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[Bug]: Codex Update Always Failing #2765
Description
Activity
I have the same on Windows 11 issue too, manually running the update commands on a console also works for me.
This looks like b/c of missing environment variables (probably PATH) during process creation. Happy to do a quick PR if needed.
Reacted by Rob Mazoros, Salloxy and Wiktor GoliczSame issue on OSX for me
That for me is the CLI versions need updating. in MacOs I can Update the Codex App but unless I do a 'brew update; brew upgrade codex' I continue to get that error. Updating the codex app does not seem to effect the codex CLI
Reacted by Dave MeehanMake sure you don't have a stale copy of codex on your machine. T3 might be calling the stale copy instead of the correct updated copy
I investigated this against the current provider-maintenance path. Modern Codex releases can avoid the package-manager spawn entirely:
codex updatewas added upstream in openai/codex#19933 and first appeared in the stable npm line in 0.128.0.I have a focused change ready that:
- uses structured
codex+["update"]execution for valid installed versions >= 0.128.0; - retains the existing npm/pnpm/Bun/Vite+/Homebrew detection below that boundary or when the version is missing/malformed;
- keeps the selected capability shared between the version advisory and maintenance runner; and
- passes the configured provider-instance environment, including effective
CODEX_HOME, to the native update process.
I will link the corresponding PR here once the branch is pushed.
- uses structured
Correction to my earlier comments: #2765 is specifically the Windows child-process/PATH failure and has its own Windows-focused work. The version-aware, cross-platform Codex capability change is now tracked separately in #4066, and PR #4065 has been updated to fix #4066 while listing this issue only as related context.
Before submitting
Area
apps/desktop
Steps to reproduce
Open the app, click update when it detects a newer codex version
Expected behavior
Like Claude Code, it just runs it and updates and tells me I'm gucci
Actual behavior
Failed to run update command npm: NotFound: ChildProcess.spawn (npm install -g @openai/codex@latest)
Seems to always happen on both my thinkpad and desktop (both W11), but me manually typing the command works
Impact
Major degradation or frequent failure
Version or commit
No response
Environment
Windows11
Logs or stack traces
Screenshots, recordings, or supporting files
image.png
Workaround
Manually typing the npm install ig?