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Codex Desktop history missing from sidebar after update, while CLI and deep links can access sessions

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
25/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
sqlite
Domain
databases, desktop

Research direction

The payload points at ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite, where the threads table has has_user_event=0 for the affected rows, and at the rollout JSONL files under ~/.codex/sessions/, which contain the user messages. Start by checking which code writes has_user_event and how the Desktop sidebar filters threads, then compare against what codex resume --all in CLI 0.161.0 lists. Done means the affected threads reappear in the sidebar without manual database edits, and the fix is confirmed on a database where has_user_event is 0.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

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

26.1002.52244

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.6.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

After updating Codex Desktop on macOS to version 26.1002.52244 (Oct 7, 2026), several existing conversations disappeared from the Desktop sidebar, although they remain accessible through Codex CLI 0.161.0 using codex resume --all and can also be opened directly via codex://threads/<session_id>. I inspected ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite and found 8 regular user threads, all with source=vscode, archived=0, valid rollout JSONL files, existing working directories, and non-empty preview and first_user_message fields. However, all 8 threads have has_user_event=0, despite their JSONL files containing between 5 and 192 actual user messages. I have already tried restarting Codex, rebuilding the Desktop UI cache, reopening the original project directories, and updating has_user_event=1 for one affected thread after creating a backup. None of these restored the missing conversations to the sidebar. SQLite integrity checks return ok. I also previously resumed some sessions using the CLI and terminated a lingering Codex process, although I cannot confirm whether this is related. Expected behavior: All existing, non-archived user conversations should remain visible in the Desktop history/sidebar after updates. Actual behavior: Some conversations are hidden from the sidebar despite being readable through CLI and direct deep links. Could you investigate whether this is caused by a Desktop thread catalog synchronization, source filtering, or session indexing issue, and provide a supported way to rebuild the conversation list without losing history?

What steps can reproduce the bug?
Steps to Reproduce
  1. Use Codex Desktop on macOS to create several conversations across different projects, including long-running conversations initiated through the VS Code integration.
  2. Confirm that the conversations contain user messages and assistant responses and are initially accessible.
  3. Update Codex Desktop to version 26.1002.52244 (Oct 7, 2026) and restart the application.
  4. Open the original projects in Codex Desktop and check the conversation sidebar. Some previously existing conversations are missing.
  5. Open Terminal and run codex resume --all using Codex CLI 0.161.0. The missing conversations are still listed and can be resumed successfully.
  6. Open an affected conversation directly using codex://threads/<thread_id>. The conversation opens correctly in Codex Desktop, but it still does not appear in the normal sidebar history.
  7. Restart Codex Desktop and rebuild its UI cache. The missing conversations remain absent.
What is the expected behavior?

Expected behavior: All existing, non-archived conversations should remain visible in the Codex Desktop sidebar after an update.

Actual behavior: Some conversations disappear from the sidebar, even though they remain accessible through the CLI and direct thread links.

Reproducibility: Observed consistently on my existing installation after the update. I have not confirmed whether the issue reproduces on a clean installation.

Additional information
Additional Findings
  • The affected conversations exist in ~/.codex/sessions/ and are recorded in state_5.sqlite.
  • The regular user threads have archived=0, source=vscode, and valid, non-empty preview and first_user_message fields.
  • All 8 regular user threads have has_user_event=0, despite their JSONL files containing actual user messages.
  • Manually setting has_user_event=1 for one affected thread did not resolve the issue.
  • SQLite integrity checks return ok.
  • I previously used codex resume and force-terminated a lingering CLI process. I am unsure whether this contributed to the issue.
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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