Codex Record & Replay Not Enabled for This User? Here's the Real Fix (2026)

The Error That Makes No Sense at First Glance

You open Codex on your Mac, you go to Plugins, you see Record & Replay sitting right there in the list, enabled and ready to go. You click it. You start recording. And then, instead of the little recording indicator you expected, you get this:

Computer Use server error -10005: Record & Replay is not enabled for this user.

No recording session starts. No session.json, no events.jsonl, nothing. Just that one line, sitting there, contradicting the plugin that's clearly visible and installed on your screen. If you've landed here after Googling that exact sentence, I can tell you right now you're not missing a setting, and you didn't break anything. This one genuinely confused me the first time I hit it too, because every visible signal on your machine says the feature should work.

Record & Replay shipped in Codex app version 26.616 on June 18, 2026. It's the feature that lets you demonstrate a workflow once on macOS filing an expense, configuring a recurring report, whatever repetitive thing you do and have Codex turn it into a reusable skill. It's a genuinely useful addition. It's also, as of this writing, still rolling out in stages, and that staged rollout is exactly why you're seeing this error.

• What error -10005 actually means (and why it's a server-side issue, not something on your machine)

• The five things to check before you assume it's a bug

• How requirements.toml and managed Computer Use policies can silently block this even when nothing local looks wrong

• Why your region matters more than your subscription tier

• What to do if everything checks out and it still won't enable

What Error -10005 Actually Means

Let's get the confusing part out of the way first. Record & Replay is built on top of Codex's Computer Use system, and Computer Use talks to a server-side permissions layer before it lets any recording start. The plugin showing up in your local Codex app only confirms that the client knows the feature exists. It does not confirm that your specific account has been entitled to use it yet.

That's the core of it: -10005 is an entitlement check failing on OpenAI's servers, not a local configuration problem. Your Codex installation is fine. The plugin UI rendering is fine. What's failing is a feature-flag lookup that happens the moment you hit record, and right now, for a meaningful number of accounts, that lookup is coming back negative even when every other condition is met.

I've seen this come up in the open GitHub issue tracker for Codex more than once, and the pattern is consistent a Plus or Pro subscriber, on a fully updated macOS install, outside any excluded region, with Computer Use already enabled and working for browser tasks, still gets blocked specifically on Record & Replay. Same machine, same account, one feature works and the other doesn't. That's a strong signal it's a rollout gating issue rather than something you did.

Before You Assume It's a Bug — Check These Five Things

Around 80% of "not enabled" reports actually trace back to one of these five conditions. Go through them in order it takes about two minutes and rules out everything that's actually within your control.

1. Computer Use itself needs to be enabled first

Record & Replay is not a standalone feature. It sits on top of Computer Use, and if Computer Use isn't available or enabled for your account, Record & Replay can't function regardless of what the plugin list shows. Open Codex, go to Settings, and confirm Computer Use shows as active not just listed, actually toggled on.

2. You're running on macOS, not Windows or Linux

At launch, Record & Replay is macOS-only. Computer Use itself is also available on Windows in some regions, but Record & Replay specifically has not shipped there yet. If you're on Windows and seeing this error, that's expected behavior right now, not a bug to troubleshoot.

3. Your region isn't excluded

Initial availability excludes the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. This is worth calling out specifically because Computer Use itself became available in those regions on June 16, 2026 two days before Record & Replay shipped so it's easy to assume the exclusion lifted along with it. It didn't. If your Apple ID region or billing region falls in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, error -10005 is the documented, expected response, not a glitch.

4. Your subscription tier actually includes it

Record & Replay is available to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu subscribers. If you're on a free tier or an older plan that hasn't been migrated, the feature genuinely isn't part of your entitlement yet. Check your plan under ChatGPT settings, not just the Codex app the entitlement is tied to your ChatGPT subscription, not a separate Codex license.

