Codex Desktop App on Windows 10 + WSL takes >60s to answer simple prompt, while VSCode agent responds in seconds

Codex
1

Codex Desktop App on Windows 10 + WSL takes >60s to answer simple prompt, while VSCode agent responds in seconds

Hi, I’m seeing a consistent Codex Desktop App performance issue on Windows 10 with WSL mode enabled.

Summary

A trivial prompt like ping takes more than 60 seconds in Codex Desktop App before returning a short response.

The same account, same WSL Ubuntu environment, same project, and same context work normally in the Codex VSCode agent, where the response arrives within a few seconds.

This looks specific to the Codex Desktop App pipeline, not to the model, project, WSL environment, Python environment, or account.

Environment

  • OS: Windows 10 Pro

  • Windows version: 2009

  • OS build: 19045

  • Codex Desktop App build: 26.601.2237.0

  • WSL distro: Ubuntu, WSL 2

  • Desktop config:

    • runCodexInWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true

    • integratedTerminalShell = "wsl"

  • Model: gpt-5.5

  • Reasoning effort: medium

Expected behavior

A simple ping prompt should return in a few seconds, similar to the Codex VSCode agent in the same environment.

Actual behavior

Codex Desktop App stays in thinking for more than 60 seconds before returning a minimal answer.

What I tested

  • VSCode Codex agent works normally in the same project/environment.

  • WSL path and git commands are fast when run directly.

  • Python/venv are valid.

  • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Codex was reset by renaming the folder and letting Codex recreate it.

  • The issue also reproduces on a Windows-side copy of the repo, not only the original WSL project.

  • workspace_dependencies was disabled after an earlier Windows 10-related runtime error; that specific error disappeared, but latency remained.

Relevant log observations

Fresh logs show git-repo-watcher failures and aborted git commands around WSL-normalized paths.

For the original WSL project:

ENOENT: no such file or directory, watch '/home/<user>/projects/my-private-repo/.git'
ENOENT: no such file or directory, watch '/home/<user>/projects/my-private-repo'

For a Windows-side copy of the repo, Codex Desktop still appears to normalize it into a WSL path:

ENOENT: no such file or directory, watch '/mnt/c/Users/<user>/Documents/CodexTest/my-private-repo/.git'
cwd=/mnt/c/Users/<user>/Documents/CodexTest/my-private-repo
git.command.complete aborted=true
command="git -c core.hooksPath=/dev/null -c core.fsmonitor= rev-parse --git-dir"
requestKind=branch-diff-stats

Earlier logs also showed:

Primary runtime install failed before first turn
Codex Workspace dependencies are not supported on Windows 10

After disabling workspace_dependencies, this specific error disappeared, but the >60s latency remained.

Why I think this is Desktop-specific

  • VSCode agent responds in seconds in the same repo/environment.

  • Direct WSL/git checks are fast.

  • The issue persists after resetting %LOCALAPPDATA%\Codex.

  • The issue persists on a Windows-side repo copy.

  • The slow behavior seems tied to Codex Desktop App’s Windows/WSL path handling, git watcher, or pre-response pipeline.

Is there a supported way to disable the Desktop git watcher / branch-diff-stats / WSL path normalization for testing? Or is this a known Windows 10 + WSL limitation in the Codex Desktop App?

2

Welcome to the forum!

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:

If that issue matches your problem, consider adding a :+1: 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.

3

Hi, thanks.

Confirmed. This appears to be the same issue as #26149.

My plugin cache was:

/mnt/c/Users//.codex/.tmp/plugins
46M
7418 entries

After stopping Codex Desktop and renaming that folder, a simple ping went from >60 seconds to under 5 seconds after restart.

So the root cause is very likely the Desktop app-server repeatedly touching/scanning the plugin cache under /mnt/c/... in Windows + WSL mode. The earlier git-repo-watcher errors were probably secondary noise, not the main cause.