Codex Desktop (Linux/Arch): ChatGPT login redirects to add-phone on Free account

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

26.825.51511

What subscription do you have?

Free

What platform is your computer?

Arch Linux x86_64

What issue are you seeing?

I cannot use the ChatGPT desktop/Codex application on Arch Linux with my existing free ChatGPT account.

The application was installed from the official Linux .deb package, converted to an Arch package. The installed package reports version 26.825.51511-1, with /usr/lib/chatgpt/ChatGPT as the main executable.

The ChatGPT account itself works normally in the web browser.

The problem occurs specifically in the desktop application's normal Sign in with ChatGPT flow:

1. Open the ChatGPT/Codex desktop application.
2. Click the normal sign-in button.
3. A browser window opens for OpenAI authentication.
4. I authenticate with the same existing ChatGPT account that works normally in the browser.
5. After selecting my existing account, the authentication flow redirects to:
   https://auth.openai.com/add-phone
6. The page says that a phone number is required to continue.

I do not have a phone number available that can be selected in the required country list. In particular, my available number uses country code +7, which is not offered in the selector shown by the page.

The application then times out/cancels the sign-in and returns to the logged-out screen.

There is a Sign in another way option, but in this build it opens an OpenAI API key field. I tried creating an API key only to test the application, but the first request immediately failed with:

stream disconnected before completion: You have no credits remaining. Add credits to continue using the API

I do not want to use paid API credits. I want to use my existing free ChatGPT account through the normal ChatGPT authentication flow.

I also inspected the application bundle (app.asar). The login code clearly contains a normal ChatGPT authentication path using createChatGptLoginSession() as well as separate API-key authentication. The normal ChatGPT button calls the ChatGPT login flow, while the alternate method explicitly calls loginWithApiKey().

The account is therefore usable in ChatGPT web, but Codex Desktop cannot complete the normal ChatGPT authentication because it is redirected to /add-phone.

Expected behavior

After successfully signing in with my existing ChatGPT Free account, Codex Desktop should complete authentication and open a working session without requiring a phone number that is not available for my account.

The normal ChatGPT web session already works with the same account.

Additional information

• OS: Arch Linux x86_64
• Codex/ChatGPT App: 26.825.51511-1
• Package: chatgpt
• Main executable: /usr/lib/chatgpt/ChatGPT
• The package is based on the official Linux .deb build and was converted for Arch Linux.
• ChatGPT web login works normally with the same account.
• Normal desktop login consistently redirects to auth.openai.com/add-phone.
• “Sign in another way” is API-key authentication, which is not suitable for a free ChatGPT account without API credits.

This appears closely related to other reports of Codex authentication unexpectedly redirecting existing ChatGPT accounts to /add-phone, including issues #39467, #38008, #25828, and #24990.

Start by tracing createChatGptLoginSession() in the app.asar bundle and compare it with the separate loginWithApiKey() path. Reproduce the normal ChatGPT sign-in flow on Arch Linux and inspect where the redirect to auth.openai.com/add-phone is handled. Done means the existing Free account can complete desktop authentication without requiring an unavailable phone number.