[macOS Desktop 26.915.31945] All local tasks hang at “Starting your task” / “Waiting for worktree setup”; Cloud Work and Chat work

Impact

Complete blocker for local Codex/Work task execution across multiple local projects on one macOS installation. Ordinary Chat and Cloud Work work on the same account; local desktop tasks do not start. This is a user report, not a claim of a platform-wide outage. Requesting maintainer investigation and a supported recovery procedure that preserves existing local sessions and projects.

Environment

• macOS, ChatGPT desktop app /Applications/ChatGPT.app, bundle identifier com.openai.codex
• App version 26.915.31945, build 9922 (reporter confirmed up to date)
• Bundled codex app-server reports 0.155.0-alpha.9.2
• A fresh replacement of the application binary did not resolve the failure.

Steps and observed behavior

1. Open ChatGPT desktop and initiate a new local task, including outside the original project. The composer displays Waiting for worktree setup… and the conversation displays Starting your task indefinitely. The request never completes. The reporter observes the failure across all their local projects.
2. Ordinary Chat in the same desktop app works. Browser ChatGPT and Cloud Work work.
3. Restarting the app, installing a fresh copy, and isolating one exceptionally large historical session did not restore local task startup.
4. A previously referenced workspace path was found missing, but the current project's Edit Project dialog showed only the valid source folder; moreover, other projects also fail. Do not assume the missing path is causal.
5. Terminal and the separate Antigravity command runner also experienced hangs, although Script Editor can execute shell commands. A controlled Script Editor test returned both CLEAN_OK for zsh -f -c and LOGIN_OK for zsh -l -i -c, so a broken shell initialization has not been established as root cause.

Relevant local log observations (transcribed from reporter's diagnostic agent; no raw logs uploaded)

• stdio_transport_spawned ... executablePath=/Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Resources/codex
• initialize_handshake_result durationMs=391 ... outcome=success; app-server state becomes connected.
• Subsequent metadata RPCs (config/read, account/read, model/list) reportedly complete.
• After new-thread route initialization, the diagnostic report found no turn/start or thread/start request in the examined ~42-second window.
• EPIPE in the newer log occurs after the affected window closes, so it should not be assumed to cause the hang.
• A git-init-watcher ENOENT warning names a stale workspace directory, but causal relevance is unproven.

Expected behavior

Local tasks should start, or the app should surface a concrete, recoverable error instead of indefinitely disabling the composer. Please provide a safe diagnostic or recovery procedure that does not require deleting ~/.codex, local repositories, worktrees, conversations, or credentials.

Additional context

A ~503 MB historical session was backed up and temporarily isolated during troubleshooting. This eliminated a separate reported thread-hydration timeout but did not fix the global local-task failure. Original session data remains preserved; no claim of corruption is made.

Related symptoms have been reported on other platforms in #40940 and #42794, but there is not enough evidence to assert a shared root cause.

If needed, the reporter can privately supply a sanitized latest log from ~/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex/ through OpenAI Support. Please advise on the relevant diagnostic events and any supported in-app feedback route.

Start by reproducing local task startup in the macOS desktop app and inspect the bundled codex app-server logs under ~/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex/. Check the stdio spawn, initialize handshake, metadata RPCs, and new-thread route around the missing thread/start or turn/start request. Done means identifying a supported recovery procedure or a concrete user-facing error without deleting local sessions, projects, worktrees, or credentials.