openai / openai/codex

GPT-6 always returns "Invalid prompt."

Open
#43,970 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

bug CLI model-behavior windows-os
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
125k
Forks
19.4k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

What version of Codex CLI is running?

codex-cli 0.153.4

What subscription do you have?

20x pro

Which model were you using?

gpt-6-astra low

What platform is your computer?

Linux 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64 unknown

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

Windows Terminal (WSL / PowerShell)

Codex doctor report
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "generatedAt": "1788919569s since unix epoch",
  "overallStatus": "warning",
  "codexVersion": "0.153.4",
  "checks": {
    "app_server.status": {
      "id": "app_server.status",
      "category": "app-server",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "background server is not running",
      "details": {
        "control socket": "/home/d/.codex/app-server-control/app-server-control.sock",
        "daemon state dir": "/home/d/.codex/app-server-daemon",
        "mode": "ephemeral",
        "pid file": "/home/d/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server.pid (missing)",
        "settings": "/home/d/.codex/app-server-daemon/settings.json (missing)",
        "status": "not running",
        "update-loop pid file": "/home/d/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server-updater.pid (missing)"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "auth.credentials": {
      "id": "auth.credentials",
      "category": "auth",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "auth is configured",
      "details": {
        "auth file": "/home/d/.codex/auth.json",
        "auth storage mode": "File",
        "stored API key": "false",
        "stored ChatGPT tokens": "true",
        "stored agent identity": "false",
        "stored auth mode": "chatgpt"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "config.load": {
      "id": "config.load",
      "category": "config",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "config loaded",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME": "/home/d/.codex",
        "config.toml": "/home/d/.codex/config.toml",
        "config.toml parse": "ok",
        "cwd": "/home/d",
        "enabled feature flags": "shell_tool, view_image, sleep_tool, unified_exec, unified_exec_zsh_fork, shell_snapshot, content_item_kinds, code_mode_host, terminal_resize_reflow, sqlite, hooks, enable_request_compression, unbounded_connection_retries, multi_agent, apps, tool_search_always_defer_mcp_tools, tool_suggest, plugins, in_app_browser, in_app_chat, in_app_dictation, in_app_local_automation, in_app_updates, browser_use, browser_use_full_cdp_access, browser_use_external, computer_use, remote_plugin, plugin_sharing, image_generation, resize_all_images, item_ids, skill_mcp_dependency_install, skill_search, mentions_v2, steer, guardian_approval, goals, collaboration_modes, tool_call_mcp_elicitation, auth_elicitation, personality, fast_mode, tui_app_server, remote_compaction_v2, compaction_image_budget, workspace_dependencies",
        "feature flag overrides": "none",
        "feature flags enabled": "47",
        "log dir": "/home/d/.codex/log",
        "mcp servers": "5",
        "model": "gpt-6-astra",
        "model provider": "openai",
        "sqlite home": "/home/d/.codex"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "git.environment": {
      "id": "git.environment",
      "category": "git",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "git version 2.47.3",
      "details": {
        "PATH git #1": "/usr/bin/git",
        "PATH git #2": "/bin/git",
        "PATH git entries": "2",
        "git build options": "git version 2.47.3; cpu: x86_64; no commit associated with this build; sizeof-long: 8; sizeof-size_t: 8; shell-path: /bin/sh; libcurl: 8.14.1; zlib: 1.3.1",
        "git exec path": "/usr/lib/git-core",
        "git version": "git version 2.47.3",
        "repo detected": "false",
        "selected git": "/usr/bin/git"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 27
    },
    "installation": {
      "id": "installation",
      "category": "install",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "installation looks consistent",
      "details": {
        "PATH codex #1": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/bin/codex",
        "PATH codex #2": "/home/d/.asdf/shims/codex",
        "PATH codex entries": "2",
        "current executable": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin/codex",
        "install context": "npm (package /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl, bin /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin, resources /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-resources, path /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-path)",
        "managed by Vite+": "false",
        "managed by bun": "false",
        "managed by npm": "true",
        "managed by pnpm": "false",
        "managed package root": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex",
