Chat threads jump projects

What version of Codex is running?

Codex Desktop / 26.422.30944

What platform is your computer?

macOS / Darwin arm64

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop sometimes shows chat threads under the wrong project, or under multiple projects, even when the project folders are normal directories and not symlinks.

A conversation started in one project can later appear in another project's thread list, or appear duplicated across project lists. The underlying chat does not seem to be deleted, but project/thread assignment becomes unreliable and confusing.

This looks related to #18483, but that issue focuses on symlink vs realpath identity. In this case the affected projects are separate normal folders, so the root cause appears broader than symlink canonicalization.

Steps to reproduce

I do not know how to reproduce, happens randomly like twice a day.

Observed behavior

• Threads sometimes appear in project lists they do not belong to.
• A thread may appear to jump from one project to another.
• The same thread may appear in multiple projects.
• This happens without symlinked workspace paths.
• The issue can look like chats were lost or reassigned, even though the thread still exists.

Expected behavior

A thread should remain associated with the project/workspace where it was created or explicitly resumed.

Codex Desktop should not show the same thread in unrelated projects unless cross-project threading is intentional, in which case the UI should make that relationship explicit.

Additional information

This is not the symlink/realpath case described in #18483. The project folders involved are normal directories.

Local environment from this report:

• Codex Desktop app version: 26.422.30944
• macOS kernel: Darwin 25.3.0
• Architecture: arm64