codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex Desktop in-app browser panel width is shared across projects [1 participants]

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

Unknown / current desktop app. I can add the exact version later if needed.

What subscription do you have?

Unknown / user report.

What platform is your computer?

Windows desktop app. Exact Windows build not checked yet.

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex Desktop in-app browser / side panel width appears to be persisted globally across projects instead of being remembered per project/workspace.

If I open one project and resize the browser/side panel to a certain width, then open another project, the second project inherits that same browser panel width. If I resize the browser panel in the second project and go back to the first project, the first project is also moved to that same new width.

The practical result is that different projects cannot keep their own browser panel layout. One project's browser width keeps changing the browser width in other projects.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open Codex Desktop.
2. Open Project A.
3. Open the in-app browser / side panel.
4. Resize the browser panel to a narrow or wide width.
5. Open Project B.
6. Observe that Project B inherits the browser panel width from Project A.
7. Resize the browser panel in Project B.
8. Return to Project A.
9. Observe that Project A now inherits the width from Project B.

What is the expected behavior?

Browser/side panel width should either:

• be persisted per project/workspace, or
• reset to a sane default per project/thread, or
• provide an explicit global preference if the shared behavior is intentional.

It should not silently mutate the browser panel width across unrelated projects.

What is the actual behavior?

The latest browser/side panel width appears to be shared globally across projects. Resizing the browser in one project changes the width used by other projects.

Why this matters

The in-app browser is often used for frontend validation and layout work. Different projects can need different panel widths. For example, one project may be tested in a narrow responsive layout while another needs a wide desktop preview. A global browser width makes switching projects disruptive because the user has to keep manually resizing the browser panel.

Suspected cause

This looks like a persisted UI layout state issue. It may be storing the browser/side-panel width in a global Electron/Codex Desktop state bucket instead of scoping it by workspace/project/thread.

This is only an inference from the observed behavior and from other reports showing Desktop/Electron UI state stored in shared Codex state such as ~/.codex/.codex-global-state.json / Electron persisted atom state. I have not inspected the exact key for this browser panel width.

Related issues found while checking for duplicates

I searched the public openai/codex issues and did not find this exact cross-project browser-width persistence bug.

Adjacent issues:

• #19460: resizing the side panel can cause composer overflow during planning flow.
• #18537: request for responsive/mobile viewport controls in the in-app browser.
• #19429: in-app browser screenshots can capture the wrong region/size.
• #19534: Desktop app reads/writes shared Electron-related state from Codex global state, which suggests globally persisted UI state can affect Desktop behavior.

Those are related to panel/browser sizing or shared Desktop state, but they do not appear to report this exact project-to-project browser width inheritance behavior.