Codex Desktop on Linux hangs forever on "Starting your task" after updating to 26.924.x (fixed in 26.924.50649)

Context

Source(s): https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/48189 Status: reported working by source, not reproduced by us.

Problem

After the ChatGPT/Codex desktop package updated from 26.917.x to 26.924.20706 or 26.924.22138 on Linux, local tasks never start. ChatGPT chats and cloud tasks still work, which made some people think it was a service outage.

Error (redacted / normalized)

(symptom, no error text) Every local Codex task, new or existing, stays on "Starting your task" indefinitely. The app logs repeatedly show `ignoring invalid experimental feature enablement keys: apps_mcp_path_override`, and one commenter's log showed `Git is unavailable` even though git was installed.

Applies when

Linux desktop app (deb and rpm): Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Debian 13, Fedora, Arch, Pop!_OS, Zorin, Kali. Builds 26.924.20706 and 26.924.22138.

Confirm it is this problem

1. Check the installed version in "About Codex" → expect: 26.924.20706 or 26.924.22138.
2. In the app logs for a failed attempt, you see thread_creation_started and thread_inputs_ready but never thread/start (reported by two commenters who traced it).

Not this when / boundary

A real service outage (cloud tasks and chat also fail, or status page shows an incident). Different builds or Windows/macOS.

Root cause

A regression in those desktop builds: the task is never sent to the local app-server. Commenters traced it to different points (a config/read request that never returns, a stalled bundled-plugin reconcile, a startup-order change), and a later build (26.924.50649) fixed it, according to commenters; no maintainer replied in the thread. (The exact root cause was not stated by a maintainer.)

Fix

1. Update the desktop app to 26.924.50649 or later. → expect: commenters on Linux Mint and Fedora confirmed tasks start again.
2. On Fedora, if dnf update doesn't offer the new version yet, download the latest RPM from the official OpenAI download page and install it with sudo dnf install <downloaded>.rpm (a commenter confirmed this got the fixed build).
3. If you can't update, downgrade only the app package to 26.917.71314 from OpenAI's official package source. Several commenters confirmed this works and keeps the Codex settings folder (~/.codex) intact.

How to verify

Start a trivial new local task → expect: it gets past "Starting your task" and the model answers.

What did not work

Restarting the app, rebooting, reinstalling the same build, changing networks, and resetting only the app's config folder did not help (reported by commenters). Starting with a fresh, empty Codex home folder worked for two commenters (one found it slow); our note: it leaves your existing local state behind.

Risks

our note: if you try the fresh-folder approach, move the old ~/.codex aside instead of deleting it so sessions and settings can be restored.

Verified scope

ChatGPT/Codex desktop for Linux, late September 2026.

Becomes obsolete when

26.924.20706 / 26.924.22138 are no longer installed anywhere.