Codex Desktop leaves persistent zero-byte copy-suffixed rollouts and task-inventory drift on macOS

Summary

While using Codex Desktop on macOS, its local task-history inventory shows persistent drift. The codex doctor --json command was used only to measure and report the app's local state:

22 scan errors
22 active rollout files missing from the state DB
3 archived rollout files missing from the state DB
1 stale state DB row
25 duplicate rollout thread IDs

A separate read-only metadata check found exactly 22 zero-byte .jsonl files. All 22 have copy-style filename suffixes such as (1).jsonl or (2).jsonl. There are also 12 non-empty files with the same copy-style naming pattern, so deleting files based only on the suffix would be unsafe.

File ownership and readability are normal. The source of the copy-style files is NOT_PROVED.

Classification

Type: Bug / validation gap
Scope: Public OpenAI Codex Desktop app
Owning folder/project: Projectless Codex task; Codex Desktop local diagnostics
Target repo: openai/codex
Privacy class: Public-safe
Source basis: Fresh codex doctor --json report plus read-only filesystem metadata
Duty verbs: Detect, reconcile, and provide a supported remediation path
Impact: Local task inventory is inconsistent; direct user-visible task loss is NOT_PROVED
Priority: Normal
Owner: OpenAI Codex maintainers
Next safe action: Determine why Codex Desktop leaves persistent zero-byte copy-suffixed rollout files and document or implement a supported repair/reindex path
Approval gate: User explicitly authorized this public issue
Validation/close criteria: A supported repair or product fix restores file/DB parity without manual database edits or unsafe bulk deletion, and codex doctor no longer reports these inconsistencies

Environment

Affected user surface: Codex Desktop 26.818.31338
Diagnostic executable: Codex 0.149.0, installed via npm and used only to run codex doctor
Platform: macOS 26.6.2, Apple Silicon (arm64)
State databases: integrity checks pass

Steps to reproduce

Use the Codex Desktop app normally with local tasks.
Run codex doctor --json.
Observe state.rollout_db_parity warning.
Inspect only file metadata under ~/.codex/sessions and ~/.codex/archived_sessions.
Observe persistent zero-byte rollout files with copy-style filename suffixes and the inventory counts above.

Actual behavior

The doctor report says rollout files and the state DB task inventory differ. It recommends attaching the report to a bug report and checking permissions or unexpected files. Permissions are not the issue in this case:

Wrong-owner JSONL files: 0
Unreadable JSONL files: 0
Zero-byte JSONL files: 22
Copy-suffixed JSONL files: 34
Zero-byte and copy-suffixed: 22
Non-empty and copy-suffixed: 12

The report exposes no supported repair command.

Expected behavior

Codex Desktop should avoid leaving persistent zero-byte rollout copies, reconcile valid task files with the state DB, and provide a supported, non-destructive repair or quarantine path when doctor detects inventory drift.

Product-surface clarification

The affected end-user surface is Codex Desktop, not a CLI-only workflow. The CLI-form codex doctor command is diagnostic evidence for the Desktop app's local task/session state.

Related but not exact duplicates

Codex leaves valid rollout files unindexed in state DB and lacks supported reindex repair #31433 — valid rollout files unindexed in the state DB and no supported reindex
codex doctor reports valid legacy rollout files as scan errors #26877 — valid legacy rollouts reported as scan errors
Codex Desktop: new chats fail to resume while rollout JSONL is briefly empty #38613 — newly created rollout briefly empty during a resume race

This report differs because the zero-byte files are persistent, copy-suffixed, and appear together with missing rows, a stale row, and duplicate task IDs.

