codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix **Subject: Possible Bug – Project Missing from Project List but Chat Still Exists**

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

26.527.31326

What subscription do you have?

Plus

What platform is your computer?

Windows

What issue are you seeing?

Subject: Possible Bug – Project Missing from Project List but Chat Still Exists

Hello Codex Team,

I believe I may have encountered a bug related to project persistence or indexing.

I created a project named “Marketing” and had an existing chat inside it called “Inspect Archives-app.com”. Everything appeared normal initially. However, after closing Codex and reopening it later, the Marketing project no longer appeared in the project list.

The strange part is that I was still able to find the chat “Inspect Archives-app.com” using search. The search result indicates that the chat still belongs to the same folder/project, which suggests the data still exists, but the project itself is not visible in the project list.

I then created a new project with the exact same name and same folder path (“Marketing”), but the previously existing chat does not appear inside the recreated project.

This makes me concerned that:

• The project indexing or project list may not be syncing correctly.
• Existing chats may become detached from their projects.
• Projects may disappear from the UI even though their underlying data still exists.

I am also worried that if I close Codex again, the recreated project may disappear as well.

Could you please investigate whether this is a known issue related to project indexing, persistence, or local metadata synchronization?

I would appreciate any guidance on how to safely recover or reconnect the original project without risking losing the chat history.

Thank you.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open Codex and create a new project named “Marketing” linked to a local folder.

2. Create or use an existing chat inside the project (in my case, the chat was named “Inspect Archives-app.com”).

3. Close Codex completely.

4. Reopen Codex.

5. Observe that the project no longer appears in the project list.

6. Use search to find the previously created chat.

7. Observe that the chat still exists and appears to reference the original project/folder, even though the project itself is missing from the project list.

8. Create a new project using the same name (“Marketing”) and the same folder path.

9. Observe that the previously existing chat does not appear inside the recreated project.

Note: I have not confirmed whether this reproduces consistently every time, but this is the sequence of events that led to the issue on my machine.

What is the expected behavior?

The expected behavior is that after reopening Codex, the “Marketing” project should still appear in the project list, and the existing chat (“Inspect Archives-app.com”) should remain associated with that project and be visible inside it.

If a chat is still searchable and linked to a project folder, the corresponding project should also remain visible and accessible in the UI.

Additionally, recreating a project using the same folder path and project name should ideally reconnect to the existing project metadata and associated chats, or at minimum provide a recovery prompt instead of appearing as an entirely separate empty project.

Additional information

• I was able to find the missing chat via search, which suggests the chat data was not deleted and may still exist locally or in metadata.
• The search result appeared to indicate that the chat still belonged to the original project/folder, even though the project itself was missing from the project list.
• After recreating a project with the same name and folder path, the old chat did not reappear inside the recreated project.
• I am concerned this may be related to project indexing, local cache, metadata persistence, or synchronization after restarting Codex.
• I have not yet verified whether the issue reproduces consistently.
• OS: Windows
• I can provide additional details, logs, screenshots, or local folder information if needed.