TL;DR — ChatGPT for macOS 26.810.x+ spawns Computer Use helper processes in an
unbounded retry loop and dies at ~600 helpers. It needs two ingredients: an uncapped retry
loop in the app (OpenAI's bug), and a symlinked codex home (mine). Removing either one
stops it. I spent five days on the first and fixed it in twenty minutes once I understood the
second.
Investigation ran 2026-08-14 → 2026-08-20 across two Macs. This is the retrospective: what I believed, what was wrong, and what actually found it.