[Windows app] Dozens of runaway rg.exe processes saturate disk and make the system unusable

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

26.825.6671.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

The Windows Codex App intermittently launches dozens of concurrent rg.exe processes. The executable path was confirmed locally as the ripgrep binary bundled with Codex.

When this happens, the entire machine becomes nearly unusable. Even opening Task Manager can take several minutes, while overall CPU does not appear pegged.

The attached Task Manager screenshot shows roughly 30 visible rg.exe processes. Each visible process is using approximately 518–549 MB of memory and about 62–197 MB/s of disk throughput. Together they create several GB/s of storage demand, which explains the machine-wide slowdown despite modest CPU percentages.

The processes have also been observed continuing after the Codex window was closed. The machine becomes responsive again when the searches disappear, the Codex process tree is forcibly terminated, or Windows is rebooted.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Use the Codex desktop app on Windows for local repository tasks over a long-lived app session.
2. Allow tasks to finish and/or close and reopen the Codex window.
3. Intermittently, the whole machine slows to a crawl.
4. Open Task Manager and observe dozens of concurrent rg.exe processes performing heavy disk I/O.

This occurred on two consecutive days. The exact prompt or operation that triggers the fan-out has not yet been identified, so the problem appears intermittent and may involve cancellation or child-process cleanup rather than one specific search query.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should run only a bounded number of ripgrep searches. Search processes should terminate promptly when their search completes, the task is cancelled, or the app exits. Closing Codex should not leave active rg.exe processes that saturate system storage.

Additional information

Codex App package version: 26.825.6671.0
Platform: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64
Subscription: ChatGPT Pro

During follow-up diagnostics after the storm ended, the machine had about 48 GB of available memory, negligible disk queue, normal CPU frequency, and no recent storage, WHEA, display-driver, resource-exhaustion, or application-hang events. This is consistent with an intermittent Codex search-process storm rather than persistent hardware or general Windows resource pressure.

A long-lived Codex process tree was also observed surviving from the previous day after the window had been closed, which may be related to child-process cleanup.

Start by tracing the Windows app's bundled rg.exe child-process lifecycle, especially search cancellation, task completion, and app-exit handling. Reproduce with long-lived sessions while monitoring concurrent rg.exe processes; done means searches remain bounded and terminate promptly when work finishes, is cancelled, or the app closes.