Public-safe redacted codex doctor report

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "generatedAt": "1787285102s since unix epoch",
  "overallStatus": "warning",
  "codexVersion": "0.149.0",
  "checks": {
    "app_server.status": {
      "id": "app_server.status",
      "category": "app-server",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "background server is not running",
      "details": {
        "control socket": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/app-server-control/app-server-control.sock",
        "daemon state dir": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/app-server-daemon",
        "mode": "ephemeral",
        "pid file": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server.pid (missing)",
        "settings": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/app-server-daemon/settings.json (missing)",
        "status": "not running",
        "update-loop pid file": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/app-server-daemon/app-server-updater.pid (missing)"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "auth.credentials": {
      "id": "auth.credentials",
      "category": "auth",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "auth is configured",
      "details": {
        "auth file": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/auth.json",
        "auth storage mode": "File",
        "stored API key": "false",
        "stored ChatGPT tokens": "true",
        "stored agent identity": "false",
        "stored auth mode": "chatgpt"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "config.load": {
      "id": "config.load",
      "category": "config",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "config loaded",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME": "/Users/<USER>/.codex",
        "config.toml": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/config.toml",
        "config.toml parse": "ok",
        "cwd": "/Users/<USER>/Documents/Codex/2026-08-20/cod",
        "enabled feature flags": "shell_tool, view_image, unified_exec, shell_snapshot, code_mode_host, terminal_resize_reflow, sqlite, memories, chronicle, hooks, enable_request_compression, unbounded_connection_retries, multi_agent, apps, tool_search_always_defer_mcp_tools, tool_suggest, plugins, in_app_browser, in_app_chat, in_app_dictation, in_app_updates, browser_use, browser_use_full_cdp_access, browser_use_external, computer_use, remote_plugin, plugin_sharing, image_generation, resize_all_images, item_ids, skill_mcp_dependency_install, skill_search, mentions_v2, steer, guardian_approval, goals, collaboration_modes, tool_call_mcp_elicitation, auth_elicitation, personality, fast_mode, tui_app_server, remote_compaction_v2, workspace_dependencies",
        "feature flag overrides": "memories=true, chronicle=true",
        "feature flags enabled": "44",
        "log dir": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/log",
        "mcp servers": "4",
        "model": "gpt-5.6-sol",
        "model provider": "openai",
        "sqlite home": "/Users/<USER>/.codex"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "desktop.app.version": {
      "id": "desktop.app.version",
      "category": "desktop",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "the desktop application is installed",
      "details": {
        "log directory": "$HOME/Library/Logs/com.openai.codex",
        "running": "true",
        "version": "26.818.31338"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "desktop.app_server.handshake": {
      "id": "desktop.app_server.handshake",
      "category": "desktop",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "the desktop app-server initialized successfully",
      "details": {},
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "desktop.security.enforcement": {
      "id": "desktop.security.enforcement",
      "category": "desktop",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "the desktop application passed available macos security assessments",
      "details": {
        "gatekeeper": "accepted"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "git.environment": {
      "id": "git.environment",
      "category": "git",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "git version 2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)",
      "details": {
        "PATH git #1": "/usr/bin/git",
        "PATH git #2": "/Users/<USER>/.cache/codex-runtimes/codex-primary-runtime/dependencies/bin/fallback/git",
        "PATH git entries": "2",
        "git build options": "git version 2.50.1 (Apple Git-155); cpu: arm64; no commit associated with this build; sizeof-long: 8; sizeof-size_t: 8; shell-path: /bin/sh; feature: fsmonitor--daemon; libcurl: 8.7.1; zlib: 1.2.12; SHA-1: SHA1_DC; SHA-256: SHA256_BLK",
        "git exec path": "/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/libexec/git-core",
        "git version": "git version 2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)",
        "repo detected": "false",
        "selected git": "/usr/bin/git"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 143
    },
    "installation": {
      "id": "installation",
      "category": "install",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "installation looks consistent",
      "details": {
        "PATH codex #1": "/Users/<USER>/.local/bin/codex",
        "PATH codex #2": "/Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/Resources/codex",
        "PATH codex #3": "/Users/<USER>/.local/bin/codex",
        "PATH codex #4": "/Users/<USER>/.local/bin/codex",
        "PATH codex entries": "4",
        "current executable": "/Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin/codex",
        "install context": "npm (package /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin, bin /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin, resources /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-resources, path /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-path)",
        "managed by bun": "false",
        "managed by npm": "true",
        "managed by pnpm": "false",
        "managed package root": "/Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex",
        "npm update target": "/Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 205
    },
    "mcp.config": {
      "id": "mcp.config",
      "category": "mcp",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "MCP configuration is locally consistent",
      "details": {
        "configured servers": "4",
        "disabled servers": "1",
        "stdio servers": "3",
