[macOS][ChatGPT Desktop][Cloud Projects] Web-created Chats stay out of last-active order and omit unread dots #40731

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

ChatGPT desktop app 26.820.60940 (build 7119)

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.6.2 (25G83), Darwin 25.6.0 arm64

What issue are you seeing?

Ordinary Chat conversations created or continued on chatgpt.com inside a ChatGPT Cloud Project do not present correctly in the macOS desktop app's nested Project Chats list.

This report is specifically about Chat, not ChatGPT Work tasks, Scheduled Tasks, or Codex tasks.

On the same account and same Cloud Project:

• chatgpt.com orders the Chats by current/latest activity;
• chatgpt.com shows the small unread indicator for a Chat with a new unread response;
• the desktop app leaves the same Chat in a stale position instead of moving it according to latest activity; and
• the desktop app does not show the unread-dot indicator on that Chat.

The conversations remain accessible. The problem appears limited to desktop ordering and unread-state presentation.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open chatgpt.com and enter an existing ChatGPT Cloud Project.
2. Create or continue an ordinary Chat inside that Project.
3. Let the Chat become the most recently active item, or let it receive a response while it is not open.
4. In the web Project Chats list, confirm that the Chat moves according to current activity and shows as unread when applicable.
5. Open the same Cloud Project in the macOS ChatGPT desktop app.
6. Compare the same Project's Chat ordering and unread indicator.
7. Observe that the desktop Project list can retain the older order and omit the unread dot.

What is the expected behavior?

For the same Cloud Project Chat, the desktop app should reflect current last-active ordering and unread state, consistent with the same-account web view.

Actual behavior

The desktop Project Chats list can remain out of last-active order and omit the small unread indicator even though the web view has the current order and unread state.

Additional information

• A read-only desktop host inventory exposes current updatedAt values for the affected ordinary Chat records and distinguishes them from Codex tasks and Work tasks.
• That inventory returns current chat metadata, while the nested Project list remains visibly stale. This supports a desktop presentation/state-subscription issue rather than conversation data loss.
• The unread value is not exposed by that inventory, so the missing dot is a direct cross-surface UI observation.
• Projectless Chat has not been tested and is NOT_PROVED.
• No restart, account change, permission change, trace upload, or private attachment was used.

Official documentation says Chat and Work both appear as chats in a Project's Chats section, and that Activity view can include unread Chat items:

• https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/projects
• https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/notifications

Related but not exact duplicates:

• Codex Desktop: active thread appears at bottom despite newest recency after pin/unpin #35090 - stale normal-sidebar recency after pin/unpin for a Codex thread
• [app] Activity view keeps stale ordering after chats receive new activity #36300 - stale ordering inside Activity view
• [app][Windows] Project sidebar thread list can remain out of recency order #37266 - stale project thread ordering on Windows
• Codex Desktop: sidebar conversation order changes after switching tasks and resets after toggling Activity #36699 - stale Codex conversation order repaired by toggling Activity

This report differs because it concerns web-created ordinary ChatGPT Cloud Project Chats on macOS desktop, requires no pin/unpin trigger, and includes both stale last-active ordering and a missing unread-dot indicator.

Feedback submitted via /feedback:

• Feedback ID: 01a03b23-9107-73f3-9619-d50052f15de4