Android Remote: projectless new chats fail project trust verification on macOS (CLI 0.153.4)

Summary

Starting a new No project chat through ChatGPT Android Remote repeatedly fails with a project-trust verification error after a new empty directory is created on the Mac. Existing conversations work, and using an existing project is a viable workaround.

Related: #39678 reports the same Android-to-macOS projectless symptom on an older build; this report provides a reproduction on newer versions with the Android version captured. #42920 reports a similar symptom on Debian. Please consolidate if these share a cause.

Environment

• Client: Samsung phone, ChatGPT Android 1.2026.237 (16).
• Host: Mac, ChatGPT desktop 26.901.51231, build 8109.
• Bundled CLI: codex-cli 0.153.4.
• Both Google Play and the Mac app report no available update when checked by the user.
• Observed September 7, 2026, approximately 19:27 and 20:34 UTC+8.
• Model: not applicable; sending fails before a model response starts.
• iPad can create new chats according to the user. Its app version and exact creation mode have not been compared, so this is not yet a controlled iOS/Android comparison.

Reproduction

1. Connect ChatGPT Android Remote to the Mac.
2. Start a new chat with No project selected.
3. Send a short message such as 测试.
4. A directory such as ~/Documents/Codex/2026-09-07-new-chat-7 is created.
5. Sending fails with the following error (original Chinese, username redacted):

无法验证 /Users/<user>/Documents/Codex/2026-09-07-new-chat-7 的项目信任状态。请在远程计算机上的 Codex 中打开该代码仓库并选择是否信任，然后选择该代码仓库的原始目录并重试。你也可以在“只读”模式下启动。如果问题仍然存在，请更新远程计算机上的 Codex。

Translation: Cannot verify the project's trust status. Open the repository in Codex on the remote computer and make a trust choice, then select its original directory and retry. Alternatively start in read-only mode; update Codex on the remote computer if the problem persists.

Observations and tested workaround

• Existing Remote conversations accept both text and images.
• The first inspected failing directory was empty and had no explicit project trust entry.
• Adding a scoped trust entry for that single generated directory did not fix future projectless creation: a subsequent attempt failed on a different generated directory. A successful retry on the originally patched directory was not confirmed.
• A local project was saved on the Mac, and an associated conversation completed successfully and was visible on Android.
• The Android project picker initially showed only No project and no recent projects, with a message that recent projects appear after remote sessions load.
• After opening the associated conversation on Android and revisiting the picker, the user confirmed the existing-project workaround was usable. The final workaround screen was not independently captured.

Expected behavior

The projectless creation flow should initialize its generated workspace and handle any required trust decision through a supported, actionable flow. Users should not need to manually trust every newly generated directory on the host.

Investigation limits

The root cause is unconfirmed. No failing trust RPC response was captured, and this report does not establish where validation fails internally. No blanket trust setting, application patch, app-data deletion, or network change was used. Raw logs and screenshots are omitted to avoid disclosing unrelated personal information.

OpenAI's AI-assisted support directed this report to this issue tracker; it did not provide an internal engineering case number. Please identify any supported permanent fix or relevant client/host compatibility requirement.

Start by reproducing the Android Remote projectless flow with the reported client and codex-cli versions, then trace the generated workspace's project-trust verification and capture the failing response or logs. Done means a new projectless chat can create its workspace and send successfully without manually trusting each generated directory.