Codex Desktop: Mac local tasks are searchable on Windows but missing from project sidebar #33161

What version of the Codex App are you using?

Version not captured yet. Reproduced with the current Codex Desktop apps on macOS and Windows as of 2026-07-14.

What subscription do you have?

Not relevant / not captured.

What platform is your computer?

Cross-device Codex Desktop setup:

• Source machine: macOS with Codex Desktop installed; local Codex project/tasks were created there.
• Second machine: Windows with Codex Desktop installed and signed into the same ChatGPT/Codex account.
• The Mac is also registered from the Windows Codex app as an SSH machine.
• VS Code on Windows has Remote SSH available.

What issue are you seeing?

Mac-created local Codex project tasks do not appear in the Windows Codex Desktop app's left project sidebar, even though those same tasks are discoverable and openable through search.

Observed behavior on Windows:

1. The project sidebar shows local/cloud projects, but does not list the Mac local project/tasks under the relevant project.
2. Searching in the Windows Codex app for a known Mac-created task finds the task.
3. Opening the search result successfully opens the full task.
4. After opening it, the left project sidebar has no selected/focused project or task item; the task is effectively detached from the visible project tree.
5. Clicking Open in VS Code from that task correctly launches VS Code Remote SSH and opens the original Mac project folder over SSH.

That last point is important: the task metadata and remote workspace mapping are not missing. Codex has enough synced metadata to know the original machine/project path and to open the correct workspace in VS Code Remote SSH. The failure appears to be specifically in project sidebar hydration/indexing/association on the Windows Codex app.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. On macOS, install/sign into Codex Desktop.
2. Create or use a local Codex project on the Mac.
3. Create several Codex tasks/threads in that Mac local project.
4. On Windows, install/sign into Codex Desktop using the same account.
5. In the Windows Codex app, add/register the Mac as an SSH machine.
6. Open the Windows Codex app project sidebar.
7. Observe that the Mac-created local project tasks are not visible under Projects.
8. Use app search on Windows for a known title/content from one of the Mac-created tasks.
9. Observe that search finds the Mac-created task.
10. Open the search result.
11. Observe that the task opens, but no corresponding project/task item is selected in the left sidebar and the task is not present under the visible project tree.
12. Click Open in VS Code.
13. Observe that Windows VS Code opens the original Mac project via VS Code Remote SSH.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex Desktop should present this state consistently.

At minimum:

• If a Mac-created task is synced enough to be searchable/openable on Windows, it should also be associated with a visible project/sidebar entry.
• Opening a search result should select or reveal the corresponding project/task in the left sidebar.
• If cross-device local projects require SSH to access the workspace, the sidebar should hydrate the remote project/task entry once the SSH machine is configured.
• Open in VS Code and the project sidebar should use the same task -> machine -> workspace mapping.

A user should not have to use global search as the only way to access tasks that Codex already knows how to open and map to the original remote workspace.

What is the actual behavior?

The Windows Codex app has a split-brain view of the same Mac-created task:

• Search index: works; the task is discoverable.
• Task open/read: works; the task opens.
• Remote workspace mapping: works; Open in VS Code opens the original Mac project through VS Code Remote SSH.
• Project sidebar: broken or incomplete; the project/task is absent and no sidebar item is selected after opening the task.

This makes cross-device task discovery confusing and makes it look like Mac local project history is missing from Windows, even though the data is partially synced and usable through search.

Why this looks like a Codex app bug

The behavior implies these parts are already synced or recoverable:

• task identity/title/content sufficient for search,
• task open/read data,
• machine/workspace metadata,
• VS Code Remote SSH launch target.

The missing piece appears to be sidebar/project hydration or project-thread association for tasks created on another local machine and later accessed from Windows with that machine registered as an SSH host.

Related issues checked before filing

I searched existing openai/codex issues before opening this and found related but not exact matches:

• Codex App SSH remote project shows "No chats" while remote threads exist in state DB #27284: SSH remote project shows No chats while remote threads exist. Related sidebar/hydration family, but in that report app search also does not find the remote threads. Here, search does find and open the Mac-created tasks.
• Codex Desktop Windows 26.616: local project threads appear, but opening one marks cwd missing and collapses project sidebar to No chats #29130: Windows local project threads disappear/collapse due local path/project mapping. Related Windows sidebar mapping family, but this report is cross-device macOS -> Windows with SSH/VS Code Remote SSH mapping working.
• Codex Desktop Archived Chats page discards SSH remote archived threads #29600: archived remote chats are discarded in Settings for SSH remote hosts. Related remote-history handling, but different surface.
• Codex Desktop Projects sidebar shows "No chats" for projects with older non-archived conversations #25500 / Codex Desktop silently hides project conversations outside the global recent-50 window #21128 / Codex Desktop 26.519.22136: local project conversation history missing after update, threads still exist in state_5.sqlite #23979: local project history hidden or recent-list/project-sidebar indexing issues. Related project-sidebar family, but not this cross-device search-vs-sidebar-vs-Remote-SSH mismatch.

I did not find a close duplicate that covers the exact combination: Mac local Codex tasks are missing from the Windows project sidebar, discoverable/openable via Windows search, and Open in VS Code correctly opens the original Mac project over Remote SSH.

Additional information

No evidence of task data loss was observed in this reproduction. The problem is discoverability and inconsistent UI state: the task exists and can be opened, but the project sidebar does not reflect it.

Screenshots or logs can be provided if maintainers indicate which app logs/state files are useful and safe to share publicly.