Repeated sign-in screen appears after completing a response or opening an existing session

[cudyln]

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

ChatGPT desktop 26.818.22352 (build 6872)

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.6.0 arm64 arm macOS 26.6.2 (build 25G83) Apple Silicon / arm64

What issue are you seeing?

After updating the ChatGPT desktop app to 26.818.22352 (build 6872), a repeated sign-in screen appears whenever an
assistant response completes or I open an existing conversation.

The issue occurs in either of these situations:

1. An assistant response finishes in the currently open conversation.
2. I select an existing conversation from the sidebar.

Immediately afterward, the desktop UI switches to a logged-out state and displays the sign-in screen.

Signing in succeeds, but it appears to create another login/device session. The app then loses authentication again
after completing a response or opening an existing conversation. This loop is consistently reproducible.

The same ChatGPT account continues to work through the web and mobile interfaces. Codex CLI authentication also
remains valid:

codex login status
Logged in using ChatGPT

Sanitized desktop log sequence:

desktop_fetch_auth_401 hadToken=true tokenSource=cached willRetry=true

Target request:

GET https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/accounts/:param/settings

Immediately afterward:

app_server_connection.auth_status_result authMethod=chatgpt hasToken=false nullReason=auth_token_missing refreshToken=true tokenExpiryState=missing

chatgpt-account-lookup authenticatedAccountPresent=false failureType=account_info_token_unavailable result=failed

desktop_fetch_auth_401 hadToken=false skipRetryReason=no_token_attached

Subsequent requests report:

Missing valid access token or actor biscuit
Unauthorized

The desktop logs also repeatedly contain:

Received turn/completed for unknown conversation

A new login temporarily restores authenticatedAccountPresent=true, but the same failure recurs.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install or update ChatGPT desktop to version 26.818.22352 (build 6872) on macOS.
2. Sign in with a ChatGPT account.
3. Open an existing Codex conversation from the sidebar, or start a conversation and submit any prompt.
4. Wait until the assistant response completes.
5. Observe that the desktop app switches to a logged-out state and displays the sign-in screen.
6. Sign in again using the same account.
7. Observe that another login/device session appears to be created.
8. Open an existing conversation or complete another response.
9. Observe that the app displays the sign-in screen again.

Reproduction rate: consistent during the affected session.

Signing out and signing back in, fully quitting and restarting the app, and signing in through the Codex CLI do not
resolve the desktop authentication loop.

What is the expected behavior?

The desktop app should remain authenticated after completing a response or opening an existing conversation.

If an authenticated request receives a 401 response, the application should refresh or recover the credential without
clearing the active authenticated state, repeatedly displaying the sign-in screen, creating duplicate login sessions,
or making existing conversations unusable.

A valid ChatGPT login that continues to work in Codex CLI and on web/mobile should also remain usable in the desktop
app.

Additional information

Observed around:

• 2026-08-21 06:14–06:21 KST
• 2026-08-20 21:14–21:21 UTC

Additional diagnostics:

• Only one ChatGPT/Codex application bundle is installed.
• Codex CLI authentication with the same ChatGPT account succeeds.
• The locally stored CLI credential was not expired at the time of reproduction.
• Local Codex state database and thread inventory checks completed successfully.
• The behavior started immediately after the desktop client update.
• Web and mobile access continue to work.
• Signing out and signing back in does not resolve the issue.
• Each repeated sign-in appears to create another login/device session.

The log sequence suggests that a cached token-bearing account-settings request receives a 401, after which the desktop
process reports auth_token_missing and does not successfully refresh or reattach a token.

Relevant diagnostic information, including the affected thread context and logs, has already been submitted through
the ChatGPT desktop app's in-app feedback feature.

Feedback thread ID:

01a02106-db17-74c3-8ec3-ae1542802c94

Please use this thread ID to access the previously submitted diagnostics. Additional sanitized logs can be provided if
required.

[github-actions]

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

• Codex Desktop login loop on macOS while CLI works; auth refresh drops token after 401 #39718
• [macOS] Codex Desktop loses authentication (401 / auth_token_missing) and exits during conversations, while CLI and VS Code work normally #39695
• Codex Desktop macOS: opening any session causes auth token loss and returns to Sign In after configuring Remote Connection #39684
• Windows Desktop app repeatedly logs out after sending one message when Advanced Account Security is enabled (401 Missing valid access token or actor biscuit) #39685
• macOS Codex app loses authentication after first prompt when Advanced Security and a passkey are enabled #39716

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[cudyln]

Update: the issue is no longer reproducing, but the sequence that resolved it suggests an account/onboarding-state interaction rather than corrupted local app data.

