[app][Windows] Project sidebar thread list can remain out of recency order #37266

What version of the Codex App are you using (from the About dialog / installed package)?

Codex App 26.730.8199.0 (Windows package OpenAI.Codex_26.730.8199.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0)

Bundled/local CLI observed: codex-cli 0.133.0

What platform is your computer?

Windows x64, OS build 26200

What issue are you seeing?

The task/thread list inside a project can remain visibly out of order after thread activity changes.

In one project with several hourly automation-created tasks (many sharing the same title) and an older manually created task, the manual task appeared between newer automation tasks instead of at the position implied by the current thread recency ordering.

Read-only inspection showed:

• none of the affected project threads were pinned;
• the app-server/state database had distinct created_at_ms, updated_at_ms, and recency_at_ms values;
• thread/list / the app task-list API currently returned the non-pinned threads in descending recency order;
• the visible project sidebar order captured in the UI did not match that order.

This suggests the desktop sidebar may merge incremental thread updates without re-sorting the project group's existing rows, leaving a stale order until a later reload/rebuild.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a local project in the Codex Windows app.
2. Have multiple tasks created over time in that project. This is easiest to observe with an hourly automation that creates similarly named tasks.
3. Start or continue turns in an older manual task and allow newer automation tasks to start/finish.
4. Inspect the task order under the project in the sidebar.
5. Compare it with a fresh thread/list result using sortKey: "recency_at", or with:

   SELECT id, created_at_ms, updated_at_ms, recency_at_ms
   FROM threads
   WHERE archived = 0 AND cwd = <project cwd>
   ORDER BY recency_at_ms DESC;

6. Observe that the sidebar can retain a different order from the freshly sorted result.

Expected behavior

For non-pinned threads, the visible sidebar order should always match the selected/documented sort key after incremental updates.

If the sidebar uses recency_at DESC, it should reinsert/re-sort a row whenever its recency changes. Background output that only advances updated_at should not reorder rows.

Actual behavior

The project group can display a stale mixed ordering even though a fresh backend listing is correctly sorted.

Additional information

• This is about task/thread ordering within a project, not ordering of the project groups themselves.
• The affected tasks were not pinned; the pin icon shown on hover is an action, not pinned state.
• A screenshot is available showing an older manually named task interleaved between a sequence of automation tasks with the same title.
• Related but different reports found before filing: Projects Sort By Last updated only sorts tasks within project groups, not projects #31836 and [app] Project sorting controls do not change the sidebar project order #33077 concern project-group sorting controls, not stale ordering of threads within one project.