openai / openai/codex

ChatGPT Web: “Continue with Work” does nothing and only resets the handoff countdown

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bug codex-web
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

What issue are you seeing?

In a normal ChatGPT chat, the Continue with Work handoff UI appears correctly, but clicking Continue with Work does not switch to Work and does not visibly start a Work task.

The strange part is that the click is not completely ignored: it resets/restarts the countdown on the Keep chatting here option, then the handoff card remains in the same state.

By contrast, clicking Keep chatting here works immediately and dismisses/cancels the handoff as expected.

Work itself is available and works normally when opened manually, so this seems specific to the Chat → Work handoff flow rather than Work access or account permissions.

I reproduced this several times, including with an extremely small task, so it does not appear to depend on prompt complexity.

Steps to reproduce
  1. Start in a normal ChatGPT chat.
  2. Ask ChatGPT to hand the conversation/task off to Work.
  3. Wait for the card with Continue with Work and Keep chatting here.
  4. Click Continue with Work.
  5. Observe that the UI does not switch to Work and no visible Work task starts.
  6. The countdown/state for Keep chatting here resets, and the same handoff card remains.
  7. Repeat: same result.
  8. Open Work manually from the product UI: Work opens normally.
  9. Trigger another handoff using a minimal instruction such as: “Create an empty task named Test and do nothing else.” The same failure occurs.
Expected behavior

Clicking Continue with Work should open/switch to Work, carry over the confirmed chat context/instructions, and let Work continue from there.

Actual behavior

Clicking Continue with Work does not transition to Work. The only visible effect is that the Keep chatting here countdown/state is reset. Clicking Keep chatting here itself works normally.

Additional information
  • Reproduced multiple times in the same chat.
  • Manually entering Work works normally.
  • A minimal handoff task reproduces the problem, so this does not appear to be caused by a long or complex instruction.
  • This looks like a handoff UI/state-transition bug rather than a Work availability problem.
  • Screenshot is available if maintainers need it.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No source files, tests, or repository entry points are identified in the report. Start by reproducing the Chat → Work handoff in the web UI and trace the Continue with Work action; done means it switches to Work with the confirmed context while Keep chatting here remains functional.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
frontend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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