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Codex desktop: allow custom ordering and sections in the left sidebar #28692
Description
What variant of Codex are you using?
APP
What feature would you like to see?
Codex desktop: allow custom ordering and sections in the left sidebar
I would like the Codex desktop app to support user-defined structure in the left sidebar.
Problem
The current left sidebar appears to be app-controlled. Users can rename, pin, and archive threads, but that does not let us create a durable personal work structure.
For non-software workflows, Codex is often used as a professional workspace across projects, recurring processes, screenings, meetings, and decision notes. In that context, the sidebar quickly becomes hard to manage if the user cannot control order or grouping.
Requested feature
Please add one or more of the following:
Manual drag-and-drop ordering of threads.
User-created sidebar sections or folders.
Custom ordering within pinned threads.
Optional project/group headers in the sidebar.
A way to keep selected workflows in a stable order across sessions.
Why this matters
For administrative, PMO, screening, governance, and business workflows, the thread list is not just recent activity. It becomes the user’s working navigation.
Additional information
No response
Activity
github-actions commentedon Jun 17, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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xenioscharalambous commentedon Jul 7, 2026
+1. This is a serious workflow blocker for production operators.
I need folders/sections for Codex threads, not just projects. My work spans FitMetrics support, billing, Supabase/Vercel deploys, Intercom live ops, ABC internal docs, Calendly meetings, and personal admin. Pin/archive/search is not enough once Codex becomes the main operational workspace.
Claude Code already supports organizing chats into folders, and that makes a big difference. Codex needs user-created folders/sections, moving threads between them, and pinning within a folder.
bmccarthyco commentedon Sep 7, 2026
Partial implementation update: the current ChatGPT desktop app now has custom sidebar Sections, so the user-created sections portion of this request is available.
I found these related merged PRs, which were not linked in this issue's timeline:
These establish related backend implementation work; they do not identify the exact desktop UI rollout or demonstrate that every item in this request is complete.
One remaining gap, also raised in the comments here, is pinning within a section or project. Currently, pinning a chat moves it into the global Pinned section. It would be useful to have independent options to:
Some chats are important only within their section/project; others warrant global visibility too. Related: #20816 and #35867. This seems partially implemented rather than fully resolved.