codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Codex Windows Project Chats Disappearing / Project Persistence Broken

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

26.518.11428

What subscription do you have?

Company Subscription

What platform is your computer?

Windows 11

What issue are you seeing?

Main Symptom

Project chats disappear after:

restarting Codex, navigating away, reopening the app, sometimes I create a new chat inside a project and I get the chat window but it doesn't even show on the list

The project itself may still exist, but chats attached to the project disappear from the Projects UI/sidebar.

Normal non-project chats persist correctly.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

I reinstalled codex. that helped then the error came back

I have a complete report on the aditional information section

What is the expected behavior?

that the chats exist inside the projects and that I can cycle between them

Additional information

Important Findings

The chats are NOT actually lost.

The following local persistence files continue updating correctly:

Session storage C:\Users\HG-Admin.codex\sessions

Contains valid:

rollout-*.jsonl

files for all sessions.

Session index C:\Users\HG-Admin.codex\session_index.jsonl

Still contains valid thread IDs and thread names for missing project chats.

SQLite state database C:\Users\HG-Admin.codex\state_5.sqlite

continues updating normally.

Logs database C:\Users\HG-Admin.codex\logs_2.sqlite

exists and updates normally.

Important Observation

The issue appears to affect ONLY the project/workspace layer.

The underlying sessions remain recoverable via:

codex resume <thread-id>

This strongly suggests:

broken project/workspace indexing, stale workspace root mappings, or failed project-to-thread restoration. Recovery Attempts

The following were attempted:

Full reinstall temporarily fixes issue issue later returns Clearing caches

Deleted:

Cache Code Cache GPUCache

No permanent fix.

Resetting packaged app state

Deleted:

%LocalAppData%\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_*

Issue eventually returned.

Resetting .codex-global-state.json

No permanent fix.

Additional Technical Details

Relevant local directories:

C:\Users\HG-Admin.codex C:\Users\HG-Admin\AppData\Local\Packages\OpenAI.Codex_2p2nqsd0c76g0

Relevant migrations observed in state_5.sqlite:

threads cwd sort indexes thread spawn edges threads thread source thread goals thread dynamic tools namespace

This suggests project persistence may depend on:

cwd/worktree mappings, workspace root restoration, or thread source indexing. Reproduction Pattern Create project Create chat inside project Use normally Restart Codex or navigate away Reopen Codex Project chats disappear from sidebar/projects

Meanwhile:

session JSONL files still exist session index still contains entries chats remain resumable manually Expected Behavior

Project chats should remain attached to their projects/workspaces across restarts/navigation.

Actual Behavior

Project/workspace layer loses references to chats even though session data still exists locally.

Severity

High.

Projects become unreliable for long-running work because chats appear lost even though underlying session data still exists.