Before the issue disappeared, I performed a full clean reinstall and launched the app with none of the previous settings, conversations, databases, or caches restored. The affected account still reproduced the same sign-in loop in that completely fresh state. This makes restored local Codex data unlikely to be the direct cause.

The following sequence resolved the issue:

1. I had recently enabled TAC through https://chatgpt.com/cyber on the affected account.
2. In the desktop app, I switched to another sub-account/profile that did not have TAC enabled.
3. A tutorial/onboarding page appeared for that account, and I completed it.
4. I then switched back to the originally affected account.
5. After that, completing a response or opening an existing conversation no longer caused the desktop app to display the sign-in screen.

There was no additional reinstall, cache reset, or data restoration between steps 2 and 5.

This is only a correlation, not a confirmed root cause, but it suggests that the problem may involve a mismatch between TAC entitlement activation, an incomplete or undisplayed onboarding state, and desktop account-state synchronization. Completing the tutorial through the non-TAC account may have initialized shared desktop state or triggered a server-side account-state update.

It may also be related to why the account-settings request returning 401 caused the desktop authentication state to transition to auth_token_missing, even though the same account remained authenticated and usable through web, mobile, and Codex CLI.

It would be helpful to investigate:

• Whether enabling TAC creates an onboarding or entitlement transition that must be completed.
• Why the required tutorial was not displayed for the affected TAC-enabled account.
• Whether completing onboarding for one account updates shared desktop or server-side state used by other accounts.
• Why a 401 from the account-settings endpoint results in token detachment and a repeated sign-in loop instead of credential recovery.

The original logs and affected session context were submitted through in-app feedback:

01a02106-db17-74c3-8ec3-ae1542802c94

Current status: resolved through the workaround above on this device, but the underlying product issue and root cause are not confirmed.

Related Issue: #39162

[wjmtai453]

I can reproduce the exact same issue on Windows.

The failure sequence is also identical:
desktop_fetch_auth_401 hadToken=true
GET /backend-api/accounts/:param/settings
→ auth_token_missing
→ Unauthorized

Codex CLI remains authenticated and works normally.
Reinstalling the desktop app and updating to the latest available version did not resolve it.

[TheWhiteWarlock]

100% what is happening to me, as I use Daybreak and am being forced to set up passkeys, I did so yesterday, and I am now in a login loop. As soon as I start a new chat or read an old one, I get logged out. It is fine in the classic app (not good for Codex) , mobile and browser. Also fine if I use Codex on a different machine. As per usual, OpenAI support has been useless.

This is what i sent to Support:

Codex Desktop on Windows signs me out whenever I create a new conversation. The issue began after moving my OpenAI account to passkey authentication.

All active OpenAI sessions have been revoked and Advanced Account Security has been disabled for troubleshooting.

Codex application state has been fully reset, including the Electron profile and MSIX local state. Native Codex authentication state was also reset by removing and regenerating ~/.codex/auth.json and cap_sid.

A fresh auth.json is successfully generated after login, confirming that authentication itself completes successfully.

Creating a new Codex conversation immediately causes the client to lose authentication again.

Codex logs show repeated requests to /backend-api/wham/tasks/list failing with HTTP 401 and specifically:

desktop_fetch_auth_401 hadToken=false

skipRetryReason=no_token_attached

tokenSource=cached

willRetry=false

followed by:

errorMessage={“detail”:“Unauthorized”}

There are no CODEX_ACCESS_TOKEN or OPENAI_API_KEY environment variables configured.

This appears consistent with the existing Codex Desktop authentication bridge issue where valid ChatGPT authentication exists on disk but the desktop client fails to attach the access token to ChatGPT backend requests.

Affected Codex package: OpenAI.Codex_26.818.2441.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0

Windows platform, x64.

[sparkyrider]

Same issue. Daybreak Red + TAC = Login screen loop/cli works just fine

[TheWhiteWarlock]

Installed the Beta app and it works.

[dawind777]

Additional reproduction detail from another affected macOS user:

• Codex/ChatGPT Desktop stays authenticated as long as no Codex conversation is opened in the desktop UI.
• ChatGPT mobile Remote Control can continue to control the same Mac/Codex session normally during this time.
• The forced logout is triggered specifically when an existing Codex conversation is opened/resumed in the desktop UI.
• This suggests the underlying Codex app-server/session and Remote Control path remain healthy, while a desktop-only request during thread resume/rendering triggers the auth collapse.
• The same ChatGPT account works normally on another Mac at work, while the home Mac consistently reproduces the issue even after updating to the latest available Desktop build.

This appears consistent with the observed sequence in related reports: thread resume succeeds first, then a desktop account/settings request returns 401, followed by auth_token_missing and forced sign-out.

A useful A/B control here is: leave Desktop open but do not open any thread -> Remote Control remains usable; open a thread in Desktop -> logout occurs.