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Codex Desktop Archived Chats page discards SSH remote archived threads #29600

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Codex Desktop Archived Chats page discards SSH remote archived threads#29600
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appIssues related to the Codex desktop appbugSomething isn't workingremotesessionIssues involving session (thread) management, resuming, forking, naming, archiving

Description

@yanggs07
yanggs07
opened on Jun 23, 2026

What version of the Codex App are you using?

Local macOS Codex Desktop: 26.616.71553 (CFBundleVersion 4265)
Bundled local CLI: codex-cli 0.142.0
Remote Linux CLI/app-server: codex-cli 0.141.0

What platform is your computer?

Local: macOS arm64 Codex Desktop
Remote: Linux SSH managed remote project

What issue are you seeing?

Settings > Archived Chats does not show archived chats for an SSH remote host/project. The page always renders the empty state (No archived chats) even though the remote host has archived threads in ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite and ~/.codex/archived_sessions.

This is not data loss and does not appear to be a remote Codex version/config problem. The remote archive data is present.

Remote metadata check, with host/user/path details redacted:

codex --version
codex-cli 0.141.0

sqlite3 ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite \
  "select archived, count(*) from threads group by archived;"

archived=0  count=2
archived=1  count=2

sqlite3 ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite \
  "select id, title, archived, source, cwd, datetime(updated_at, 'unixepoch')
   from threads where archived=1 order by updated_at desc limit 10;"

<thread-id-1> | hello | 1 | vscode | /home/<user>/workspace | 2026-06-09 10:34:34
<thread-id-2> | <redacted title> | 1 | vscode | /home/<user>/workspace | 2026-06-06 11:05:27

find ~/.codex/archived_sessions -type f -name "*.jsonl" | wc -l
2

Expected behavior

When the selected Settings host is an SSH remote host, Settings > Archived Chats should display the archived threads returned by that host's list-archived-threads / thread/list archived:true path.

Actual behavior

The UI shows No archived chats for the remote host, despite archived rows and archived JSONL files existing remotely.

Likely root cause

I inspected the current Desktop app bundle to avoid guessing. In the extracted webview bundle, the archived chats settings page does call list-archived-threads with the selected host id:

queryKey:[`archived-threads`,t],
queryFn:()=>s(`list-archived-threads`,{hostId:t})

But when it builds the entries passed to the archived chat list, it only preserves the returned thread data when the selected host is exactly local:

let a=t===`local`?u:[]
...
A=xe({
  automationThreadIds:c,
  cloudTasks:m,
  localThreads:a,
  projects:k,
  projectlessThreadIds:new Set(r??[]),
  threadProjectAssignments:i,
  threadWorkspaceRootHints:o
})

So for any SSH remote host, the app can fetch archived threads into u, then discards them by setting localThreads to []. That makes the remote archived list empty even when the host returns data.

This looks like a Desktop archived-page bug, not a user SSH config issue and not missing archive support in the remote server.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Connect Codex Desktop on macOS to a Linux SSH remote project.
  2. Create or use an existing remote conversation.
  3. Archive that conversation from the remote project UI.
  4. Open Settings > Archived Chats and select the SSH remote host.
  5. Observe that the UI says there are no archived chats.
  6. SSH into the remote host and inspect ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite or ~/.codex/archived_sessions; the archived conversation is present.

Related issues

This is related to the broader remote history/sidebar hydration reports, especially #25092 and #27284, but this specific archived-chats failure appears to have a separate client-side cause in the Settings archived page.

Please fix this in the Desktop UI rather than expecting users to reset local state or edit SSH config. Archive is currently a destructive-feeling action for remote projects because the only recovery UI cannot see the remote archive.

Activity

  1. github-actions
    added
    bugSomething isn't working
    appIssues related to the Codex desktop app
    remote
    sessionIssues involving session (thread) management, resuming, forking, naming, archiving
    on Jun 23, 2026

  2. yanggs07 commented on Jun 26, 2026

    @yanggs07
    yanggs07
    on Jun 26, 2026
    Author

    Update: this still reproduces after updating to the current macOS Desktop build.

    Current local app:

    Codex Desktop: 26.623.31443
CFBundleVersion: 4441
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar timestamp: Jun 26 09:29

    I re-extracted the updated app.asar and the same client-side discard logic is still present in webview/assets/data-controls-CHizTqlN.js. The variable names changed, but the behavior is identical:

    queryKey:[`archived-threads`,t],
queryFn:()=>_e(`list-archived-threads`,{hostId:t})

// later, when building the archived chat entries
let r=t===`local`?l:[]
...
E=ut({
  automationThreadIds:c,
  cloudTasks:f,
  localThreads:r,
  projects:T,
  projectlessThreadIds:new Set(i??[]),
  threadProjectAssignments:o,
  threadWorkspaceRootHints:s
})

    So the latest app still fetches archived threads with the selected remote host id, then discards the returned thread list for every non-local host before rendering. The visible symptom remains: selecting an SSH remote host under Settings > Archived Chats shows the empty state even though the remote host has archived rows/files.

    This makes Archive effectively one-way for SSH remote users from the Desktop UI. Please prioritize this as a Desktop UI bug rather than a remote Codex version/config issue.

  3. yanggs07 commented on Jul 2, 2026

    @yanggs07
    yanggs07
    on Jul 2, 2026
    Author

    Update: still reproduces on a newer current macOS Desktop build.

