## Related issues:
- https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/3939
- https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/2292
- https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/7528 (After correction
https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/3990)
**Area:** `codex-cli` (image handling / clipboard & file uploads)
**Platforms affected:** WSL (Ubuntu on Windows 10/11). No behavior
change on native Linux/macOS/Windows.
## Summary
This PR fixes image pasting and file uploads when running `codex-cli`
inside WSL. Previously, image operations failed silently or with
permission errors because paths weren't properly mapped between Windows
and WSL filesystems.
## Visual Result
<img width="1118" height="798" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/14e10bc4-6b71-4d1f-b2a6-52c0a67dd069"
/>
## Last Rust-Cli
<img width="1175" height="859" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7ef41e29-9118-42c9-903c-7116d21e1751"
/>
## Root cause
The CLI assumed native Linux/Windows environments and didn't handle the
WSL↔Windows boundary:
- Used Linux paths for files that lived on the Windows host
- Missing path normalization between Windows (`C:\...`) and WSL
(`/mnt/c/...`)
- Clipboard access failed under WSL
### Why `Ctrl+V` doesn't work in WSL terminals
Most WSL terminal emulators (Windows Terminal, ConEmu, etc.) intercept
`Ctrl+V` at the terminal level to paste text from the Windows clipboard.
This keypress never reaches the CLI application itself, so our clipboard
image handler never gets triggered. Users need `Ctrl+Alt+V`.
## Changes
### WSL detection & path mapping
- Detects WSL by checking `/proc/sys/kernel/osrelease` and the
`WSL_INTEROP` env var
- Maps Windows drive paths to WSL mount paths (`C:\...` → `/mnt/c/...`)
### Clipboard fallback for WSL
- When clipboard access fails under WSL, falls back to PowerShell to
extract images from the Windows clipboard
- Saves to a temp file and maps the path back to WSL
### UI improvements
- Shows `Ctrl+Alt+V` hint on WSL (many terminals intercept plain
`Ctrl+V`)
- Better error messages for unreadable images
## Performance
- Negligible overhead. The fallback adds a single FS copy to a temp file
only when needed.
- Direct streaming remains the default.
## Files changed
- `protocol/src/lib.rs` – Added platform detection module
- `protocol/src/models.rs` – Added WSL path mapping for local images
- `protocol/src/platform.rs` – New module with WSL detection utilities
- `tui/src/bottom_pane/chat_composer.rs` – Added base64 data URL support
and WSL path mapping
- `tui/src/bottom_pane/footer.rs` – WSL-aware keyboard shortcuts
- `tui/src/clipboard_paste.rs` – PowerShell clipboard fallback
## How to reproduce the original bug (pre-fix)
1. Run `codex-cli` inside WSL2 on Windows.
2. Paste an image from the Windows clipboard or drag an image from
`C:\...` into the terminal.
3. Observe that the image is not attached (silent failure) or an error
is logged; no artifact reaches the tool.
## How to verify the fix
1. Build this branch and run `codex-cli` inside WSL2.
2. Paste from clipboard and drag from both Windows and WSL paths.
3. Confirm that the image appears in the tool and the CLI shows a single
concise info line (no warning unless fallback was used).
I’m happy to adjust paths, naming, or split helpers into a separate
module if you prefer.
## How to try this branch
If you want to try this before it’s merged, you can use my Git branch:
Repository: https://github.com/Waxime64/codex.git
Branch: `wsl-image-2`
1. Start WSL on your Windows machine.
2. Clone the repository and switch to the branch:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/Waxime64/codex.git
cd codex
git checkout wsl-image-2
# then go into the Rust workspace root, e.g.:
cd codex-rs
3. Build the TUI binary:
cargo build -p codex-tui --bin codex-tui --release
4. Install the binary:
sudo install -m 0755 target/release/codex-tui /usr/local/bin/codex
5. From the project directory where you want to use Codex, start it
with:
cd /path/to/your/project
/usr/local/bin/codex
On WSL, use CTRL+ALT+V to paste an image from the Windows clipboard into
the chat.
This PR fixes keyboard handling for the Right Alt (aka "Alt-Gr") key on
Windows. This key appears on keyboards in Central and Eastern Europe.
Codex has effectively never worked for Windows users in these regions
because the code didn't properly handle this key, which is used for
typing common symbols like `\` and `@`.
A few days ago, I merged a [community-authored
PR](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/6720) that supplied a partial
fix for this issue. Upon closer inspect, that PR was 1) too broad (not
scoped to Windows only) and 2) incomplete (didn't fix all relevant code
paths, so paste was still broken).
This improvement is based on another [community-provided
PR](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/3241) by @marektomas-cz. He
submitted it back in September and later closed it because it didn't
receive any attention.
This fix addresses the following bugs: #5922, #3046, #3092, #3519,
#5684, #5843.
This fixes an issue where messages sent during the final response stream
would seem to disappear, because the "queued messages" UI wasn't shown
during streaming.
#### Summary
- render the edit queued message shortcut with the ⌥ modifier on macOS
builds
- add a helper for status indicator snapshot suffixes
- record macOS-specific snapshots for the status indicator widget
