macOS: /codex:rescue intermittently hangs, then fails with Unknown skill even though codex-companion works directly`

Summary

On macOS, /codex:rescue ... in Claude Code is unreliable even though Codex itself is healthy.

I saw two failure modes:

1. the flow appears to get stuck at "initializing"
2. after /reload-plugins, the same flow fails with Unknown skill: codex:codex-rescue

Direct companion/helper invocation works normally in the same environment, so this looks like a Claude Code plugin wrapper / skill registration issue rather than a Codex CLI or auth issue.

Environment

• OS: macOS
• Claude Code: 2.1.119
• codex-plugin-cc: 1.0.3 (codex@openai-codex)
• codex-cli: 0.120.0
• Auth mode: ChatGPT login
• Node: v24.14.0
• npm: 11.9.0

Healthy checks

/codex:setup reports healthy.

Direct helper works:

node "/Users/homestation/.claude/plugins/cache/openai-codex/codex/1.0.3/scripts/codex-companion.mjs" task "say hello and report readiness"


node "/Users/homestation/.claude/plugins/cache/openai-codex/codex/1.0.3/scripts/codex-companion.mjs" task --fresh "Review the trading strategy: does it make sense, is it optimized? Then review the implementation and make any recommendations. Review only; do not edit files."


What I expected
This should work:

/codex:rescue say hello and report readiness
and this should work:

/codex:rescue review the trading strategy, does it make sense, is it optimized, then review the implementation and make any recommendations
What happened
Before the failure, Claude successfully runs:

node ".../codex-companion.mjs" task-resume-candidate --json
and gets a normal response like:

{
  "available": false,
  "sessionId": "...",
  "candidate": null
}
Then the wrapper fails at the skill step.

I observed:

apparent hang after the skill handoff
Unknown skill: codex:codex-rescue
Claude then retrying with codex:rescue
Repro
Verify /codex:setup
Run:
/codex:rescue say hello and report readiness
Observe either:
apparent initializing/stall
or Unknown skill: codex:codex-rescue
Workaround
This works reliably:

node "/Users/homestation/.claude/plugins/cache/openai-codex/codex/1.0.3/scripts/codex-companion.mjs" task --fresh "<prompt>"
Conclusion
This looks like a plugin wrapper / skill registration problem in Claude Code, not a Codex CLI/auth problem.

Start by reproducing /codex:rescue after verifying /codex:setup, then compare its behavior with the mentioned codex-companion.mjs task and task-resume-candidate commands. Inspect the Claude Code plugin wrapper and skill registration around the /reload-plugins handoff. Done means /codex:rescue completes reliably without hanging or reporting Unknown skill: codex:codex-rescue.