Codex macOS app does not surface existing non-archived thread in sidebar/search #27641

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.608.12217 (CFBundleVersion 3722)

What subscription do you have?

Pro 5x/20x (had 5x for a time, recently upgraded to 20x)

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

A Codex macOS thread disappeared from the app UI/sidebar/search even though it was still present locally, not archived, and readable by direct thread ID.

The affected thread was an older non-project/general thread titled Lease dispute. I did not archive or delete it. In the Codex macOS app, I could not find it normally in the visible thread list/search, so I asked Codex to inspect local state.

Local investigation showed this was not data loss:

• The thread row still existed in ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite.
• The row had archived=0.
• The backing rollout JSONL still existed under ~/.codex/sessions/....
• The Codex app thread API could read the thread directly by ID.
• The app search/sidebar did not reliably surface the thread by its title.

This looks like a thread index/search/sidebar visibility issue, probably affecting older unloaded threads or threads with a cwd outside the current project context.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

The exact user-visible scenario was:

1. I had a prior Codex thread titled Lease dispute.
2. In the Codex macOS app, the thread no longer appeared where I expected it. I did not archive or delete it.
3. I asked a new Codex thread to locate it from local Codex state.
4. Local state inspection found the missing thread.

Important evidence from the diagnostic run:

Affected original thread:

• Thread ID: 019d9812-76aa-7b11-92fe-ff38d18a0df4
• Title: Lease dispute
• Created: 2026-04-16 17:54:00 -03
• Last updated: 2026-04-28 21:21:10 -03
• CWD: /Users/lucas
• State DB row: archived=0
• Backing rollout file: ~/.codex/sessions/2026/04/16/rollout-2026-04-16T17-54-00-019d9812-76aa-7b11-92fe-ff38d18a0df4.jsonl

Related prior recovery/help thread:

• Thread ID: 019e46b9-7dcf-7402-8718-e21fe38ee3ff
• Title at DB time: we had a chat called lease dispute which seems to be gone. do you remember it?
• Display title from thread API: Locate lease dispute chat
• CWD: /Users/lucas/Documents/Codex/2026-05-20/we-had-a-chat-called-lease
• State DB row: archived=0
• Backing rollout file: ~/.codex/sessions/2026/05/20/rollout-2026-05-20T15-50-22-019e46b9-7dcf-7402-8718-e21fe38ee3ff.jsonl

Active diagnostic/reporting thread:

• Thread/feedback ID: 019eb775-a640-7fc3-bcf9-79d021fd31dd
• CWD: /Users/lucas/Documents/Codex/2026-06-11/we-had-a-chat-outside-of
• Backing rollout file: ~/.codex/sessions/2026/06/11/rollout-2026-06-11T13-13-21-019eb775-a640-7fc3-bcf9-79d021fd31dd.jsonl

Diagnostic observations:

• ~/.codex/session_index.jsonl contained entries for both Lease dispute and Locate lease dispute chat.
• find ~/.codex/sessions ~/.codex/archived_sessions -type f -name '*019d9812-76aa-7b11-92fe-ff38d18a0df4*' found the original thread file under ~/.codex/sessions, not archived_sessions.
• Querying ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite showed both relevant threads with archived=0.
• Directly reading thread 019d9812-76aa-7b11-92fe-ff38d18a0df4 through the Codex app thread API succeeded and returned recent turns.
• The app thread search/list API did not reliably return the original thread for Lease dispute, even though direct read by ID succeeded.

Workaround performed:

• Pinned the original thread 019d9812-76aa-7b11-92fe-ff38d18a0df4 through the Codex app API.
• Pinned the recovery thread 019e46b9-7dcf-7402-8718-e21fe38ee3ff through the Codex app API.
• Did not move/delete/modify any rollout JSONL history files.
• Tried an unarchive API call, but it was not needed because local state already showed archived=0; the call failed for the unloaded thread because a hostId was required.

What is the expected behavior?

A non-archived Codex thread that has a valid state DB row, a valid backing rollout JSONL file, and is readable by direct thread ID should be visible/discoverable in the Codex macOS app thread list/search.

At minimum, search by exact thread title or direct thread metadata should surface the thread, even if it is older, unloaded, from a general cwd such as /Users/lucas, or outside the currently selected project context.

Additional information

This report is about thread visibility/indexing. It is not about the contents of any particular thread.

The strongest signal is the mismatch between these two states:

• Direct thread read by ID works.
• The normal app UI/search/sidebar path does not reliably surface the same non-archived thread.

Local version/platform details:

• Codex app bundle: 26.608.12217
• CFBundleVersion: 3722
• Local version cache had latest_version: 0.137.0
• Platform from uname -mprs: Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

Privacy note: the thread title concerns a lease dispute, but the report intentionally avoids including private dispute details. The diagnostic evidence should be enough to inspect indexing/search/sidebar behavior without reviewing private thread content.

Feedback/thread ID for the in-app report sent during this diagnostic session: 019eb775-a640-7fc3-bcf9-79d021fd31dd.