Codex Desktop Suffers Severe Process Leaks on Windows
andrewaltair · reddit · 2026-07-15
The author discovered a severe process leak while using Codex Desktop on Windows. After running for an extended period, CPU usage spiked to 100%, available memory dropped to 2.3GB out of 32GB, and associated child processes ballooned to 642. This included numerous duplicate instances of Python, Node, OpenBB MCP, FFmpeg MCP, Video Research MCP, and Node REPL.
After manually terminating these duplicate helper processes, CPU usage immediately dropped to 11%, available memory rebounded to 17.9GB, and the child process count decreased significantly. The issue appears to be that Codex continuously spawns new MCP/tool servers when loading tasks or tools, but fails to properly clean up old processes. Restarting provides temporary relief, but the processes eventually accumulate again.
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