Windows Codex app spawns 12–13 git.exe processes per second and recreates invalid empty .git directories

Start by reproducing the idle process loop on Windows with a local directory containing an empty .git directory, then trace the desktop app's Git detection and process-launch path around git rev-parse --show-toplevel and the related commands listed here. Done means invalid repositories are handled without recreating empty .git directories or repeatedly spawning git.exe and conhost.exe while idle; verify with process tracing and the reported restart scenario.

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.707.9981.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.22631.0 x64 (Windows 11)

What issue are you seeing?

The Windows Codex desktop app enters a continuous Git process-spawning loop when local Codex project entries are not valid Git repositories.

I traced process creation at 50 ms intervals. During a 15-second period when Codex was otherwise idle:

• The main ChatGPT.exe process directly launched 193 git.exe processes.
• This is approximately 12.9 direct Git launches per second.
• There were 443 total process starts during the interval.
• Many Git processes launched additional git.exe and conhost.exe children.

During a separate 70-second trace:

• 620 git.exe starts
• 621 git.exe stops
• 452 conhost.exe starts
• 452 conhost.exe stops

The initial Git processes were confirmed as direct children of the main ChatGPT.exe, not a Codex command runner, PowerShell tool call, or user-invoked terminal.

The repeatedly executed command is:

"C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe" -c core.hooksPath=NUL -c core.fsmonitor= rev-parse --show-toplevel

Additional Git commands include:

• git.exe -c core.hooksPath=NUL -c core.fsmonitor=false rev-parse HEAD
• git.exe -c core.hooksPath=NUL -c core.fsmonitor=false status --porcelain
• git.exe -c core.hooksPath=NUL -c core.fsmonitor=false remote -v
• git.exe config --null --get core.fsmonitor

The affected non-Git project locations contain completely empty .git directories. They have no HEAD, config, index, objects, commondir, or gitdir.

Running git rev-parse --show-toplevel manually in those locations fails with exit code 128:

fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

I renamed the empty .git directories to timestamped backups. The already-running app continued launching Git at approximately 12.8 times per second.

I then fully restarted only the Codex/ChatGPT desktop app. Codex recreated the empty .git directories and the new main ChatGPT.exe process immediately resumed the loop:

• 182 direct Git launches in 15 seconds
• Approximately 12.2 launches per second
• 432 total process starts

The process storm causes unnecessary CPU/process activity, additional Microsoft Defender scanning, system heating, fan noise, and reduced responsiveness. Program Compatibility Assistant CPU spikes have also been visible in Task Manager, although my two short PCA sampling windows happened to catch that service idle, so I am not claiming a directly measured PCA causal relationship.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install or launch Codex desktop app version 26.707.9981.0 on Windows.
2. Open a local Codex project that is not a Git repository.
3. Allow Codex to sit idle with no agent or command actively running.
4. Inspect the process tree using Task Manager, Process Explorer, or process-creation tracing.
5. Observe the main ChatGPT.exe repeatedly launching git.exe rev-parse --show-toplevel and related Git commands.
6. Inspect the affected project directory and observe an empty, invalid .git directory.
7. Rename the empty .git directory and restart Codex.
8. Observe Codex recreate the empty .git directory and immediately resume launching approximately 12–13 Git processes per second.

For comparison, separate valid Git projects on the same computer return exit code 0 from git rev-parse --show-toplevel and contain normal Git metadata.

What is the expected behavior?

For a local directory that is not a valid Git repository, Codex should:

1. Detect the Git failure once.
2. Treat the directory as a normal non-version-controlled local project.
3. Avoid creating an empty or invalid .git directory.
4. Cache the non-Git result or use an appropriate retry backoff.
5. Recheck only after a relevant filesystem change, explicit refresh, or sufficiently long interval.
6. Avoid continuously spawning git.exe and conhost.exe processes while idle.

When Codex is idle and no task is running, CPU usage and background subprocess activity should return close to zero.

Additional information

Git version:

git version 2.34.1.windows.1

No usernames, private repository names, conversation contents, or unrelated local paths are included in this report.

Potentially related issues:

• #17229 — Windows app repeatedly spawning git.exe and conhost.exe
• #19201 — High-CPU loop with non-Git project entries
• #22085 — Windows Git process spawning and sustained CPU

The additional observations in this report are:

• Exact measured rate of approximately 12–13 direct Git launches per second
• Parent process confirmed as the main ChatGPT.exe
• The behavior continues while completely idle
• Empty .git directories contain no valid repository metadata
• Codex recreates the invalid empty .git directories after a complete app restart
• Renaming the empty directories without restarting does not stop the cached loop
• The loop persists across a new ChatGPT.exe process instance