        "npm update target": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 86
    },
    "mcp.config": {
      "id": "mcp.config",
      "category": "mcp",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "MCP configuration is locally consistent",
      "details": {
        "configured servers": "5",
        "disabled servers": "0",
        "stdio servers": "5"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "network.env": {
      "id": "network.env",
      "category": "network",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "network-related environment looks readable",
      "details": {
        "managed proxy": "not configured",
        "proxy env vars present": "HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, NO_PROXY",
        "respect system proxy": "disabled"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "network.provider_reachability": {
      "id": "network.provider_reachability",
      "category": "reachability",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "active provider endpoints are reachable over HTTP",
      "details": {
        "ChatGPT inference URL": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted> reachable (HTTP 405)",
        "reachability mode": "ChatGPT auth"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 1104
    },
    "network.websocket_reachability": {
      "id": "network.websocket_reachability",
      "category": "websocket",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "Responses WebSocket handshake succeeded",
      "details": {
        "DNS": "1 IPv4, 1 IPv6, first IPv4",
        "auth mode": "chatgpt",
        "connect timeout": "15000 ms",
        "endpoint": "wss://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted>",
        "handshake result": "HTTP 101 Switching Protocols",
        "model provider": "openai",
        "provider name": "OpenAI",
        "proxy env vars present": "HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, NO_PROXY",
        "reasoning header": "false",
        "server model present": "false",
        "supports websockets": "true",
        "wire API": "responses"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 1586
    },
    "runtime.provenance": {
      "id": "runtime.provenance",
      "category": "runtime",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "running npm on linux-x86_64",
      "details": {
        "commit": "unknown",
        "current executable": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin/codex",
        "install method": "npm (package /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl, bin /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/bin, resources /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-resources, path /home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-path)",
        "platform": "linux-x86_64",
        "version": "0.153.4"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "runtime.search": {
      "id": "runtime.search",
      "category": "search",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "search is OK (bundled)",
      "details": {
        "search command": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-linux-x64/vendor/x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/codex-path/rg",
        "search command readiness": "file exists",
        "search provider": "bundled"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "sandbox.helpers": {
      "id": "sandbox.helpers",
      "category": "sandbox",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "sandbox configuration is readable",
      "details": {
        "approval policy": "OnRequest",
        "codex-linux-sandbox helper": "/home/d/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg0KbmgRf/codex-linux-sandbox",
        "execve wrapper helper": "/home/d/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg0KbmgRf/codex-execve-wrapper",
        "filesystem sandbox": "restricted",
        "network sandbox": "restricted"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "security.endpoint": {
      "id": "security.endpoint",
      "category": "security",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "endpoint protection is not inspected on this platform",
      "details": {
        "endpoint products": "not inspected on this platform"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "state.paths": {
      "id": "state.paths",
      "category": "state",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "state paths and databases are inspectable",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME": "/home/d/.codex (dir)",
        "active rollout files": "1013 files, 1773017693 total bytes, 1750264 average bytes",
        "archived rollout files": "0 files, 0 total bytes, 0 average bytes",
        "goals DB": "/home/d/.codex/goals_1.sqlite (file)",
        "goals DB integrity": "ok",
        "log DB": "/home/d/.codex/logs_2.sqlite (file)",
        "log DB integrity": "ok",
        "log dir": "/home/d/.codex/log (dir)",
        "memories DB": "/home/d/.codex/memories_1.sqlite (file)",
        "memories DB integrity": "ok",
        "queue DB": "/home/d/.codex/queue_1.sqlite (file)",
        "queue DB integrity": "ok",
        "sqlite home": "/home/d/.codex (dir)",
        "state DB": "/home/d/.codex/state_5.sqlite (file)",
