Codex Windows App – UI closes but background processes remain, blocking relaunch

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Windows: App does not fully exit on window close (X) + UI hit-testing issue in sidebar ("New Chat")

opened 09:47AM - 10 Apr 26 UTC

      kiv0365-commits
    

bug windows-os app

--- Environment: * OS: Windows 11 x64 * Codex Desktop Version: 26.406.3494….0 * Installation type: Standard Windows installer * CLI: Codex CLI works нормально (no issues) --- Summary: There are two related issues in the Windows desktop app: 1. Closing the application via the window close button (X) does not terminate the app completely — multiple background processes remain running, preventing relaunch. 2. UI hit-testing is broken in the sidebar: hover and click behavior on the "New Chat" button is inconsistent and appears to pass through the element. --- # Issue 1: App does not exit when clicking "X" Steps to reproduce: 1. Launch Codex desktop app 2. Click the window close button (X) in the top-right corner Expected behavior: Application fully terminates (all processes exit) Actual behavior: * The window closes * ~5–6 Codex processes remain running in Task Manager * Relaunching Codex fails (no window appears) Workaround: * Using File → Exit properly terminates all processes * Alternatively, manually killing processes (taskkill /IM codex.exe /F) allows relaunch Notes: This suggests that the window close event does not trigger full application shutdown (app.quit() not called or not propagated). --- # Issue 2: Sidebar UI interaction bug ("New Chat") Steps to reproduce: 1. Open Codex app 2. Move mouse over "New Chat" button in the sidebar Expected behavior: * Hover state activates * Click triggers new chat Actual behavior: * Hover state does not activate consistently * Click sometimes behaves as if it targets the window behind the UI * Double-click behaves like interacting with the window title bar (not the button) Additional observations: * Behavior resembles broken hit-testing or incorrect input layer mapping * Feels like pointer events are not correctly bound to the UI element --- # Regression This behavior did not occur ~1 week ago. The issue appeared after an update (current version: 26.406.3494.0). --- # Additional observations * Issue 1 and Issue 2 may be related (renderer / event loop / Electron lifecycle inconsistency) * Previous UI glitches (hover issues) were observed before the shutdown problem appeared * Codex CLI works correctly → issue isolated to desktop runtime (Electron layer) --- # Impact * Prevents normal app usage (cannot reliably restart app) * Requires manual process cleanup * UI interaction becomes unreliable --- # Suggested areas to investigate * Handling of BrowserWindow close event * app.on('window-all-closed') behavior on Windows * Renderer hit-testing / pointer events * GPU / compositing layer issues (optional: test with --disable-gpu) ---

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