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[macOS 26.924] ChatGPT-linked projects disappear after sidebar request failures; local projects remain #49121
Description
macOS: ChatGPT-linked projects disappear from sidebar after sidebar request failures; local projects remain
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
26.924.22138, build 11645. Read from the installed app's Info.plist; the app bundle is named ChatGPT.app and has bundle identifier com.openai.codex.
What subscription do you have?
Not collected for this report. ChatGPT authentication is in use.
What platform is your computer?
macOS 26.6.2; uname -mprs: Darwin 25.6.0 arm64 arm.
What issue are you seeing?
All four ChatGPT-linked project entries are absent from the expanded Projects sidebar, while five local folder projects are visible. The user reports the missing projects were visible on September 28, 2026 and disappeared on September 29. This is not a collapsed Projects section.
Existing local Work chats associated with the missing projects remain visible under recent tasks, and their hover cards still show the correct project names. The corresponding local project directories and cached project metadata still exist.
Read-only diagnostics show an inconsistency:
- The built-in list_projects tool returns only the five local projects and omits all four ChatGPT-linked projects.
- The built-in list_threads tool's Projects section still contains four chatgpt:project entries, and existing threads retain their g-p- project associations.
- Persisted chatgpt-sidebar-state-v1 contains the four named projects. Local project records and project mirror directories exist.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
Observed sequence, not yet a controlled reproduction:
- Use the desktop app with both ChatGPT-linked projects and local folder projects.
- The application experiences network failures affecting ChatGPT sidebar and account requests.
- Observe the expanded Projects sidebar after account lookup subsequently succeeds: the local folder projects are present, but all ChatGPT-linked projects are absent.
- Hover over an existing chat belonging to a missing project: its project name is still displayed.
The app has not been restarted, signed out, or reset during this investigation. Project state has not been edited. Whether restarting restores these entries remains unverified.
What is the expected behavior?
Existing projects should remain discoverable. If the cloud project list cannot be refreshed, show an explicit unavailable/retry state or stale cached project entries rather than making the project group appear deleted. Once connectivity is usable again, retry the project sidebar fetch and reconcile project entries and chat memberships.
Additional information
Relevant local log observations from September 29, 2026. Times below are UTC; local timezone is Asia/Shanghai (UTC+08:00). These are selected diagnostic fields, not full raw logs:
| UTC time | Operation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 00:43:08.000 | GET /gizmos/snorlax/sidebar | net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED |
| 00:50:29.944 | chatgpt-account-lookup | result=failed; accounts_request_failed |
| 00:51:08.835 | Thread catalog sync | net::ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT |
| 00:53:38.608 | GET /gizmos/snorlax/sidebar | net::ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT |
| 01:01:40.802 | Thread catalog sync | net::ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT |
| 01:02:14.197 | GET /gizmos/snorlax/sidebar | net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED |
| 01:02:38.004 | GET /gizmos/snorlax/sidebar | net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED |
| 01:02:49.063 | chatgpt-account-lookup | authenticatedAccountPresent=true; result=succeeded |
| 01:16–01:20 | list_projects / UI checks | Four ChatGPT-linked projects still absent; five local projects present |
Working hypothesis: cloud sidebar loading/recovery or cached-state reconciliation fails after network errors. This is not a confirmed code-level root cause. A successful account lookup does not establish that the project endpoint is reachable, and the logs do not establish whether a later sidebar request succeeded.
Related reports reviewed: #47363 (Windows 26.917, projects disappear after update) and #32845 (older macOS version, all cloud history/projects/memory missing). This report adds the narrower mixed-project case on 26.924, retained project memberships/cache, and timed sidebar request failures. Maintainers may consolidate if these share a root cause.
Project names, project IDs, account IDs, usernames, local home paths, conversation contents, screenshots, and full raw logs are intentionally omitted from this public report.
Activity
grichenko commentedon Sep 30, 2026
Have a similar problem in desktop version of ChatGPT on Windows 11. Did not debug it, but the effect is similar: a project not present in sidebar and not found by search; shown fine in web and android versions.
mweresa-alt commentedon Oct 6, 2026
I can reproduce this on two separate Macs with the same ChatGPT account/workspace, so this does not appear to be a single-machine cache problem.
Current app version
Observed behavior
list_projectsresult still returns all 12 ChatGPT projects.list_threadsresult still contains all 12chatgpt:project:*entries in the Projects section, and existing chats retain their project associations.Recovery attempts already completed
None of these restored the project list. Reinstalling is therefore unlikely to help.
Relevant diagnostics
Authenticated workspace changedduring startup.Desktop network policy does not allow this destination.Expected behavior
The desktop sidebar should render the ChatGPT project entries already returned by
list_projectsand present in the Projects section returned bylist_threads. If project metadata cannot be resolved, the UI should show a retry/error state instead of ‘No projects’.Project names, project IDs, account IDs, local paths, conversation content, and raw logs are intentionally omitted.
mweresa-alt commentedon Oct 7, 2026
Update after testing the latest production build on macOS:
list_projectscall successfully returns all 12 ChatGPT projects.list_threadscontains all 12chatgpt:project:*entries in the Projects section;unavailableHostsandunavailableSourcesare both empty.[desktop-notifications][global-error] ResizeObserver loop completed with undelivered notifications.This further suggests a desktop sidebar rendering/state-reconciliation issue rather than project deletion or a failed project fetch. Project names, IDs, account details, local paths, and raw logs are intentionally omitted.