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

OpenAI Developer Community June 4, 2026
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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?

Discussion in the ATmosphere

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