[macOS] Fix for the SkyComputerUseService spawn storm (hundreds of processes, 10+ GB RAM, blank screen, kernel panic) on Codex 26.820

[celesticlabs]

Update (2026-09-09): OpenAI fixed this in Codex 26.901.51231. Installed it from the official DMG (https://persistent.oaistatic.com/codex-app-prod/Codex.dmg) on the same machine: 1 helper process, 0 not authenticated errors, Computer Use working. If you are stuck on 26.8xx it is probably because the swarm starves the app before its own update check (~54 min after launch) runs, so it never updates itself. Download the DMG and replace the app, or codex-guard update does it with a signature check and a backup. The lock below is now only the fallback for people who cannot update.

If Codex for Mac is making your machine lag, your screen go blank, or your MacBook kernel-panic, run this first:

pgrep -f SkyComputerUseService | wc -l

If that number is in the hundreds, it is not your hardware. Codex 26.820 launches its Computer Use helper at startup, the helper (26.819, on an alpha update channel that now returns 403) rejects the app with Apple Event error -10000: Sender process is not authenticated, and Codex respawns it about 8 times per second for two minutes. Every copy stays alive. On my M5 / 16 GB: 978 processes, 5 GB swap, WindowServer watchdog kills, then panic: userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from WindowServer.

There are ~156 open issues on this (#38841, #38760, #40153, #25744, #38455, #25719 …). This post is the tested workaround, because none of the obvious ones hold:

tried	result
plugins."computer-use@openai-bundled".enabled = false	swarm
[mcp_servers.computer-use] enabled = false	swarm
removing the notify hook / remote_control_enabled = false	swarm
computer-use-bundled-plugin-auto-install-disabled = true (global state)	swarm
clearing the IPC socket lock in the group container	swarm
deleting the helper bundle	Codex reinstalls it in seconds, then swarm
Developer Tools exemption for Codex.app + helper (thanks @nmggithub)	syspolicyd → 0%, still swarm (568 helpers / 29.5 GB in 2 min)
chmod 000 + chflags uchg on the helper binary	0 helpers, Codex idle at ~2% CPU

Manual version:

B="$HOME/.codex/computer-use/Codex Computer Use.app/Contents/MacOS/SkyComputerUseService"
pkill -9 -f SkyComputerUseService
chmod 000 "$B" && chflags uchg "$B"

Because Codex replaces the bundle on every update, I wrapped it in a 160-line script with a 60-second relock LaunchAgent and diagnose / install / status / unlock: https://github.com/celesticlabs/codex-guard (MIT, no sudo, no network). Computer Use is off while locked; unlock restores it in one command once OpenAI ships a helper that accepts the app.

If you find something that keeps Computer Use working and stops the spawns, please reply here and I will test it and update the README with credit.