        "streamable_http servers": "1"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 305
    },
    "network.env": {
      "id": "network.env",
      "category": "network",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "network-related environment looks readable",
      "details": {
        "managed proxy": "not configured",
        "proxy env vars": "none",
        "respect system proxy": "disabled",
        "system proxy": "automatic (PAC)"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "network.provider_reachability": {
      "id": "network.provider_reachability",
      "category": "reachability",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "active provider endpoints are reachable over HTTP",
      "details": {
        "ChatGPT inference URL": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted> reachable (HTTP 405)",
        "desktop assets CDN": "https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted> reachable (HTTP 200)",
        "reachability mode": "ChatGPT auth"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 309
    },
    "network.websocket_reachability": {
      "id": "network.websocket_reachability",
      "category": "websocket",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "Responses WebSocket handshake succeeded",
      "details": {
        "DNS": "2 IPv4, 2 IPv6, first IPv6",
        "auth mode": "chatgpt",
        "connect timeout": "15000 ms",
        "endpoint": "wss://chatgpt.com/backend-api/<redacted>",
        "handshake result": "HTTP 101 Switching Protocols",
        "model provider": "openai",
        "provider name": "OpenAI",
        "proxy env vars": "none",
        "reasoning header": "false",
        "server model present": "false",
        "supports websockets": "true",
        "wire API": "responses"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 766
    },
    "runtime.provenance": {
      "id": "runtime.provenance",
      "category": "runtime",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "running npm on macos-aarch64",
      "details": {
        "commit": "unknown",
        "current executable": "/Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin/codex",
        "install method": "npm (package /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin, bin /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/bin, resources /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-resources, path /Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-path)",
        "platform": "macos-aarch64",
        "version": "0.149.0"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "runtime.search": {
      "id": "runtime.search",
      "category": "search",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "search is OK (bundled)",
      "details": {
        "search command": "/Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex/node_modules/@openai/codex-darwin-arm64/vendor/aarch64-apple-darwin/codex-path/rg",
        "search command readiness": "file exists",
        "search provider": "bundled"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "sandbox.helpers": {
      "id": "sandbox.helpers",
      "category": "sandbox",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "sandbox configuration is readable",
      "details": {
        "approval policy": "Never",
        "codex-linux-sandbox helper": "none",
        "execve wrapper helper": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/tmp/arg0/codex-arg0Mhtv7z/codex-execve-wrapper",
        "filesystem sandbox": "unrestricted",
        "network sandbox": "enabled"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "security.endpoint": {
      "id": "security.endpoint",
      "category": "security",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "no supported endpoint protection detected",
      "details": {
        "endpoint products": "none detected"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 110
    },
    "state.paths": {
      "id": "state.paths",
      "category": "state",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "state paths and databases are inspectable",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME": "/Users/<USER>/.codex (dir)",
        "active rollout files": "1236 files, 27056959568 total bytes, 21890743 average bytes",
        "archived rollout files": "696 files, 8369690436 total bytes, 12025417 average bytes",
        "goals DB": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/goals_1.sqlite (file)",
        "goals DB integrity": "ok",
        "log DB": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/logs_2.sqlite (file)",
        "log DB integrity": "ok",
        "log dir": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/log (missing)",
        "memories DB": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/memories_1.sqlite (file)",
        "memories DB integrity": "ok",
        "queue DB": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/queue_1.sqlite (file)",
        "queue DB integrity": "ok",
        "sqlite home": "/Users/<USER>/.codex (dir)",
        "state DB": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/state_5.sqlite (file)",
        "state DB integrity": "ok",
        "thread history DB": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/thread_history_1.sqlite (file)",
        "thread history DB integrity": "ok"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 34351
    },
    "state.rollout_db_parity": {
      "id": "state.rollout_db_parity",
      "category": "threads",
      "status": "warning",
      "summary": "rollout files and state DB thread inventory differ",
      "details": {
        "default model provider": "openai",
        "rollout DB active files": "1219",
        "rollout DB active rows": "1197",
        "rollout DB archive mismatches": "0",
        "rollout DB archived files": "691",
        "rollout DB archived rows": "689",
        "rollout DB duplicate DB paths": "0",
        "rollout DB duplicate rollout thread id sample": [
          "<REDACTED_UUID>",
          "<REDACTED_UUID>",
          "<REDACTED_UUID>",
          "<REDACTED_UUID>",
          "<REDACTED_UUID>"
        ],
        "rollout DB duplicate rollout thread ids": "25",
        "rollout DB malformed file names": "0",
        "rollout DB missing active rows": "22",
        "rollout DB missing active sample": [
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T17-22-49-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T17-17-46-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T02-17-38-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T17-17-24-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T01-46-14-<REDACTED_UUID>.jsonl"
