Codex Desktop projects/threads not visible on second Windows device with same ChatGPT Pro account
Summary
A user signed in to Codex Desktop on a second Windows device with the same ChatGPT Pro account and expected existing Codex projects/threads from the main device to appear in the sidebar. The second device showed no existing project/session history.
This may be expected behavior if Codex Desktop project/thread state is local-device scoped, but the current product behavior is unclear from the user's perspective because ChatGPT conversation history normally appears across devices after signing in.
Environment
- Platform: Windows
- Product surface: Codex Desktop app
- Account: same ChatGPT Pro account on both devices
- Device scenario: existing main PC with multiple Codex projects/sessions, then a newly configured secondary Windows PC signed in with the same account
What I expected
After signing in to Codex Desktop on the second Windows device with the same account, at least some account-level Codex project/thread/task list should appear, or the app should clearly indicate that local Desktop projects and prior local sessions are device-specific.
What actually happened
The second Windows device did not show the existing Codex project/session entries from the main device.
The user confirmed this was not likely a billing/account mismatch: the same account and same Pro plan were being used.
Clarifying questions
- Are Codex Desktop projects/threads expected to sync across devices on the same account?
- Are local Codex Desktop sessions stored per device/workspace rather than account-wide?
- Is the expected behavior different between Codex Desktop, Codex web, and mobile/remote-control surfaces?
- What is the recommended recovery or handoff path when a user sets up Codex on a new computer?
- If cross-device thread/project visibility is not currently supported, could the UI make this explicit so users do not interpret it as an account or subscription problem?
Impact
For non-developer or home users using Codex as a continuity layer across multiple personal devices, this creates uncertainty about recovery and handoff. If a main device fails, users may assume their Codex project/session history will be available after signing in on a new machine, but that does not appear to happen in this scenario.
No tokens, private logs, or workspace data are included here.
3 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
Powered by Codex Action
Thanks for the duplicate suggestions. I reviewed #24737 and #24212.
Those issues appear to focus on Codex Mobile / remote-control visibility of Desktop sessions, including Desktop-to-Mobile or Desktop SSH remote session control.
This issue is slightly different: it is about Codex Desktop on a second Windows device signed in with the same ChatGPT Pro account, where the existing Codex Desktop project/thread/session list from the main Windows device was not visible.
So the narrower clarification is:
If this behavior is intentionally local-device scoped, a short UI/docs clarification would help users avoid interpreting it as an account or subscription problem.
The app should make the storage boundary explicit.
If Codex Desktop history is device-local, show
local to this devicenear projects/sessions and offer export/import or sync status. If account sync is expected, each session needs source device id, project key, transcript root, last sync time, and conflict status so a blank second device is diagnosable.---
_Generated with ax._