VS Code Codex infinite spinner fix: reset corrupted webview state

README.md

Fix VS Code Codex infinite spinner when the CLI still works

Symptom

Codex works from the terminal:

codex

But the VS Code Codex panel stays on an infinite spinner and the chat never appears. The backend, the CLI, and auth can all be fine, and reinstalling the extension changes nothing.

Confirmed root cause

Corrupted VS Code webview state in:

~/.config/Code/Local Storage
~/.config/Code/Session Storage

The webview service worker serves a truncated JavaScript bundle for the Codex panel. The bundle on disk is valid, but the webview receives a broken copy and fails with:

Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input

The frontend never mounts, so the panel stays on the spinner. This belongs to a recurring family of VS Code webview cache/state problems that VS Code does not clean up on its own.

Key diagnostic step

Run VS Code with a clean user profile:

code --user-data-dir=/tmp/vscode-clean

If Codex works there, the cause is local VS Code profile state, not the CLI, account, network, or extension binary.

Quick fix

Close VS Code completely, then run:

mv ~/.config/Code/"Local Storage"   ~/.config/Code/"Local Storage.bak.$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)"
mv ~/.config/Code/"Session Storage" ~/.config/Code/"Session Storage.bak.$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)"

Reopen VS Code. The folders regenerate on start.

Script

codex_fix.sh from this gist does the same cleanup with safety checks and a rollback path:

• checks that VS Code is closed;
• verifies the installed openai.chatgpt extension;
• checks the Codex webview JavaScript assets;
• removes regenerable webview caches;
• moves Local Storage and Session Storage to .bak;
• offers a check mode after reopening VS Code.

Run:

bash ~/codex_fix.sh

After reopening VS Code:

bash ~/codex_fix.sh check

What did not fix it

None of these was the root cause:

• reinstalling the Codex extension;
• clearing the ordinary VS Code cache alone;
• checking VPN/network;
• checking the auth token;
• removing ~/.codex/.tmp;
• a plugin manifest warning in the logs;
• rebooting the machine;
• downgrading the extension.

The decisive test was the clean VS Code profile.

---

Copyright 2026 Sergey Blekher. Shared as-is; use and adapt freely.

codex_fix.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# =====================================================================
# codex_fix.sh
#
# Diagnose and reset the VS Code webview state used by the Codex panel
# from the openai.chatgpt extension.
#
# Symptom:
#   Codex works in the terminal, but the VS Code Codex panel stays on an
#   infinite spinner and the chat UI never appears.
#
# Confirmed root cause, 2026-07-04:
#   Corrupted VS Code webview state in:
#
#     ~/.config/Code/Local Storage
#     ~/.config/Code/Session Storage
#
#   The VS Code webview service worker served a truncated JavaScript bundle
#   for the Codex panel. The file on disk was valid, but the webview received
#   a broken version and failed with:
#
#     Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input
#
#   Result: the Codex frontend did not mount, so the panel stayed on the
#   spinner.
#
# Important diagnostic:
#   Run VS Code with a clean profile:
#
#     code --user-data-dir=/tmp/vscode-clean
#
#   If Codex works there, the problem is not the Codex CLI, account, auth,
#   network, extension binary, or model list. It is local VS Code profile
#   state.
#
# What this script does:
#   - checks that VS Code is closed;
#   - finds the openai.chatgpt extension;
#   - checks webview JavaScript assets;
#   - deletes regenerable webview cache directories;
#   - moves Local Storage and Session Storage to .bak;
#   - provides a check mode after reopening VS Code.
#
# Usage:
#   1. Close VS Code completely.
#   2. Run:
#
#        bash ~/codex_fix.sh
#
#   3. Open VS Code and open the Codex panel.
#   4. Run:
#
#        bash ~/codex_fix.sh check
#
# Notes:
#   - Cache directories are deleted because VS Code regenerates them.
#   - State directories are moved to .bak so rollback is possible.
# =====================================================================

set -uo pipefail

CFG="$HOME/.config/Code"
EXT="$(ls -dt "$HOME"/.vscode/extensions/openai.chatgpt-* 2>/dev/null | head -1)"

# Regenerable cache directories. These are removed.
CACHE_DIRS=(
  "Service Worker"
  "CachedData"
  "Code Cache"
  "GPUCache"
  "WebStorage"
)