        ],
        "rollout DB missing archived rows": "3",
        "rollout DB missing archived sample": [
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/archived_sessions/rollout-2026-08-11T13-37-29-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/archived_sessions/rollout-2026-08-12T12-24-32-<REDACTED_UUID>.jsonl",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/archived_sessions/rollout-2026-08-12T03-53-31-<REDACTED_UUID>.jsonl"
        ],
        "rollout DB model providers": "openai=1886",
        "rollout DB rows": "1886",
        "rollout DB scan cap reached": "false",
        "rollout DB scan error sample": [
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T02-00-11-<REDACTED_UUID> (2).jsonl (rollout at /Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T02-00-11-<REDACTED_UUID> (2).jsonl has no usable header record)",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T01-34-46-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl (rollout at /Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T01-34-46-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl has no usable header record)",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T20-31-18-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl (rollout at /Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T20-31-18-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl has no usable header record)",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T14-05-17-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl (rollout at /Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T14-05-17-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl has no usable header record)",
          "/Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T17-00-29-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl (rollout at /Users/<USER>/.codex/sessions/2026/08/13/rollout-2026-08-13T17-00-29-<REDACTED_UUID> (1).jsonl has no usable header record)"
        ],
        "rollout DB scan errors": "22",
        "rollout DB sources": "vscode=695, subagent:other=638, subagent:thread_spawn=551, exec=2",
        "rollout DB stale row sample": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/archived_sessions/rollout-2026-08-19T09-43-04-<REDACTED_UUID>.jsonl",
        "rollout DB stale rows": "1"
      },
      "issues": [
        {
          "severity": "warning",
          "cause": "rollout files are missing from the state DB",
          "measured": "22 active, 3 archived",
          "expected": "every rollout file has a matching threads row",
          "remedy": null,
          "fields": []
        },
        {
          "severity": "warning",
          "cause": "state DB rows point at missing or unusable rollout files",
          "measured": "1 stale rows",
          "expected": "every state DB rollout path is a file on disk",
          "remedy": null,
          "fields": []
        },
        {
          "severity": "warning",
          "cause": "duplicate thread inventory entries found",
          "measured": "25 duplicate rollout thread ids, 0 duplicate DB paths",
          "expected": "one rollout path and thread id per thread",
          "remedy": "Attach the doctor report to a bug report so support can inspect samples.",
          "fields": []
        },
        {
          "severity": "warning",
          "cause": "rollout scan was incomplete or found bad files",
          "measured": "22 scan errors, 0 malformed names, scan cap reached: false",
          "expected": "rollout directories are fully scannable",
          "remedy": "Check file permissions and unexpected files under CODEX_HOME sessions.",
          "fields": []
        }
      ],
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 1512
    },
    "system.disk": {
      "id": "system.disk",
      "category": "disk",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "sufficient free disk space (23.8 GiB)",
      "details": {
        "CODEX_HOME available": "23.8 GiB",
        "failure threshold": "1.0 GiB",
        "warning threshold": "5.0 GiB",
        "worktree available": "23.8 GiB"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "system.environment": {
      "id": "system.environment",
      "category": "system",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "OS language en-US",
      "details": {
        "EDITOR": "not set",
        "GH_PAGER": "set",
        "GIT_PAGER": "set",
        "LANG": "C.UTF-8",
        "LC_ALL": "C.UTF-8",
        "LC_CTYPE": "C.UTF-8",
        "PAGER": "set",
        "VISUAL": "not set",
        "os": "Mac OS 26.6.2 [64-bit]",
        "os language": "en-US",
        "os type": "Mac OS",
        "os version": "26.6.2"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 7
    },
    "terminal.env": {
      "id": "terminal.env",
      "category": "terminal",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "terminal metadata was detected",
      "details": {
        "COLORTERM": "present",
        "NO_COLOR": "1",
        "TERM": "xterm-256color",
        "color output": "disabled (NO_COLOR)",
        "effective locale": "C.UTF-8",
        "stderr is terminal": "false",
        "stdin is terminal": "false",
        "stdout is terminal": "false",
        "terminal": "unknown",
        "terminal size": "80x24"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 10
    },
    "terminal.title": {
      "id": "terminal.title",
      "category": "title",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "terminal title default",
      "details": {
        "terminal title activity": "true",
        "terminal title items": "activity, project-name",
        "terminal title project source": "cwd",
        "terminal title project value": "cod",
        "terminal title source": "default"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 0
    },
    "updates.status": {
      "id": "updates.status",
      "category": "updates",
      "status": "ok",
      "summary": "update configuration is locally consistent",
      "details": {
        "cached latest version": "0.142.3",
        "check for update on startup": "true",
        "last checked at": "2026-06-27T01:10:36.716426Z",
        "latest version": "0.149.0",
        "latest version status": "current version is not older",
        "npm update target": "/Users/<USER>/.local/opt/node-v24.19.0-darwin-arm64/lib/node_modules/@openai/codex",
        "update action": "npm install -g @openai/codex",
        "version cache": "/Users/<USER>/.codex/version.json"
      },
      "remediation": null,
      "durationMs": 447
    }
  }
}

