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Reviewed July 18, 2026

Codex skin not working: troubleshooting guide

Fix the common failure modes in a safe order without making unrelated configuration changes.

01

Restore and establish a clean baseline

Return to stock Codex and launch it normally. If the official app itself fails, the problem is not a theme problem.

02

Check version and source

Compare your installed engine with the current upstream instructions. Interface selectors and packaged app behavior can change after updates.

03

Verify the whole interface

A banner alone is not success. Test sidebar navigation, menus, composer input, task scrolling, Diff colors, focus, and window resize.

04

Fix readability in the recipe

Increase panel opacity or dimming before changing runtime code. Busy backgrounds and low contrast are theme design failures, not injector failures.

05

Stop on scope mismatch

Do not accept a fix that changes an API key, provider, proxy, account, or app bundle. Capture the exact error and report an upstream issue from the clean state.

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