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[iOS Remote on Windows] Custom sections sync their names but omit all Codex projects #42315
Description
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
Codex App for Windows 26.831.2377.0; bundled Codex CLI/app-server 0.152.1.
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT subscription with Codex access (exact tier not re-confirmed for this report).
What platform is your computer?
Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64
Remote client: ChatGPT app on iOS (exact mobile build is not exposed in the Remote UI).
What issue are you seeing?
Codex iOS Remote receives the custom section names from the paired Windows host, but every custom section is empty when the section contains Codex projects rather than individual threads.
The Windows Codex sidebar currently has 28 local projects organized into five custom sections. iOS Remote can now see all 28 projects in its project picker, but the same five custom sections appear with no items inside them.
This is distinct from the recent-project discovery regression tracked in #36040: the projects themselves are visible and selectable on iOS, but their Desktop section membership is not represented.
Current result:
- Desktop: 28 Codex projects correctly grouped into five custom sections.
- iOS project picker: all 28 projects visible.
- iOS sidebar: the five section names are visible, but all five sections are empty.
- Existing conversations and Desktop project organization remain intact.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- On Codex Desktop for Windows, create a custom sidebar section.
- Move one or more Codex projects (project folders, not individual threads) into that section.
- Confirm that the projects appear inside the section on Desktop.
- Pair the ChatGPT iOS app with the Windows host and open Codex Remote.
- Confirm that the project picker can list the same projects.
- Open the Remote sidebar and expand the custom section.
- Observe that the section name exists but contains no projects.
Additional controlled test:
- Using the first-party Codex sidebar operation, move one project from its custom section back to the default Projects section.
- Move it immediately back into its original custom section.
- Verify on Desktop that the project membership was rewritten successfully.
- Refresh/reopen iOS Remote.
- The corresponding iOS section remains empty.
What is the expected behavior?
iOS Remote should show the same Codex projects inside the same custom sections as the paired Desktop host. Project membership and order should use Desktop as the source of truth.
If project items are intentionally unsupported inside Remote custom sections, the mobile UI should not display misleading empty copies of those sections.
Additional information
Local protocol/state inspection suggests a representation mismatch:
- Desktop custom-section state stores project members as item keys such as
codex:project:<project-id>. - The generated app-server schema describes
ThreadSectionas a thread section. ThreadSectionMoveParamsacceptsthreadId,sectionId, andbeforeThreadId, but has no project membership field or project move equivalent.- The project schema has no section identifier.
This appears to explain why section names synchronize while project membership does not: Remote sections are currently modeled for threads, while Desktop custom sections can contain projects.
Related but distinct issue: #36040 (iOS Remote only lists projects with recent chats).
Activity
github-actions commentedon Sep 2, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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thednaz commentedon Sep 2, 2026
Cross-platform confirmation
I can reproduce the same behavior with Desktop hosts on both Windows and macOS:
The projects themselves remain visible under the default Projects area, so the missing data is specifically custom-section project membership. Moving a project out of a section and back on Desktop does not repair the Remote view.
This rules out a single phone, a single mobile installation, a Windows-only host problem, and a one-off local database/cache problem. Please consider broadening the issue scope/title and labels to include macOS.
matthewod11-stack commentedon Sep 8, 2026
Confirming the same section-membership symptom with a macOS host and ChatGPT iOS Remote, observed September 7, 2026.
Desktop has local projects assigned to several custom sections. A read-only check through the desktop sidebar API confirmed that the sections still contain the expected project IDs. On iOS Remote, the section names appear, but the projects are presented in the flat Projects list instead of their desktop sections. The desktop organization remains intact.
Expected: Remote should preserve the host's project section membership and saved display names, so the same project is recognizable and organized consistently across devices.
The separate display-name discrepancy is also present here: Remote uses folder basenames where desktop uses customized names (related to #36454). Project discovery is another distinct issue: starting normal chats made previously missing projects appear, but did not restore desktop section placement (see #36040).
This adds macOS confirmation to the Windows report. Exact desktop/mobile build numbers were not captured with the screenshots; no claim about the underlying implementation or cause.
pradeeptathineni commentedon Sep 19, 2026
Confirming Mac Codex app and iPhone ChatGPT/Codex-remote app sections mismatch. Sections created and arranged on Mac, working no issues there. Sections all at the top on iPhone, showing no evidence of the organization taken on Mac.
swooshboyQ commentedon Oct 6, 2026
Same here, tested it with two different mac remote connections. Sections are empty and even deleted projects from the past appear after connection with ios.