macOS ChatGPT desktop app: all message sends fail with `Request failed with status 429` while chatgpt.com works

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

Original occurrence: ChatGPT desktop 26.810.41047.

About dialog text from the original occurrence:

Powered by Codex & OWL
Version 26.810.41047
Released Aug 13, 2026

The Aug. 18 recurrence below includes a new uploaded performance trace; the screenshot for that recurrence does not show the About/version dialog.

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro — 20x usage tier.

What platform is your computer?

macOS, Apple Silicon.

What issue are you seeing?

In the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS, sending a message in the normal Chat surface fails with:

Request failed with status 429

The failure is not limited to one Project. It occurs in:

• chats inside a Project; and
• projectless / ordinary chats.

This is a normal Chat failure, not a Codex Work task failure.

During the original occurrence, the same account remained usable on chatgpt.com in the browser and messages could be sent there normally.

Original Aug. 14 feedback/performance diagnostic ID:

no-active-thread-01a001b9-6d60-74c2-9ab0-ac0272d52aa3

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS.
2. Open a normal chat, either inside a Project or projectless.
3. Send a message.
4. The app returns Request failed with status 429.
5. The behavior is not dependent on a Work task or a particular Project.

What is the expected behavior?

Messages should send normally in the macOS ChatGPT desktop app, including both Project and projectless chats, without an HTTP 429 during ordinary interactive use.

Additional information

The app had been working normally after the Aug. 13, 2026 update. The original failure did not start immediately after that update; it first appeared on Aug. 14, 2026 at approximately 3:27–3:29 PM America/New_York.

Recurrence — Aug. 18, 2026

At approximately 1:38 PM America/New_York on Aug. 18, 2026, the same failure reproduced again in a regular ChatGPT desktop chat:

Request failed with status 429

A new performance trace was uploaded successfully from the failing desktop session. In the trace description, the reproduction was identified as a regular chat, not a Work task, and the same symptom was noted both outside a Project and inside a Project.

New Aug. 18 performance-trace / Feedback ID:

no-active-thread-01a015f7-5d6e-7931-af72-8d920ff5ad07

This confirms that the desktop normal-Chat 429 remains reproducible several days after the original Aug. 14 report and is not isolated to a single Project or Work task.

Related reports include #37518 and #38810. #37518 describes a different sidebar/refocus conversation-list 429 pattern; this issue specifically tracks message-send failures in normal Chat.

Start by reproducing the 429 in a normal macOS desktop chat both inside and outside a Project, then review the uploaded performance trace and feedback IDs no-active-thread-01a001b9-6d60-74c2-9ab0-ac0272d52aa3 and no-active-thread-01a015f7-5d6e-7931-af72-8d920ff5ad07. Done means ordinary messages send successfully in both chat contexts without the HTTP 429.