5. Your organization hasn't disabled Computer Use via policy

If you're on a Business, Enterprise, or Edu workspace, an admin may have explicitly turned this off and the effect on your end looks identical to a rollout issue. This is the one most people skip, so it gets its own section below because it's worth understanding properly.

The requirements.toml Trap — When Your Admin Disabled It Without Telling You

Here's the part that catches managed-workspace users off guard. If your organization manages Codex through a requirements.toml configuration file, there's a setting under [features] called computer_use. When an admin sets computer_use = false, it doesn't just disable Computer Use it silently takes Record & Replay down with it, because Record & Replay has no independent toggle. One flag controls both.

I'll be honest, this is the gotcha that wastes the most time. You can check every local setting, confirm your region is fine, confirm your plan includes the feature, and still hit -10005 because somewhere in your company's managed configuration, this one line is quietly blocking it. If you're on a Business or Enterprise workspace and the previous five checks all passed, this is genuinely the most likely remaining cause not a bug on OpenAI's end, just a policy you don't have visibility into from the Codex app itself.

If you suspect this is the case, the fix isn't something you can do from your own machine it requires whoever manages your organization's Codex deployment to check the Policies & Configurations setting in Codex cloud and confirm whether computer_use is set to true for your workspace. OpenAI's official Record & Replay documentation confirms this exact dependency in plain terms the two features share one switch, not two.

What to Actually Do If Everything Above Checks Out

So you've confirmed: macOS, Plus/Pro/Business/Enterprise/Edu plan, outside the EEA/UK/Switzerland, Computer Use toggled on and visibly working for browser tasks, no managed policy blocking it and you're still getting error -10005. At that point, you're dealing with a genuine staged-rollout gap rather than a misconfiguration, and there are really only three things worth trying.

1. Fully quit and restart the Codex app, then sign out and back in. This forces a fresh entitlement check against OpenAI's servers rather than relying on a cached permissions state from before the feature rolled out to your account.

2. Confirm you're on the latest Codex version. Record & Replay shipped in 26.616 if you're behind that, you won't see consistent behavior even if your account is entitled. Check for updates from the Codex app menu rather than assuming auto-update has caught you up.

3. Report it with the exact error code. If the issue persists after the above, this genuinely is something only OpenAI's side can resolve, since it's a server-side feature flag tied to your specific account. Reporting "Computer Use server error -10005" specifically rather than a vague "Record and Replay doesn't work" gives support something concrete to check against the rollout list.

One thing worth setting expectations on honestly: staged rollouts for paid features like this typically resolve over days to a couple of weeks, not months. If you checked all five conditions above and they all came back clean, the most likely outcome is that your account simply hasn't been included in the current rollout sequence annoying, but not a sign that something is permanently broken on your end.

Why This Happens — and Why It's Worth Understanding

It's worth zooming out for a second, because the "feature is visible but not entitled" pattern isn't unique to Codex it's increasingly common across AI tools that ship Computer Use style capabilities, precisely because these features touch real desktop control and get rolled out cautiously in stages rather than to everyone at once. OpenAI's official Codex changelog documents Record & Replay's region exclusion in the same release notes where it ships, which tells you the rollout caution here isn't arbitrary it's a deliberate, documented launch condition. Anything that watches and replays your screen activity gets gated more conservatively than a typical feature flag, and a slower entitlement rollout is the direct consequence.

If you're someone who works across multiple AI coding tools day to day, staged rollouts and feature flags like this are honestly one of the most common sources of "it's broken" reports that turn out to be "it just hasn't reached you yet." We've covered a similar root cause with Claude Code's ECONNRESET connection errors, where the visible symptom and the actual cause were two completely different layers of the stack, and with Cursor's agent getting stuck mid-task, where the fix had nothing to do with what the error message implied either.

How Record & Replay Is Different from Plain Computer Use

Since the error message references Computer Use directly, it's worth being clear about what each piece actually does, because the terms get used almost interchangeably in casual conversation and that's part of why this error confuses people.