Privacy review

The embedded report was additionally sanitized beyond Codex's built-in redaction:

Local username/home path replaced
Task/session UUIDs replaced
No email address, API key, bearer token, conversation text, raw task history, database, or authentication file included

Copy-suffixed duplicate rollouts can be non-zero, divergent files

I can confirm the copy-suffixed duplicate-rollout problem on macOS, but in this case the duplicate files are not zero-byte placeholders.

Environment:

macOS 27.0.0, Apple Silicon
Codex CLI 0.150.1
ChatGPT Desktop 26.820.60940
Bundled Codex CLI 0.150.0-alpha.8

codex doctor currently reports:

duplicate rollout thread IDs: 2
duplicate DB paths: 0
missing active rows: 50
missing archived rows: 4
state DB integrity: ok

For each duplicated thread ID, two files exist under $CODEX_HOME/sessions:

An original rollout named with the thread ID.
A later rollout whose filename contains the same thread ID followed by a second UUID suffix.

Read-only inspection found:

Both files in each pair contain the same session_meta.payload.id.
The files have different timestamps, sizes, and SHA-256 hashes.
Pair A is approximately 37.7 MB versus 90.8 MB.
Pair B is approximately 161 KB versus 18.7 MB.
state_5.sqlite points to the newer copy-suffixed file in both cases.
The older original remains on disk, causing Doctor to count the same thread ID twice and treat the original as unindexed.

All four files originated from Codex Desktop. The affected storage is confined to Codex’s rollout directory and SQLite thread inventory; this does not appear to involve external model-provider application state.

I have deliberately not deleted, merged, renamed, or concatenated either pair because the files are non-identical and there is no documented invariant establishing that the newer file safely supersedes the older one.

It would help if Codex provided supported guidance or tooling to:

Distinguish legitimate continuation/fork rollouts from accidental duplicates.
Select or reconstruct the canonical rollout safely.
Preserve any events unique to either file.
Reconcile the thread row and verify parity afterward.

This suggests the copy-suffixed duplication issue is broader than zero-byte artifacts alone.

Thanks — this materially broadens the affected class beyond the persistent zero-byte copies in the original report.

I ran a bounded read-only check on the current environment (ChatGPT Desktop 26.825.41651, Codex CLI 0.151.0, macOS 26.6.2). codex doctor --json did not return a result within 50 seconds, so I could not independently confirm the exact non-zero divergent-pair pattern and am not treating that pattern as locally reproduced.

Your read-only evidence is still directly relevant: the same session ID in files with different sizes and hashes, while the state DB points to only the newer file, means deletion, concatenation, or automatic selection would be unsafe without a documented canonicalization invariant. I agree that supported tooling needs to preserve unique events and verify parity after reconciliation.

I’m keeping this issue open as covering both the original persistent zero-byte copy artifacts and the broader non-zero, divergent duplicate-rollout/task-inventory drift you documented.

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Codex Desktop leaves persistent zero-byte copy-suffixed rollouts and task-inventory drift on macOS #39853

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Codex Desktop leaves persistent zero-byte copy-suffixed rollouts and task-inventory drift on macOS #39853

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Steps to reproduce

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Product-surface clarification

Related but not exact duplicates

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DJNgoma commented on Aug 28, 2026

Copy-suffixed duplicate rollouts can be non-zero, divergent files

omarpinarecords commented on Aug 30, 2026

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