Codex Desktop: Messages randomly disappear from chat despite being present in session logs #51938

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.1002.52244

What subscription do you have?

Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26300.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Messages are disappearing from conversations in the Codex desktop app, despite still being present in the underlying JSONL session logs.

I initially thought the messages had been lost, but after manually searching the session file, I confirmed that both my message and Codex's response were recorded successfully. Neither appears in the chat interface.

Confirmed example (October 7, 2026):

At approximately 5:30 PM EDT, I sent:

what else do you have to implement until you think we'll be at 41

Codex responded at approximately 5:41 PM EDT, beginning with:

On the current route to 41/48, there are three substantial blocks left:

1. Moving water
2. Plant/soil/contact coupling
3. Live integration and validation

The response concluded:

So we're still at 40/48. The main remaining work is water dynamics and coupled contact—not an unknown pile of random bugs.

Both messages are present in the JSONL log but completely absent from the Codex interface.

I've attached a screen recording showing me scrolling through the conversation past the relevant timestamps. The messages simply aren't there.

This is particularly concerning because users have no indication that parts of their conversation history are missing.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

I haven't identified the exact trigger yet, so I can't provide guaranteed reproduction steps. However, I can demonstrate a confirmed occurrence:

1. Open the affected conversation in the Codex desktop app.
2. Navigate to the messages from October 7, 2026, around 5:30–5:41 PM EDT.
3. Observe that the user message asking about reaching 41/48 and Codex's subsequent response are missing.
4. Open the corresponding local JSONL session log.
5. Locate line 21,893 (user message) and line 22,112 (Codex response).
6. Confirm that both messages exist in the session log but are absent from the chat interface.

Session ID: 01a10a7e-c27d-7f00-9892-627042fd2a24

The attached video demonstrates the missing messages in the UI.

Additional context: We regularly switch between different accounts in the Codex desktop app. I'm not sure whether this contributes to the issue, but I wanted to mention it in case account switching affects how conversation history is loaded or displayed.

The issue appears to occur intermittently. I haven't determined whether it's related to account switching, conversation length, context compaction, or something else.

Feedback ID: 01a10a7e-c27d-7f00-9892-627042fd2a24

What is the expected behavior?

All user messages and Codex responses successfully recorded in a conversation should be displayed in the chat interface, in their correct chronological order.

Reopening or scrolling through a conversation should reliably display its complete message history, without silently omitting messages.

If any messages cannot be loaded, the app should indicate that an error occurred instead of silently hiding them.

Additional information

Feedback / Session ID: 01a10a7e-c27d-7f00-9892-627042fd2a24
Exact locations in the JSONL session log:

• User message: Line 21,893, character 88,378,628
• Codex response: Line 22,112, character 89,393,754
  Raw JSONL evidence:
  The following is an excerpt from line 21,893, with unrelated metadata omitted. It confirms the missing user message was recorded:
  {
  "timestamp": "2026-10-07T21:30:00.234Z",
  "ordinal": 21892,
  "type": "response_item",
  "payload": {
  "type": "message",
  "role": "user",
  "content": [
  {
  "type": "input_text",
  "text": "what else do you have to implement until you think we'll be at 41\n"
  }
  ]
  }
  }

The corresponding Codex response is also present at line 22,112. Its JSONL entry contains:
{
"timestamp": "2026-10-07T21:41:04.253Z",
"ordinal": 22111,
"type": "response_item",
"payload": {
"type": "message",
"role": "assistant",
"content": [
{
"type": "output_text",
"text": "On the current route to 41/48, there are three substantial blocks left:\n\n1. Moving water: carry the plant’s opposite reaction, torque and energy.\n2. Plant/soil/contact coupling: combine water, air, plant deformation and support forces through a complete interval, including required damage/release behavior.\n3. Live integration and validation: demonstrate conservation, save/replay and Normal/Warp agreement in the actual scene.\n\nThe curved pressure calculation has now passed qualification for the tested original plant case, including the faster integration.\n\nSo we’re still at 40/48. The main remaining work is water dynamics and coupled contact—not an unknown pile of random bugs."
}
],
"phase": "final_answer"
}
}

Both excerpts preserve the relevant values from the original JSONL records, with unrelated metadata omitted.
We also regularly switch between different accounts in the Codex desktop app, although I'm unsure whether this contributes to the issue.
I suspect there may be other missing messages that I haven't discovered, since I only noticed this instance because I specifically remembered the conversation and went looking for it.
The underlying messages are preserved in the session logs, suggesting the issue may be related to how the desktop app loads, paginates, or renders conversation history.
I've attached a screen recording demonstrating the missing messages in the interface.