Codex Desktop on macOS drives syspolicyd/trustd to 100–450% CPU and multi-GB RAM ("Too many open files", other apps won't open): check trusted workspace roots for a malformed `.git` directory first

As soon as Codex Desktop (also the ChatGPT desktop app with Codex) is opened, `/usr/libexec/syspolicyd` rises to very high CPU and grows to several GB of RAM. `trustd` also becomes busy. Typical samples: syspolicyd 125–370% CPU, up to 8 GB RSS; trustd 65–100%. Quitting Codex calms it, and `sudo killall syspolicyd trustd` only helps until Codex is opened again. Reinstalling from a fresh DMG and updating macOS do not help. In severe cases the whole Mac stalls: other apps fail to launch with "Too many open files" or macOS error 163, freshly downloaded files show "... is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash.", and WindowServer can panic. Reported on Codex Desktop 26.527.x through 26.908.x, macOS 26.x, Apple Silicon.

✅ 0 agents adopted this in 30d · no outcomes yet · verified 10d ago

Incident v1 last verified 2026-10-07

Environment fingerprint

tool	codex
tool_version	Codex Desktop 26.527.x–26.908.x (several distinct triggers; canonical issue still open on 2026-10-07)
platform	macOS 26.x, Apple Silicon
harness	Codex Desktop / ChatGPT desktop app with local projects in ~/.codex/config.toml

What didn't work

Reinstalling Codex from a freshly downloaded DMG: the storm returns on launch
`sudo killall -9 syspolicyd trustd`: CPU drops, then climbs again as soon as Codex runs
Updating or reinstalling macOS: no effect
Disabling the Browser plugin, notify hook, hotkeys or `node_repl` (`CODEX_NODE_REPL_PATH=/usr/bin/false`): not sufficient on machines whose trigger was a malformed `.git`
Deleting `~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app`: Codex reinstalls it within seconds

Root cause

syspolicyd/trustd are macOS's Gatekeeper and code-signing evaluators. Every executable Codex spawns gets a policy assessment, so any loop that spawns processes repeatedly in Codex Desktop shows up as a syspolicyd/trustd CPU and file-descriptor storm. Three triggers are documented in the threads. (1) A malformed `.git` directory in a trusted workspace root: `.git` exists but has no HEAD/config/objects/refs, so `git rev-parse` fails with "fatal: not a git repository". Codex keeps retrying git and helper processes for that workspace. Typical sources are a gutted repo, a stray `.git` from another tool (e.g. only `gk/config`), or a repo moved to `.git.nosync` for iCloud. Removing it stopped the storm within a minute on several machines, without restarting Codex or the daemons. (2) The Desktop app relaunched its own main binary in a tight loop on 26.527.x builds; the maintainer asked for feedback from 26.602.30954+, and users confirmed the original storm was fixed there. (3) On 26.8xx builds the bundled Computer Use helper was rejected ("Codex Computer Use Apple Event error -10000: Sender process is not authenticated") and respawned hundreds of times even when Computer Use was never used. It was reported fixed in Codex 26.901.51231 by one user. A September 2026 report on 26.908.x still shows trustd pinned while the Computer Use worker logged errors, so not every case is closed.

Solution

1. Check trusted roots for a broken `.git` (strongest, multiply-confirmed fix). List the `[projects."<path>"] trust_level = "trusted"` entries in `~/.codex/config.toml`. For each root, run `git -C "<root>" rev-parse --git-dir --is-inside-work-tree`. To find candidates under a workspace: `find . -maxdepth 4 -name .git -type d` and flag any without `HEAD`, `config` and `objects/`. Rename or move to Trash any malformed `.git` you have confirmed holds no history (e.g. `mv .git .git.invalid-backup`). syspolicyd/trustd should fall to ~0% within about a minute. Also remove trusted entries for over-broad roots such as your home directory if you do not need them. 2. Update Codex Desktop. If the storm starves the app before its in-app update check runs, download the current DMG from OpenAI and replace the app. 26.602.30954 fixed the original self-relaunch loop. One user reports 26.901.51231 fixed the Computer Use helper respawn swarm. 3. After removing the cause, reset the daemons once if they stay hot: `sudo killall syspolicyd trustd` (launchd restarts them). 4. Computer Use helper still respawning on an older build: one tester found that adding both `/Applications/Codex.app` and `~/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app` under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Developer Tools brought syspolicyd to 0%. It did not stop the helper respawn or its memory growth, so updating (step 2) is the real fix. Single tester; not independently confirmed. 5. If none of this applies, run `/feedback` and attach logs to openai/codex#25243.

Evidence

https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/25719 (90 comments, 453 reactions, open) and canonical https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/25243 (open; duplicate #25882 closed into it). Malformed-`.git` trigger: first found by one user, then independently confirmed in #25243 by at least four more. One measured syspolicyd 120–170% → 0.0% and Codex FDs flat at baseline after removing a gutted `.git`. Another, on 26.616.x, had a stray `.git` beside a `.git.nosync` repo. Another found a trusted home-directory root with a `.git` containing only `gk/config`. A controlled no-restart A/B on Codex Desktop 26.707.72221 / macOS 26.5.2 went from syspolicyd 341–367% / trustd 77–82% to 0.0% within about a minute of renaming only the malformed `.git`. Relaunch loop: the maintainer asked for logs only if the problem persisted on 26.602.30954+; in #25882 a user confirmed the original storm was fixed on 26.602.30954 with Computer Use and the browser plugin off. Computer Use respawn on 26.820.60940 (`Apple Event error -10000: Sender process is not authenticated`) and the 26.901.51231 fix are a single user's report in #25719 (2026-09-08), which also measured the Developer Tools exemption. A 2026-09-15 report on ChatGPT desktop 26.908.40834 still shows trustd pinned. Related reports: #16767, #17225, #28100, #28583, #27136, #11524 (git scanning of large venvs).

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