# Webview state directories. These are moved to .bak.
STATE_DIRS=(
  "Local Storage"
  "Session Storage"
)

# Asset name fragment from the observed webview console error.
ASSET_HINT="thread-side-panel-tabs"

print_section() {
  printf '\n== %s ==\n' "$1"
}

info() {
  printf 'INFO: %s\n' "$1"
}

ok() {
  printf 'OK: %s\n' "$1"
}

warn() {
  printf 'WARN: %s\n' "$1"
}

error() {
  printf 'ERROR: %s\n' "$1"
}

newest_codex_log() {
  local log_root
  log_root="$(ls -dt "$CFG"/logs/*/ 2>/dev/null | head -1)"
  echo "${log_root}window1/exthost/openai.chatgpt/Codex.log"
}

check_mode() {
  print_section "CHECK: state after restarting VS Code"

  if pgrep -x code >/dev/null; then
    ok "VS Code is running. This is expected in check mode."
  else
    warn "VS Code is not running. Open VS Code and the Codex panel, then run check again."
  fi

  print_section "Latest Codex extension log"
  local log_file
  log_file="$(newest_codex_log)"

  if [[ -f "$log_file" ]]; then
    info "Log file: $log_file"
    echo "-----"
    tail -25 "$log_file" | sed 's/^/  /'
    echo "-----"

    if grep -q "Initialize received" "$log_file"; then
      ok "The app-server initialized."
    else
      warn "No initialization marker found in the latest log."
    fi
  else
    error "Codex.log was not found. The extension may not have activated."
  fi

  print_section "App-server process"
  if pgrep -af "openai.chatgpt.*app-server" >/dev/null; then
    ok "App-server process found:"
    pgrep -af "openai.chatgpt.*app-server" | sed 's/^/  /'
  else
    warn "No app-server process found."
  fi

  print_section "Webview cache directories"
  for dir_name in "${CACHE_DIRS[@]}"; do
    if [[ -e "$CFG/$dir_name" ]]; then
      du -sh "$CFG/$dir_name" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^/  /'
    else
      echo "  missing: $dir_name"
    fi
  done

  print_section "Result interpretation"
  echo "Logs only show the backend side. The backend may be healthy while the"
  echo "webview frontend is still broken."
  echo
  echo "To verify the actual panel:"
  echo "  1. Open the Codex panel."
  echo "  2. Run: Ctrl+Shift+P"
  echo "  3. Select: Developer: Open Webview Developer Tools"
  echo "  4. Open the Console tab."
  echo
  echo "Look for:"
  echo "  ${ASSET_HINT}-*.js  Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input"
  echo
  echo "If the error is gone and the chat is visible, the fix worked."
  echo "If the error remains, try installing another extension version:"
  echo "  Extensions -> Codex/OpenAI ChatGPT -> Gear -> Install Another Version"
  echo
  echo "Then consider disabling extension auto-update:"
  echo '  "extensions.autoUpdate": false'
}

main_mode() {
  print_section "1. Is VS Code closed?"

  if pgrep -x code >/dev/null; then
    error "VS Code is still running. PIDs: $(pgrep -x code | tr '\n' ' ')"
    echo "Cleaning webview state while VS Code is running is unreliable."
    echo "Close VS Code completely and run this script again."
    read -rp "Continue anyway? [y/N] " answer
    case "${answer:-}" in
      y|Y|yes|YES)
        warn "Continuing while VS Code appears to be running."
        ;;
      *)
        echo "Aborted."
        exit 1
        ;;
    esac
  else
    ok "VS Code is closed."
  fi

  print_section "2. Codex extension on disk"

  if [[ -z "$EXT" ]]; then
    error "openai.chatgpt extension was not found in ~/.vscode/extensions"
  else
    ok "Extension directory: $EXT"

    if [[ -f "$EXT/package.json" ]]; then
      local version_line
      version_line="$(grep -m1 '"version"' "$EXT/package.json" | tr -d ' ",')"
      info "$version_line"
    else
      warn "package.json was not found in the extension directory."
    fi
  fi

  print_section "3. Webview JavaScript asset check"

  if [[ -n "$EXT" && -d "$EXT/webview/assets" ]]; then
    local suspicious
    local total
    suspicious=0
    total=0

    for file_path in "$EXT"/webview/assets/*.js; do
      [[ -e "$file_path" ]] || continue
      total=$((total + 1))

      local tail_text
      tail_text="$(tail -c 40 "$file_path" | tr -d '\n')"

