[Windows app][WSL2] Project creation fails after switching from Windows native; AbsolutePathBuf migration error

[Windows app][WSL2] Project creation fails after switching from Windows native; AbsolutePathBuf migration error

Summary

Adding a project fails with the error "Failed to create project" when the Windows Codex app uses the WSL agent environment. Project creation works in Windows-native mode. A screenshot supplied by the user confirms the exact error text.

Environment

• App version reported by the user: 0.15.4.
• App package identifier observed in logs: OpenAI.Codex_26.901.5280.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0.
• WSL2 distribution: Ubuntu-26.04, running and set as the default distribution.
• Linux Git and Bash are installed.
• Separately installed WSL CLI: codex-cli 0.153.0 (not a claim about the app's bundled engine).
• Failure reported at approximately 2026-09-05 16:34 Asia/Shanghai (08:34 UTC).

Steps to reproduce

1. Use Codex desktop on Windows with existing Windows-path task state.
2. Change Agent environment from Windows native to WSL.
3. Fully quit and restart the app.
4. Use Ctrl+O and select an existing Linux directory through \wsl$\Ubuntu-26.04\home<linux-user>\code\test.
5. The app displays "Failed to create project".
6. Switching back to Windows native allows project creation.

The user repeated the restart and folder-selection procedure and reported the same failure. Read-only checks confirmed the Linux directory exists and is accessible inside WSL.

Expected

The WSL agent can add/open the selected project. Existing Windows and UNC paths are converted to appropriate Linux absolute paths.

Observed diagnostics

At 2026-09-05T08:33:36.072Z:
[host-app-server-projects] Local app-server project migration failed
Invalid request: AbsolutePathBuf deserialized without a base path

After switching to WSL, this existing task's working directory was incorrectly represented as:
/mnt/d/WindowsApps/OpenAI.Codex_26.901.5280.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0/app/resources/C:\Users<windows-user>\Documents\Codex\2026-09-05\windows

The corresponding Windows directory does exist and is accessible through /mnt/c/Users//Documents/Codex/2026-09-05/windows.

Scope and uncertainty

The migration error and malformed task directory are directly observed. The logs inspected did not contain a separate project-create request at precisely 08:34 UTC, so a causal connection between that error and the creation popup remains a hypothesis.

Windows-native mode is a workaround, but the intended workflow is to run both the CLI and app agent in the same WSL distribution.

Paths have been anonymized. No credentials or full session transcripts are included.

Start by tracing the local app-server project migration and the AbsolutePathBuf deserialization path described in the diagnostics. Reproduce the Windows-native to WSL2 switch, then verify that the existing task directory is converted to a valid Linux path and that the selected WSL project opens without the creation error.