Codex Terminal not Opening?

If Ctrl + J does not open the terminal in Codex, but only for a specific project, first check whether Git trusts that repository.

Run this inside the project:

git status

If you see an error like:

fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository

it means the repo was created or owned by a different user, such as a sandbox, admin account, WSL, VM, or agent runtime. Because of that, Codex cannot resolve the Git root for that project, and the terminal shortcut may appear broken only in that project.

Fix it with:

git config --global --add safe.directory C:/path/to/project

Example:

git config --global --add safe.directory C:/Users/MyUser/Documents/my-projects

Then restart Codex or open a new thread and try Ctrl + J again.

It’s not actually a Ctrl + J problem. Codex cannot resolve the project because Git blocks the repo with a dubious ownership error. Add the project to Git’s safe.directory, restart Codex, and the terminal should work again.