        "state DB integrity": "ok",
        "thread history DB": "/home/d/.codex/thread_history_1.sqlite (file)",
        "thread history DB integrity": "ok"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 743
    },
    "state.rollout_db_parity": {
      "id": "state.rollout_db_parity",
      "category": "threads",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "rollout files and state DB thread inventory agree",
      "details": {
        "default model provider": "openai",
        "rollout DB active files": "1013",
        "rollout DB active rows": "1013",
        "rollout DB archive mismatches": "0",
        "rollout DB archived files": "0",
        "rollout DB archived rows": "0",
        "rollout DB duplicate DB paths": "0",
        "rollout DB duplicate rollout thread ids": "0",
        "rollout DB malformed file names": "0",
        "rollout DB missing active rows": "0",
        "rollout DB missing archived rows": "0",
        "rollout DB model providers": "roe=949, newapi=56, openai=7, custom=1",
        "rollout DB rows": "1013",
        "rollout DB scan cap reached": "false",
        "rollout DB scan errors": "0",
        "rollout DB sources": "cli=525, subagent:thread_spawn=372, vscode=63, subagent:review=19, exec=18, subagent:other=16",
        "rollout DB stale rows": "0"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 844
    },
    "system.disk": {
      "id": "system.disk",
      "category": "disk",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "sufficient free disk space (904.4 GiB)",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME available": "904.4 GiB",
        "failure threshold": "1.0 GiB",
        "warning threshold": "5.0 GiB",
        "worktree available": "904.4 GiB"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "system.environment": {
      "id": "system.environment",
      "category": "system",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "OS language en-US",
      "details": {
        "EDITOR": "not set",
        "LANG": "en_US.UTF-8",
        "LESS": "set",
        "PAGER": "set",
        "VISUAL": "not set",
        "os": "Debian 13.0.0 [64-bit]",
        "os language": "en-US",
        "os type": "Debian",
        "os version": "13.0.0"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 1
    },
    "terminal.env": {
      "id": "terminal.env",
      "category": "terminal",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "terminal metadata was detected",
      "details": {
        "DISPLAY": "present",
        "WAYLAND_DISPLAY": "present",
        "WSL_DISTRO_NAME": "present",
        "WSL_INTEROP": "present",
        "WT_SESSION": "present",
        "color output": "enabled",
        "effective locale": "en_US.UTF-8",
        "stderr is terminal": "true",
        "stdin is terminal": "true",
        "stdout is terminal": "true",
        "terminal": "Windows Terminal",
        "terminal size": "210x50"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 1
    },
    "terminal.title": {
      "id": "terminal.title",
      "category": "title",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "terminal title default",
      "details": {
        "terminal title activity": "true",
        "terminal title items": "activity, project-name",
        "terminal title project source": "cwd",
        "terminal title project value": "d",
        "terminal title source": "default"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "updates.status": {
      "id": "updates.status",
      "category": "updates",
      "status": "warning",
      "summary": "update configuration is locally consistent",
      "details": {
        "cached latest version": "0.153.4",
        "check for update on startup": "true",
        "dismissed version": "0.124.0",
        "last checked at": "2026-09-09T01:28:53.358012907Z",
        "latest version probe": "curl: (28) Operation timed out after 5002 milliseconds with 0 bytes received",
        "npm update target": "/home/d/.asdf/installs/nodejs/24.14.1/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex",
        "update action": "npm install -g @openai/codex",
        "version cache": "/home/d/.codex/version.json"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 5124
    }
  }
}
What issue are you seeing?

Whenever I use GPT-6, I keep getting an "Invalid prompt" error stating that my prompt was flagged as potentially violating the usage policy (referencing https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/reasoning#advice-on-prompting), whereas GPT-5.6 works fine.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded thread: 01a083e7-2797-7e02-9ed4-babb95416f9c

What is the expected behavior?

I look forward to a normal response.

Additional information

No response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No source file or test is named in the report. Reproduce the failure with codex-cli 0.153.4, the gpt-6-astra low model, and the supplied WSL environment, then trace the CLI entry point that produces “Invalid prompt.” Done means valid prompts are accepted by that model or the failure is reported with an actionable cause.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
45/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.