Codex Desktop on Windows: a multi-day project task disappeared from sidebar and search #35804

Summary

A long-running Codex Desktop task disappeared completely from the Windows app sidebar and search. The task contained several days of project context and had driven dozens of successfully merged pull requests. A separate task that was being run in parallel is still visible, so the missing task is distinct and was not merely confused with the parallel work.

This is a data-loss-class product issue even though the Git commits and pull requests themselves remain available: the missing task contained decisions, assumptions, validation history, and the intended continuation of the project.

Environment

• Product: Codex Desktop / ChatGPT desktop app with Codex
• OS: Windows
• Date observed: 2026-07-28
• Local timezone: America/Bahia
• Authentication/repository details intentionally omitted because this is a public issue

Last independently verifiable activity

The private project repository shows 38 merged PRs produced during the work. The last two were merged on 2026-07-28:

• PR 37 at 15:38:30 UTC
• PR 38 at 15:55:35 UTC

The missing task title is believed to have contained the word backup and the task was active around PR 37.

Observed behavior

1. The multi-day task no longer appears in the app sidebar.
2. Searching for its remembered title keyword and project terms does not return it.
3. Listing recent tasks/chats also does not return it.
4. The separate parallel task related to WhatsApp import work remains visible and can be opened.
5. The task therefore appears to have been silently hidden, detached from the account/project index, or deleted without any user-visible action or warning.

Diagnostics already performed

• Searched recent tasks/chats in the app.
• Searched by remembered title keyword (backup) and project-specific terms.
• Inspected the available local Codex task index; the missing task was not present in the locally visible set.
• Verified the full development sequence through the private GitHub repository: PRs 1–38 are all merged.
• Reconstructed the final technical state from PR metadata so project work can continue, but the original conversation history remains unavailable.

Expected behavior

• A task must not disappear silently from sidebar and search.
• Archived or remotely stored tasks should remain discoverable and restorable.
• If retention, migration, indexing, or synchronization fails, the UI should report that state and provide a recovery path.
• Users should be able to export or restore a task from server-side history or local metadata.

Impact

• Loss of several days of conversational project history.
• Loss of documented decisions, constraints, validations, and next-step rationale.
• Significant time spent searching and manually reconstructing state from Git history.
• Reduced confidence in using long-running Codex tasks as the operational record for a software project.

Requested action

1. Investigate whether the task still exists in server-side or local account history and provide a recovery method.
2. Explain why it disappeared from both sidebar and search.
3. Confirm whether this is related to task indexing, retention, archiving, migration, or synchronization.
4. Add a durable recovery/export mechanism and an explicit warning before any task becomes inaccessible.

Possibly related reports

• Codex Desktop: chats disappear after update/import; imported threads open blank despite JSONL turns #20493
• Codex Desktop hides active project chat history while local threads remain on disk #25084
• Codex Desktop project threads disappear from project views/search while session JSONL remains readable #25463
• Codex Desktop 26.519.22136: local project conversation history missing after update, threads still exist in state_5.sqlite #23979
• Codex Desktop conversations become empty and resume fails with stale Windows path #24178

I can provide account-specific identifiers, private repository evidence, screenshots, and local diagnostics through a non-public support channel if requested.