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Codex Issues / #24534

Support custom storage path for Codex Desktop Chats/projectless workspaces

Open 💬 14 comments Opened May 26, 2026 by JordanQD
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

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

26.519.41501

What subscription do you have?

GPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26300.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop currently appears to save projectless chats/workspaces under a default path such as:

C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Codex\<date>\<conversation>

On my machine, my actual Documents location is not this path. I would like to store Codex chats and generated projectless conversation files under a custom directory, for example:

C:\Users\<user>\Data\Codex

However, I could not find a supported config.toml option for changing the Chats/session storage path.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Feedback ID: 019e629e-1e2e-7012-adb1-0206075bc057

When starting a conversation without opening a project, Codex Desktop creates/saves conversation workspace files under the default Documents-based Codex directory.

  • This is inconvenient when: The user's Windows Documents folder has been redirected elsewhere.
  • The user wants Codex data stored on another drive or under a dedicated data directory.
  • The user wants all Codex chats, generated files, and projectless workspaces in a predictable custom location.
  • The default path is not suitable for backup, sync, privacy, or disk organization reasons.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should provide a supported way to configure where local Chats/projectless conversation workspaces are stored.

For example, one of these would work:

chat_storage_dir = "C:\\Users\\<user>\\Data\\Codex\\Chats"

or:

projectless_workspace_dir = "C:\\Users\\<user>\\Data\\Codex\\Workspaces"

or a Codex Desktop settings UI option such as:

Default chat/workspace storage location

Additional information

I understand that CODEX_HOME may move the broader Codex home directory, but that is a global data/config relocation. It would be useful to have a narrower, documented setting specifically for Codex Desktop Chats/projectless workspace storage.

View original on GitHub ↗

14 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 3 months ago

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

  • #24222

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nos1609 · 2 months ago

Same problem as there https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/20880
looks like definitely an architectural design flaw, starting to annoying already on daily basis manually cleaning up those undesirables residues leftovers

miangino · 2 months ago

When is this going to be applied? It is very annoying to manually have to create the new folders every time you want to create a new project.

Yiivgeny · 2 months ago

My ~/Documents folder is synced with iCloud, so Codex projectless workspaces under ~/Documents/Codex trigger unwanted uploads/downloads. Please add a setting to change this base directory.

IK-R-S · 2 months ago

Do something @kkahadze-oai

dsteinbock · 2 months ago

@etraut-openai Some of the issues you duped to this one have a slightly different scope. This one is about the default folder for project-less workspaces. The others are about the default folder for new project workspaces created via 'Add new project > Start from scratch'.

Arguably one setting could cover both but I wanted to flag since this issue is now missing the 'new project' feature scope.

montanaflynn · 2 months ago

I couldn't believe this wasn't an option but after digging through settings I gave up and found this and the several duplicate issues.

lancy69 · 1 month ago

For now, my solution is to do everything in projects with folders I created manually until the location of ~/Documents/Codex can be configured. 😂

007yylerth · 1 month ago

Adding a current Windows data point and clarifying the new project scope.

Environment

  • Codex Desktop 26.721.4979.0
  • Windows 11

Observed behavior
Creating a project with Add new project → Start from scratch still creates it under the Windows Documents directory (for example, C:\Users\<user>\Documents\...). The user needs every newly generated project to default to another drive, specifically:

D:\Projects\Codex

A global AGENTS.md instruction cannot solve this reliably: the Desktop app chooses and creates the workspace directory before the agent operates in that workspace. Inspection of the current packaged Desktop code also shows the default workspace-root path is derived from Electron's app.getPath("documents"), and I could not find a supported persistent setting that overrides it.

Requested behavior
Please add a Codex Desktop setting such as Default new-project directory that:

  1. Accepts an absolute local path such as D:\Projects\Codex.
  2. Applies to all app-created local projects, including Start from scratch and projectless workspace creation (or provide separate settings for these two scopes).
  3. Validates/creates the configured directory and gives a clear prompt if the drive is unavailable.
  4. Does not silently fall back to C: or Documents; require explicit user consent before using a fallback.
  5. Does not require changing the Windows Documents known-folder location system-wide.

This is important on machines where C: is reserved for the OS or has limited capacity, and where projects must live on a dedicated development drive.

vasilevdasfo · 1 month ago

I can reproduce the same underlying projectless-workspace failure on macOS through the ChatGPT/Codex Chrome side panel.

Additional Chrome side-panel reproduction

  1. ~/Documents/Codex is a symbolic link to an existing, writable directory.
  2. A Codex Desktop task is open and has a valid local working directory.
  3. Open the ChatGPT Chrome extension side panel.
  4. Open New task / Search recent tasks.
  5. The current Desktop task is not available in the picker.
  6. The side panel then attempts to create a separate projectless task and fails with:

Projectless thread directory must be a real directory

Expected

  • The side panel should allow selecting the already open project-backed/local task; or
  • projectless workspace validation should resolve and accept a symlink to a real writable directory; or
  • the app should expose a supported configurable projectless workspace path.

Actual

The current task is omitted from the Chrome picker. The fallback projectless creation route rejects the symlink and cannot create the task.

Environment

  • macOS 26.5.1 (25F80)
  • ChatGPT/Codex Desktop 26.721.41059, build 5848
  • Google Chrome 150.0.7871.187
  • Chrome extension 1.2.27221.15725
  • Codex CLI/runtime 0.146.0-alpha.3.1

The Chrome extension/native browser connection itself works: browser tabs can be discovered and controlled. The failure is in task selection/projectless workspace creation, not native-host connectivity.

This appears to add a Chrome side-panel impact to #24534 and the exact symlink failure described in duplicate #24734.

mukhtharcm · 1 month ago
For now, my solution is to do everything in projects with folders I created manually until the location of ~/Documents/Codex can be configured. 😂

having the same issue.

is there any idea what to do with existing threads?

lancy69 · 16 days ago
is there any idea what to do with existing threads?

For now, I just archive and then delete sessions over 30 days stale, until all sessions not in projects are deleted.

wherewolf87 · 3 days ago

+1 from Windows Codex Desktop 26.818.8289.0. This request also needs to cover canonical session history, not only generated projectless workspace files:

%USERPROFILE%\.codex\sessions
%USERPROFILE%\.codex\archived_sessions

In an agent-heavy workflow, parent and subagent rollout files can grow by hundreds of gigabytes and exhaust the Windows system drive while another NTFS drive has ample capacity. CODEX_HOME moves the broader state/config surface, and manual NTFS junctions are an unsupported workaround that makes migration, recovery, updates, and missing-drive behavior harder to reason about.

Please include:

  • A Desktop setting and documented config/CLI keys for active-session and archived-session roots.
  • An atomic migration tool that preserves the state database, sidebar projects, pinned chats, and task continuity.
  • A clear unavailable-drive state that blocks session writes instead of falling back to C: or leaving partial state.
  • Separate retention controls for durable parent tasks and temporary closed-subagent rollouts.
  • A storage-use view with per-category cleanup and retention controls.

This also connects to #22593, where forked sessions amplify on-disk history, and #20864, where large session stores hurt Desktop performance.

nos1609 · 2 days ago

You really waited that long so I push the button to cancel my Pro subscription 😁

<img width="475" height="127" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a6a9792f-36ca-4ecc-bcd0-8e4000376624" />

The today's update v.26.820.60940

<img width="469" height="139" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/dcc32120-33a2-4ce8-b395-57d07afe1ed7" />