifiers.
Related but not identical: GitHub issue #27842 reports the same Adobe (formerly Photoshop) connector returning FORBIDDEN at a Photoshop tool invocation. In this report, asset discovery succeeds and the failure occurs later at Bartlebee image encoding.
You are welcome to discuss Codex issues on the forum, however the official place to report and track them is the GitHub issue tracker for OpenAI Codex.
I had ChatGPT look for the closest related issue and it identified:
This topic seems to be a repost of the issue which is fine, but the user is different?
If that issue matches your problem, consider adding a reaction on the GitHub issue page itself, not just on the forum topic, as reactions on GitHub help the developers gauge impact and prioritize work.
If it is not the same issue, try searching the existing GitHub issues for a closer match. If you cannot find one, then open a new issue with as much detail as possible.
reaction on the GitHub issue page itself, not just on the forum topic, as reactions on GitHub help the developers gauge impact and prioritize work.