    Current local app:

    Codex Desktop: 26.623.81905
CFBundleVersion: 4598
/Applications/Codex.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar timestamp: Jul 1 12:15

    I re-extracted this build:

    /tmp/codex-asar-current-20260703-003656

    The same client-side discard logic is still present, now in:

    webview/assets/data-controls-D7sY499U.js

    Relevant minified snippet from this build:

    queryKey:[`archived-threads`,t],
queryFn:()=>L(`list-archived-threads`,{hostId:t}),
...
let o=t===`local`?c:[]
...
D=ut({
  automationThreadIds:l,
  cloudTasks:p,
  localThreads:o,
  projects:E,
  projectlessThreadIds:new Set(r??[]),
  threadProjectAssignments:i,
  threadWorkspaceRootHints:a
})

    So in build 4598 the Archived Chats settings page still fetches archived threads for the selected host id, but then passes an empty thread list into the renderer for every non-local host.

    This also lines up with #30312, where another investigation confirmed the Rust/app-server thread/list archived path and tests are fine, and the failure appears to be Desktop webview/client-side.

    Please route this to the Desktop/webview owner. For SSH remote users, Archive still behaves like a one-way hide operation because the only recovery UI drops the remote archive results before render.

  4. hongjieh commented on Jul 6, 2026

    @hongjieh
    hongjieh
    on Jul 6, 2026

    Additional reproduction on a newer macOS Desktop build, with the same client-side discard path.

    Environment:

    • Codex Desktop: 26.623.101652
    • CFBundleVersion: 4674
    • Local platform: macOS Desktop app
    • Remote host type: remote-control / SSH-managed Linux host
    • Remote host id shape: remote-control:env_e_<redacted>
    • Remote CLI/app-server version: codex-cli 0.141.0

    Observed behavior:

    • Settings > Archived chats with the remote host selected renders the empty state (No archived chats).
    • The remote state DB still contains archived rows:
    archived=0  count=128
archived=1  count=131
    • A direct read of one archived remote thread by id through the selected remote host succeeds and returns thread metadata/turns, so the remote data and transport are not the blocker.
    • Normal thread search/list does not return that archived thread, which is expected while it is archived.

    Bundle inspection from this build still shows the same behavior, now in:

    webview/assets/data-controls-C6SV6hqU.js

    Relevant minified snippet:

    queryKey:[`archived-threads`,t],
queryFn:()=>ne(`list-archived-threads`,{hostId:t}),
...
let r=t===`local`?l:[]
...
O=ut({
  automationThreadIds:c,
  cloudTasks:p,
  localThreads:r,
  projects:D,
  projectlessThreadIds:new Set(i??[]),
  threadProjectAssignments:a,
  threadWorkspaceRootHints:o
})

    For a selected remote host, t is not local, so the archived threads returned into l are replaced with [] before rendering. This exactly matches the UI symptom on this build as well.

    This still looks like a Desktop/webview issue rather than remote SQLite data loss or a remote app-server listing failure.

  5. yanggs07 commented on Jul 10, 2026

    @yanggs07
    yanggs07
    on Jul 10, 2026
    Author

    Update: still present in the current integrated ChatGPT/Codex macOS app build.

    The Codex app is now running from the ChatGPT app bundle on this machine rather than /Applications/Codex.app:

    ChatGPT.app: 26.707.31428
CFBundleVersion: 5059
Codex Framework: 150.0.7871.101
App bundle path: /Applications/ChatGPT.app
ASAR inspected: /Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar
Extracted to: /tmp/chatgpt-codex-asar-20260710-082749

    The same webview-side discard logic is still in this build, now in:

    webview/assets/data-controls-CE14yfYB.js

    Relevant minified snippet:

    queryKey:[`archived-threads`,t],
queryFn:()=>Ce(`list-archived-threads`,{hostId:t}),
...
let i=t===`local`?c:[]
...
O=mt({
  automationThreadIds:l,
  cloudTasks:p,
  localThreads:i,
  projects:D,
  projectlessThreadIds:new Set(r??[]),
  threadProjectAssignments:a,
  threadWorkspaceRootHints:o
})

    So as of build 5059, selecting an SSH/remote host in Settings > Archived Chats still fetches remote archived threads, then replaces the returned list with [] before rendering because the selected host id is not local.

    This is still reproducible after the app moved under /Applications/ChatGPT.app, so the Desktop/webview fix has not landed yet.

  6. KachurPro commented on Jul 10, 2026

    @KachurPro
    KachurPro
    on Jul 10, 2026

    I can independently reproduce this on the current integrated ChatGPT/Codex macOS app.

    Environment:

    • ChatGPT/Codex Desktop: 26.707.31428 (build 5059)
    • Remote Codex CLI/app-server: 0.144.1
    • Remote host: SSH-managed Linux machine

    Evidence:

    • Settings > Archived Chats shows no archived chats for the selected remote host.
    • The remote state database integrity check returns ok.
    • The remote database contains 92 archived threads; all 92 have rollout paths, and 92 archived JSONL files are present.
    • Reading an archived thread directly by ID through the selected remote host succeeds and returns its turns.
    • The installed app bundle still fetches archived threads by hostId and then discards the list for non-local hosts before rendering (selectedHostId === "local" ? archivedThreads : []).

    No host names, addresses, local paths, thread IDs, or titles are included here. This confirms the issue persists with remote app-server 0.144.1 and is a Desktop/webview listing bug, not remote data loss. For SSH users, Archive remains effectively one-way in the UI.

  7. MMEurope commented on Oct 13, 2026

    @MMEurope
    MMEurope
    on Oct 13, 2026

    Guys who's going to ship a fix? This has been going on forever and is highly annoying.

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