[Bug]: Choosing "Use existing CLI" in onboarding hides ChatGPT sign-in with no way back #30073

Before submitting

• I searched existing issues and did not find an exact duplicate.
• I included source evidence and steps to investigate the problem.

Area

apps/web — Codex provider onboarding (also used by the desktop app).

What happened

During initial Codex setup, the user chose the CLI path, found that the CLI was not installed, and then could no longer find the ChatGPT sign-in option or an obvious way to restart that choice.

Current source labels the initial options Continue with ChatGPT and Use existing CLI. Choosing the latter permanently replaces the choice card with the CLI setup card, even while Codex is missing or unauthenticated.

This report combines the user's observation with source inspection. The sequence has not been independently reproduced in a running app, and the affected release/OS were not captured.

Steps to reproduce

Minimal sequence inferred from the current source:

1. Start with no Codex CLI available and no explicit Codex config.setupMode choice.
2. Open onboarding (/welcome) and continue to Connect your agents.
3. On Codex, click Use existing CLI.
4. The Codex card now offers Install. Attempt or abandon the CLI setup, then close its terminal.
5. Try to switch to Continue with ChatGPT.

The disappearance is triggered by step 3 itself; an installer failure is not required. It also applies when an installed CLI still needs authentication.

Expected behavior

A user who selected the CLI path should still have a discoverable way to return to ChatGPT sign-in when that path is unavailable or setup is unfinished, for example a Change setup method control or the original ChatGPT option.

Actual behavior

The initial two-button card disappears. Its replacement offers the CLI Install / Sign in action, with no control to return to ChatGPT setup.

Closing the setup terminal only closes it and refreshes providers. Reopening onboarding reads the saved CLI choice and selects the same CLI-only card.

Source evidence

Inspected main at cefb544af3c98224874419198c0359b652ca3c94 on 2026-11-03:

• CodexSetupSection.tsx, lines 158–177: the initial buttons call onModeChange("managed") or onModeChange("existing").
• WelcomeWizard.tsx, lines 919–969: changeMode immediately persists config.setupMode. An explicit "existing" sets existingChosen, which renders AgentCard instead of CodexSetupSection, without checking whether the CLI is ready.
• WelcomeWizard.tsx, lines 972–1030: AgentCard has CLI status and terminal actions, but no mode-switch callback or ChatGPT sign-in button.
• WelcomeWizard.tsx, lines 873–880: closing the terminal clears terminalSession and refreshes providers; it does not undo the setup-mode choice.
• The documented /welcome restart route reopens setup, but the saved "existing" value still selects the CLI-only branch above.

Impact

Minor bug or occasional failure.

A first-time user who chooses an unavailable CLI path loses the visible alternative that was just offered. This is a setup recovery/discoverability problem; other providers may remain usable.

Version or commit

Affected installed release: unknown. Source inspected: main @ cefb544af3c98224874419198c0359b652ca3c94.

Environment

OS and affected client build not supplied. Source evidence is in the shared web onboarding UI; mobile behavior was not investigated.

Related issues

• Codex "Reset to default" removes setupMode, and the settings card offers no way back to managed setup #28885: resetting a managed Codex instance removes its setup mode and loses the managed setup UI in Settings. This report starts by choosing Use existing CLI during onboarding, without resetting settings.
• [Bug]: Cancelling or failing ChatGPT sign-in leaves Codex in managed mode, so a later CLI login is ignored #29090 / fix(web): cancelled or failed ChatGPT sign-in in onboarding no longer leaves Codex managed #29125: cancelled or failed ChatGPT sign-in leaves Codex in managed mode. This report concerns the other direction: choosing the CLI hides the ChatGPT option.

Workaround

No workaround was verified in a running app. Reopening /welcome alone does not clear the persisted choice.

Prepared by Codex from the user's report and read-only GitHub source inspection. Not filed through t3 triage.