      # A healthy bundle usually ends with a JavaScript terminator or
      # sourceMappingURL. This is only a weak heuristic.
      if ! printf '%s' "$tail_text" | grep -qE '[};)]|sourceMappingURL'; then
        warn "Suspicious ending: $(basename "$file_path") ($(stat -c%s "$file_path") bytes)"
        echo "  tail: ${tail_text: -20}"
        suspicious=$((suspicious + 1))
      fi
    done

    info "Checked JS files: $total"
    info "Suspicious JS files: $suspicious"

    for file_path in "$EXT"/webview/assets/${ASSET_HINT}-*.js; do
      [[ -e "$file_path" ]] || continue

      local size
      local parse_status
      size="$(stat -c%s "$file_path")"

      if command -v node >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        if node --input-type=module --check < "$file_path" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
          parse_status="parse OK"
        else
          parse_status="PARSE FAIL"
        fi
      else
        parse_status="node not found, parse check skipped"
      fi

      info "$(basename "$file_path"): ${size} bytes, ${parse_status}"
    done
  else
    warn "Webview assets directory not found."
  fi

  print_section "4. Webview layers before cleanup"

  for dir_name in "${CACHE_DIRS[@]}" "${STATE_DIRS[@]}"; do
    if [[ -e "$CFG/$dir_name" ]]; then
      du -sh "$CFG/$dir_name" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^/  /'
    else
      echo "  missing: $dir_name"
    fi
  done

  print_section "5a. Deleting regenerable cache directories"

  for dir_name in "${CACHE_DIRS[@]}"; do
    if [[ -e "$CFG/$dir_name" ]]; then
      if rm -rf "$CFG/$dir_name"; then
        ok "Deleted: $dir_name"
      else
        error "Failed to delete: $dir_name"
      fi
    else
      info "Already missing: $dir_name"
    fi
  done

  print_section "5b. Moving webview state directories to .bak"

  for dir_name in "${STATE_DIRS[@]}"; do
    if [[ -e "$CFG/$dir_name" ]]; then
      rm -rf "$CFG/$dir_name.bak" 2>/dev/null

      if mv "$CFG/$dir_name" "$CFG/$dir_name.bak"; then
        ok "Moved to .bak: $dir_name"
      else
        error "Failed to move: $dir_name"
      fi
    else
      info "Already missing: $dir_name"
    fi
  done

  print_section "6. Webview layers after cleanup"

  local clean
  clean=1

  for dir_name in "${CACHE_DIRS[@]}" "${STATE_DIRS[@]}"; do
    if [[ -e "$CFG/$dir_name" ]]; then
      error "Still exists: $dir_name"
      clean=0
    else
      ok "Missing as expected: $dir_name"
    fi
  done

  print_section "DONE"

  if [[ "$clean" -eq 1 ]]; then
    ok "All target layers were cleaned."
  else
    warn "Some target layers still exist. VS Code may have kept files open."
  fi

  echo
  echo "Next steps:"
  echo "  1. Open VS Code."
  echo "  2. Open the Codex panel and wait 10 to 15 seconds."
  echo "  3. Run:"
  echo
  echo "       bash ~/codex_fix.sh check"
  echo
  echo "If the panel works, you may remove backups:"
  echo
  echo "       rm -rf ~/.config/Code/*.bak"
  echo
  echo "If the cleanup made things worse, restore state directories:"

  for dir_name in "${STATE_DIRS[@]}"; do
    echo "       rm -rf ~/.config/Code/\"$dir_name\" && mv ~/.config/Code/\"$dir_name.bak\" ~/.config/Code/\"$dir_name\""
  done
}

case "${1:-}" in
  check)
    check_mode
    ;;
  "")
    main_mode
    ;;
  *)
    error "Unknown argument: $1"
    echo "Usage:"
    echo "  bash ~/codex_fix.sh"
    echo "  bash ~/codex_fix.sh check"
    exit 2
    ;;
esac