[Dots] Cloud computer lost files and browser sessions after Offline → Starting — is this intended? #49821

What issue are you seeing?

A dot's cloud computer appears to have lost its persistent state after going Offline and starting again.

Before the issue occurred, I had:

• synced an Obsidian vault to the cloud computer
• signed into Google in the cloud browser

Later, the cloud computer showed Offline. When I sent the dot another message, its status changed to Starting and the computer eventually came back online.

After it restarted:

• the previously synced Obsidian vault was gone
• the Google browser session/login was also gone
• the environment appeared to have been reset or reprovisioned

I would like to know whether this is intended behavior or a persistence bug.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open a dot and start its cloud computer.
2. Create or sync files into the cloud computer. In my case, I synced an Obsidian vault.
3. Sign into a website in the cloud browser. In my case, I signed into Google.
4. Leave the dot/cloud computer idle until it shows Offline.
5. Send the dot another message so the computer starts again.
6. After it returns to an online/running state, check the filesystem and browser session.

In my case, both the synced files and browser login were gone after the Offline → Starting cycle.

No code snippet is available; this is a cloud-computer lifecycle/persistence issue.

What is the expected behavior?

I expected the dot's cloud computer to preserve its filesystem and browser profile across a normal idle/offline → restart cycle.

Specifically:

• files stored on the cloud computer should remain available
• browser sessions should normally remain signed in unless the user logs out or the website expires the session
• restarting or reprovisioning the runtime should restore the same persistent state, if persistence is intended

If the cloud computer is intentionally ephemeral and local files/browser sessions may be lost after going Offline, I would appreciate clarification that this is expected behavior.

Additional information

This happened on a ChatGPT Pro account.

The key detail is that both filesystem state and browser session state disappeared at the same time, which makes this look like the environment was reset or its persistent state was not restored, rather than only a browser-cookie/session issue.

I also found another user reporting a very similar Offline → restart → fresh environment/data loss behavior on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/comments/1wu5zrb/dots_and_persistence/
This may indicate that the issue is not isolated to my account.