Windows: `codex remote-control start` fails with "daemon lifecycle is only supported on Unix platforms" — CLI-only Windows machines cannot host Remote Control

What variant of Codex are you using?

CLI

What feature would you like to see?

Make codex remote-control work on native Windows, so a CLI-only Windows machine can host a Remote Control session for the mobile app without the Desktop app and without WSL.

Current behavior

codex remote-control exists in the Windows CLI, but it refuses to start:

> codex remote-control start
Error: codex app-server daemon lifecycle is only supported on Unix platforms

codex remote-control pair is therefore unusable as well. There is no way to obtain a pairing code from the Windows CLI.

Environment

• codex-cli 0.152.1, native Windows build (not WSL)
• Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200
• codex features list shows remote_control removed false

Why this matters

The machine I use is a low-spec Windows PC. Running the Desktop app on it is not realistic, and installing WSL or a second Linux environment just to host a daemon is not an option either. The terminal and the CLI are all that fits.

On macOS and Linux the CLI alone is already enough to host Remote Control (codex remote-control start / pair). On Windows the same CLI ships the command but hard-fails. For a CLI-only setup, Remote Control from the terminal is the whole point: start a session in the terminal, then continue it from the phone. Windows is currently the only platform where a CLI-only user is locked out of that.

Expected behavior

codex remote-control start and codex remote-control pair should work on native Windows the same way they do on macOS and Linux, with no Desktop app and no WSL required.

Suggestion

• Add a Windows implementation of the app-server daemon lifecycle (start / stop / status).
• Or, as a lighter first step, allow codex remote-control start --foreground to run the app-server in the current console without daemonizing, so a CLI-only Windows machine can still host Remote Control.

Additional information

• This is not the same as #41638 (Linux host pairs but Android shows no device). On Linux the daemon starts and pairing codes are issued; on Windows the daemon cannot start at all.
• Related: #29015 (native Windows needs an app-server lifecycle adapter for Remote SSH). The same lifecycle gap blocks Remote Control.
• Supersedes #42506, which I opened earlier with an inaccurate description of the Windows symptom.

Start by tracing the native Windows failure from codex remote-control start and compare it with the Unix daemon lifecycle used by the CLI. Review the related lifecycle gap in #29015 and determine whether Windows start, stop, and status or a foreground mode is the smaller supported path. Done means native Windows start and pair work without Desktop or WSL, with tests covering the selected lifecycle.