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Work browser access requires an authenticated account-Codex

Quick fix

Log in to the official account in the Codex/ChatGPT app with auth_mode=chatgpt, then use cc-switch routing mode (or keep official login in direct mode) to…

Symptom

Section titled “Symptom”
Error output
Work browser access requires an authenticated account

Cause

Section titled “Cause”

Maintainers confirmed in #8417/#8498: ChatGPT/Codex desktop 26.1013 added a restriction requiring the app itself to be logged in to a ChatGPT account when continuing sessions or using ChatGPT Work; with only an API Key or a third-party provider and no official login, the request is blocked, and the model list may fail to load. The CLI is not affected. In cc-switch direct mode, switching to a third-party provider without "keep official login" enabled moves the official login state aside, triggering this prompt; routing mode does not modify ~/.codex/auth.json, so the official login is preserved and requests still go through the selected provider.

Fix

Section titled “Fix”

  1. First upgrade cc-switch: #5180 explains that from v3.17.0, Codex official ChatGPT sessions can be taken over by local routing and hot-switching does not overwrite auth.json; the "account does not exist" issue in #7377 was fixed in v3.20.4; #7967's issue where the old account was still used after switching gained a restart prompt in v4.0.6. Different sub-issues were fixed in different versions—do not mix old scripts.

  2. Recommended path: in cc-switch switch to OpenAI Official, fully quit the ChatGPT/Codex desktop app, reopen it and log in to ChatGPT; confirm ~/.codex/auth.json has official login state and auth_mode is chatgpt. Fully quit again, change cc-switch's Codex to routing mode, select a third-party provider for routing, then open the app.

    ~/.codex/auth.json
    确保应用内登录后包含："auth_mode": "chatgpt"（不要贴出或手改 token 字段）

  3. If you insist on direct mode: in cc-switch settings enable "Keep official login when switching without takeover" (called "Keep official login when switching to third-party" in older versions), first switch back to OpenAI Official and log in once, then switch to the third-party provider; if it fails again after a while, the preserved official login state has usually expired—log in to official ChatGPT again to recover.

  4. Temporary workaround if you don't want to log in to a ChatGPT account: per the maintainer's suggestion in #8498, stay on Codex desktop 26.1007; or per a comment in #8417, open sessions via the Codex entry instead of ChatGPT Work. conversationDetailMode is only a display setting and unrelated to this restriction.

  5. If the model selector only shows "custom" or third-party/new models are missing: confirm the third-party provider has local routing/routing takeover enabled and fully restart Codex; if needed, per #5170 update Codex CLI to v0.144.0 and the Codex App to the latest version; when the official UI has not yet exposed GPT-5.6, you can temporarily change model to gpt-5.6-sol.

    ~/.codex/config.toml
    model = "gpt-5.6-sol"
    # 仅用于 #5170 所述官方 UI 暂未展示 GPT-5.6 的临时场景

  6. 401 Incorrect API key on old sessions: in #6677 a user summarized that old sessions keep the official login state while new sessions via a relay still carry the old state—starting a new session restores it; the maintainer concluded this is a client- or provider-side cause that cc-switch cannot fix alone.

  7. Still using the old account after switching: upgrade to v4.0.6+, and restart the Codex background service as prompted after switching; the desktop app or editor plugin must be fully quit and reopened. If it still reproduces, the maintainer asks to add the Codex version/type and the cli_auth_credentials_store from config.toml to #7700—do not paste tokens or the full auth.json.

Affected Versions

Section titled “Affected Versions”
ToolCodex
Versioncc-switch 3.16.1 - 4.0.15 均有报告；不同子问题分别在 v3.17.0、v3.20.4、v4.0.6 修复，Codex 桌面版 26.1013 起新增登录限制
PlatformsWindowsmacOS

Source Issues

Section titled “Source Issues”

This page is distilled from 13 real issues

FAQ

Section titled “FAQ”
But I'm stuck at login requiring a phone number—what do I do?
Users in #8417 hit the same blocker; the page offers no way to bypass the phone number. You can open the session via the Codex entry instead of ChatGPT Work, or per the maintainer's suggestion stay on Codex desktop 26.1007 for now.
Method 2 (direct mode) doesn't work—am I out of options?
Prefer method 1: log in to the official account via OpenAI Official, then use routing mode to take over the third-party provider; in routing mode cc-switch does not modify auth.json. In direct mode you must confirm "Keep official login when switching without takeover" is enabled and the official login state has not expired.
Is 429 Too Many Requests also caused by cc-switch?
No. The maintainer in #8498 explained 429 is rate limiting returned by the upstream API; if 429 persists after login is fixed, check the rate or quota limits of the provider actually in use—in routing mode you can confirm this in the request log of the usage statistics.
Is Codex CLI also affected by the Work browser access restriction?
The maintainer stated in #8417/#8498 that the CLI is not affected; the restriction comes from the ChatGPT/Codex desktop app's login requirement for continuing sessions/Work browser access starting in 26.1013.
Why didn't the original official login page come back after I deleted the cc-switch portable version?
Per #5752, you also need to clean up the local Codex configuration: delete the relevant fields in ~/.codex/config.toml and clear ~/.codex/auth.json; deleting only the software does not restore these files.
In state_5.sqlite, what do cc-switch-official/custom/openai mean for threads.model_provider?
SaladDay explained in #5837: openai is the built-in official provider; cc-switch-official is official OAuth via local routing; custom is the custom/shared history bucket. It is a routing bucket, not an account identity.
Section titled “Related problems”
Codex auth.json overwritten, KEY mix-up, or official login lostUpgrade cc-switch to the latest version (v3.16.1 fixes the v3.16.0 KEY mix-up regression; v3.20.1/4.0 fix logout overwriting auth.json and losing… (Codex)30 issues mergedbuilt-in provider IDs: openai - CodexUpgrade CC Switch to v3.16.4+, delete the old config and save again. Enable unified Codex session history and use openai_base_url.3 issues mergedauth.json not updated after switching channelCodex authentication mechanism refactor causes switching to fail. Check auth.json path and configuration per the official authentication retention guide.4 issues merged

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