Computer Use is the underlying capability it lets Codex see your screen and control your mouse and keyboard to operate desktop apps directly. Record & Replay sits on top of that: it watches you perform a task once, generates a SKILL.md file describing the workflow in natural language, and then uses Computer Use (plus browser actions and installed plugins, if relevant) to repeat that workflow later with new inputs. The distinction matters here because Computer Use can be working perfectly fine for you letting Codex click around in apps just fine on a different task while Record & Replay specifically remains gated, since they're entitled separately even though one depends on the other.

This is also why OpenAI's documentation is explicit that picking the right kind of workflow matters once you do get access: it works best on tasks that are repetitive, stable, and have a clear success condition something like filing an expense report or downloading a recurring report, not a one-off task with constantly shifting steps.

A Quick Note on the Bigger Picture

Codex crossed 5 million weekly active users as of early June 2026, and a growing share of that growth is coming from non-developers people in operations, marketing, and finance roles who want to automate a repetitive task without writing a script. Record & Replay is aimed squarely at that audience, which is also part of why the rollout is staggered rather than instant: a feature that watches your screen and replays actions across a much larger, less technical user base gets a more cautious release than a typical CLI flag would. OpenAI's own ChatGPT Business release notes list the same plan and region restrictions verbatim, confirming this isn't a quirk specific to personal accounts.

If you're comparing Codex against other agentic coding tools right now, including how they each handle staged rollouts and desktop automation, our Claude Code vs. Cursor vs. GitHub Copilot comparison covers where each one currently stands. And if you're tracking how much these agent sessions actually cost you across tools, our LLM API cost calculator is a quick way to estimate that without digging through separate billing dashboards.

If you're hitting -10005 today, you're essentially running into the friction of being an early adopter of a feature still finding its footing not a fundamentally broken product. That's a meaningfully different problem to have than a feature that's actually bugged, and it usually resolves itself within the rollout window without needing a workaround.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Computer Use server error -10005 mean in Codex?

It means the server-side entitlement check for Record & Replay returned negative for your account, even though the feature appears installed and visible in your local Codex app. It's not a client-side bug it's a permissions/feature-flag response from OpenAI's servers, separate from whether the plugin shows up on your screen.

Is Record & Replay available outside the US?

Yes, with one specific exception. At launch, Record & Replay excludes the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. It's available elsewhere on macOS for eligible subscribers, including regions where Computer Use itself only recently became available.

Why does Computer Use work but Record & Replay doesn't?

Because they're gated by separate entitlements even though Record & Replay depends on Computer Use being enabled. It's entirely possible for your account to have Computer Use access for browser tasks while still waiting on the Record & Replay rollout specifically they're not the same feature flag.

Does Record & Replay work on Windows or Linux?

Not currently. Record & Replay is macOS-only at launch. Computer Use itself is available on Windows in some regions, but the Record & Replay feature specifically has not shipped outside macOS yet.

Can my company admin block Record & Replay even if my account qualifies?

Yes. In managed Codex deployments using requirements.toml, the [features].computer_use setting controls both Computer Use and Record & Replay together. If an admin sets computer_use = false for your workspace, you'll see the same "not enabled" error regardless of your personal plan or region.

How long does it usually take for the feature to actually activate after seeing this error?

There's no official published timeline, but staged feature rollouts for paid Codex features have generally resolved within a window of days to a couple of weeks based on prior rollout patterns. If you've confirmed your plan, platform, and region all qualify, the most likely explanation is simply that your account hasn't been included in the current rollout wave yet.

What should I do before reporting this as a bug?

Confirm five things first: you're on macOS, your plan is Plus/Pro/Business/Enterprise/Edu, your account region isn't EEA/UK/Switzerland, Computer Use is actually toggled on (not just visible), and if you're on a managed workspace that your admin hasn't disabled computer_use via policy. If all five check out, restart the Codex app fully, confirm you're on version 26.616 or later, and then report the exact error code rather than a general description.

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