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Windows: codex doctor cannot inspect npm global root because it spawns npm instead of npm.cmd #22964

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#22967
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Windows: codex doctor cannot inspect npm global root because it spawns npm instead of npm.cmd#22964
#22967
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CLIIssues related to the Codex CLIbugSomething isn't workingwindows-osIssues related to Codex on Windows systems

Description

@pironjulien
pironjulien
opened on May 16, 2026

What happened?

On Windows, codex doctor reports that it cannot inspect the npm global root for an npm-managed Codex install:

[!!] install      npm-managed launch could not inspect npm global root
[!!] updates      npm update target could not be inspected

The redacted JSON details show the shared root cause:

npm root -g failed: program not found

But npm is available through the normal Windows npm shim:

> npm.cmd root -g
%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules

So the warning appears to be a false positive in the doctor/update-target diagnostics rather than a broken npm install.

Environment

OS: Windows x86_64
Codex CLI before update: 0.131.0-alpha.9
Codex CLI after update: 0.131.0-alpha.22
Install context: npm
Repo inspected at: openai/codex commit 326e31a

codex doctor --summary --ascii --no-color after updating to 0.131.0-alpha.22:

11 ok | 1 idle | 3 notes | 2 warn | 0 fail degraded

The warnings are both tied to npm global-root inspection.

Reproduction

On Windows with an npm-managed Codex CLI install:

npm install -g @openai/codex@alpha
codex --version
codex doctor --summary --ascii --no-color
codex doctor --json --ascii --no-color
npm.cmd root -g

Expected:

codex doctor should resolve the npm global root and compare it with CODEX_MANAGED_PACKAGE_ROOT.

Actual:

codex doctor reports npm root -g failed: program not found, while npm.cmd root -g succeeds.

Root-cause hypothesis

codex-rs/cli/src/doctor.rs currently calls:

run_command("npm", ["root", "-g"])

On Windows, npm is commonly resolved as npm.cmd. A direct process spawn can fail to resolve the bare npm command even when npm.cmd is present on PATH.

Proposed fix

Use a platform-specific npm command for the doctor npm-root probe:

#[cfg(windows)]
const NPM_COMMAND: &str = "npm.cmd";
#[cfg(not(windows))]
const NPM_COMMAND: &str = "npm";

Then call:

run_command(NPM_COMMAND, ["root", "-g"])

I validated this as a local patch in codex-rs/cli/src/doctor.rs, with platform regression tests:

#[test]
#[cfg(windows)]
fn npm_command_uses_windows_cmd_shim() {
    assert_eq!(NPM_COMMAND, "npm.cmd");
}

#[test]
#[cfg(not(windows))]
fn npm_command_uses_plain_binary_name() {
    assert_eq!(NPM_COMMAND, "npm");
}

Local verification

The patched local clone passed:

cargo test -p codex-cli npm_command -- --nocapture
cargo test -p codex-cli compare_npm_package_roots
cargo test -p codex-cli
cargo clippy --fix --tests --allow-dirty -p codex-cli

cargo test -p codex-cli result included:

11 passed
143 passed
all listed integration tests passed

I am not opening a PR because docs/contributing.md says unsolicited code contributions are currently closed, but this should be a small targeted fix if the maintainers agree with the diagnosis.

Activity

  1. github-actions
    added
    bugSomething isn't working
    CLIIssues related to the Codex CLI
    windows-osIssues related to Codex on Windows systems
    on May 16, 2026

  2. pironjulien commented on May 16, 2026

    @pironjulien
    pironjulien
    on May 16, 2026
    Author

    For convenience, here is the exact local diff I validated:

    diff --git a/codex-rs/cli/src/doctor.rs b/codex-rs/cli/src/doctor.rs
index a3742ba..8ff01b0 100644
--- a/codex-rs/cli/src/doctor.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/cli/src/doctor.rs
@@ -105,6 +105,10 @@ const COLOR_ENV_VARS: &[&str] = &[
 const TERMINAL_DIMENSION_ENV_VARS: &[&str] = &["COLUMNS", "LINES"];
 const TERMINFO_ENV_VARS: &[&str] = &["TERMINFO", "TERMINFO_DIRS"];
 const LOCALE_ENV_VARS: &[&str] = &["LC_ALL", "LC_CTYPE", "LANG"];
+#[cfg(windows)]
+const NPM_COMMAND: &str = "npm.cmd";
+#[cfg(not(windows))]
+const NPM_COMMAND: &str = "npm";
 const REMOTE_TERMINAL_ENV_VARS: &[&str] = &[
     "SSH_TTY",
     "SSH_CONNECTION",
@@ -884,7 +888,7 @@ fn npm_global_root_check() -> NpmRootCheck {
         return NpmRootCheck::MissingPackageRoot;
     };
 
-    let output = match run_command("npm", ["root", "-g"]) {
+    let output = match run_command(NPM_COMMAND, ["root", "-g"]) {
         Ok(output) => output,
         Err(err) => return NpmRootCheck::NpmUnavailable(err),
     };
@@ -2982,6 +2986,18 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    fn npm_command_uses_windows_cmd_shim() {
+        assert_eq!(NPM_COMMAND, "npm.cmd");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[cfg(not(windows))]
+    fn npm_command_uses_plain_binary_name() {
+        assert_eq!(NPM_COMMAND, "npm");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn config_overrides_from_interactive_preserves_global_options() {
         let interactive = TuiCli::parse_from([
  3. etraut-openai
    closed this as completedin #22967on May 16, 2026
  4. etraut-openai
    added a commit that references this issue on May 16, 2026

    Fix Windows doctor npm root probe (#22967)

    de9c5c0
  5. wangjiecloud
    added a commit that references this issue on Jun 27, 2026

    Fix Windows doctor npm root probe (openai#22967)

    e355107
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