codex - 💡(How to fix) Fix Windows Codex App sidebar hides many threads and some codex:// thread links fail to open existing local threads

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

26.519.21041

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 11 NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex App sidebar on Windows intermittently hides existing local threads and sometimes makes existing threads impossible to open from codex:// links.

Feedback ID: 019d881f-670a-7e21-a6bf-987d5dd75aed

Symptoms:

• I have around 80+ local Codex threads across several projects.
• The local Codex state database still contains the threads, and their rollout JSONL files exist.
• The sidebar shows only a subset of threads.
• Sometimes project groups become empty and threads move to the generic Chats area.
• Sometimes previously visible threads disappear after restart/reboot, while other older threads appear.
• Some codex://threads/<thread_id> links do not open the target thread unless that thread is currently visible/loaded in the sidebar.
• Restarting Codex and rebooting Windows did not fix it.
• Changing sorting to Chronological did not fix it.

One observed error when trying to resume a thread:

cannot resume running thread 019e4751-d521-7290-9627-e501f3d7d2d3 with stale path: requested \\?\C:\Users\<USER>\.codex\sessions\2026\05\21\rollout-2026-05-21T00-36-45-019e4751-d521-7290-9627-e501f3d7d2d3.jsonl, active C:\Users\<USER>\.codex\sessions\2026\05\21\rollout-2026-05-21T00-36-45-019e4751-d521-7290-9627-e501f3d7d2d3.jsonl

This looks like either:

• a sidebar pagination/limit/virtualization bug;
• a state synchronization bug between local DB, global state, and session files;
• or a Windows path normalization bug (\\?\C:\... vs C:\...) that prevents resume.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Use Codex App on Windows with many local threads, approximately 80+.

2. Organize threads across multiple projects/workspaces.

3. Close and reopen Codex App, or reboot Windows and open Codex again.

4. Open the left sidebar and check project groups.

5. Observe that only part of the existing threads are visible.

6. Try opening an existing hidden thread through a deep link, for example:

   codex://threads/019e4751-d521-7290-9627-e501f3d7d2d3

7. In some cases the thread does not open, even though the local state DB still has it and the rollout JSONL exists.

8. In one case Codex showed a stale path error caused by different Windows path forms: \\?\C:\Users\<USER>\... vs C:\Users\<USER>\...

I also generated a local HTML index directly from the Codex local state DB as a workaround. It confirms that the threads exist locally, but the app sidebar and/or deep links do not reliably expose them.

What is the expected behavior?

All existing local threads should remain discoverable and openable.

Expected:

• The sidebar should show all active threads, or provide reliable pagination/search if there is a display limit.
• Project groups should not randomly become empty after restart.
• Existing threads should not move unpredictably between project groups and generic Chats.
• codex://threads/<thread_id> should open any existing local thread regardless of whether it is currently visible in the sidebar.
• Windows path normalization should treat \\?\C:\... and C:\... as the same session file when resuming a thread.

Additional information

Related/possibly similar issue: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/13846

Feedback ID: 019d881f-670a-7e21-a6bf-987d5dd75aed

Local observations:

• Codex local DB: C:\Users\<USER>\.codex\state_5.sqlite
• Session files: C:\Users\<USER>\.codex\sessions\...
• App logs: C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Codex\Logs\...
• The issue persisted after Codex restart and Windows reboot.
• A local export from the DB can list the missing threads, so this does not look like deleted data.