Feature request: Batch purge for archived threads (thread/purge)
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Feb 6, 2026 by cola-runner Closed Feb 6, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (etraut-openai, contributor)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
What variant of Codex are you using?
Codex App + CLI
What feature would you like to see?
Please add a v2 API to permanently delete archived threads in batch, e.g. thread/purge.
- Params:
threadIds: string[] - Per-item result:
purged | notFound | notArchived | inUse | failed
This is a clear complement to archive: archive is reversible, purge is final cleanup.
Additional information
I understand external PRs are invitation-only, so I’m opening this issue first.
I implemented a working prototype in my fork for reference:
- Branch: codex/thread-purge-api
- Commit: b20e9ae8c
If this aligns with your roadmap, I’m happy to submit an invited PR.
3 Comments
I don't think it makes sense to have a batch purge for all archived threads. That's too blunt of an instrument, especially for an API.
Thanks for the reply.
This came from a small, real issue I ran into while using the Codex app — some older, less relevant conversations (which didn’t appear in the CLI before) started to accumulate and mix in with current ones.
To better understand the situation, I put together a small tool to visualize and clean up archived threads: https://github.com/cola-runner/codex-history-manager
Sharing this here in case it’s helpful to others in a similar situation.
<img width="818" height="132" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f4a7cf1c-9568-443f-91c0-347222c95705" />
Called it six months early: Codex now has a thread deletion API and archived-chat bulk delete.
Maybe I’m ready to join OpenAI too 😄