[Regression][Windows/WSL] Custom pets are not loaded or displayed correctly in WSL mode

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

Current Codex Desktop for Windows as of 2026-09-07. Exact build number was not captured when filing this report.

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11 with WSL / Ubuntu

What issue are you seeing?

Custom pets cannot be read and displayed correctly when Codex Desktop is configured to use the WSL environment.

This appears to be a regression of previously reported WSL custom-pet loading/path issues.

Related issues that were previously closed as completed:

• #20905 — Custom pets do not load in WSL mode, but load in Windows native mode
• #21471 — Windows Codex Desktop fails to load custom pets when app-server runs in WSL because CODEX_HOME path is not normalized

The current symptom is that a custom pet exists/configures normally, but Codex Desktop does not correctly discover/read/display it while using WSL.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Use Codex Desktop on Windows 11 with WSL enabled.
2. Configure Codex to run/use the WSL environment.
3. Place/configure a custom pet in the expected custom pets directory.
4. Open Settings → Appearance/Pets and refresh custom pets, or try to display the selected custom pet.
5. Observe that the custom pet is not read/displayed correctly in WSL mode.

What is the expected behavior?

Custom pets should be discovered, loaded, and displayed correctly regardless of whether Codex is using native Windows mode or WSL mode.

Windows paths and WSL paths should be normalized consistently when resolving the custom pets directory.

Additional information

Because #20905 and #21471 were closed as completed in May 2026, this may be a regression in a newer Codex Desktop build.

It would be useful to verify that the current Windows app still translates the custom pet path correctly when the app-server/runtime runs in WSL (for example, avoiding mixed paths such as C:\Users\<USER>\.codex/pets where a WSL-accessible path is required).

If needed, I can add the exact Codex Desktop version and screenshots/logs in a follow-up comment.

Start by reproducing the issue on Windows 11 with WSL/Ubuntu and compare it with #20905 and #21471; no file or test is named, so trace custom-pets directory resolution between the Windows app and WSL app-server. Done means a configured custom pet is discovered, loaded, refreshed, and displayed correctly in both native Windows and WSL modes.