Codex Desktop Archived chats page renders large gray overlay bands while scrolling/hovering

Resolved 💬 4 comments Opened Jun 10, 2026 by jskoiz Closed Jun 17, 2026

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

26.608.12217 (3722)

What subscription do you have?

Not collected.

Which model were you using?

N/A. This is a Codex Desktop settings UI rendering issue.

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.5.1 (25F80), Darwin 25.5.0, arm64.

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

N/A.

Codex doctor report

What issue are you seeing?

In Codex Desktop, the Settings -> Archived chats page can render large opaque gray horizontal overlay bands and displaced/floating archived-chat rows. The page remains partially interactive, but the visual state becomes corrupted enough that the archived list is difficult to use.

The corrupted view is not static: the visible glitch changes while hovering different rows/buttons or scrolling the Archived chats list. Depending on interaction state, I saw:

  • an empty/placeholder archived list with alternating dark stripes;
  • a grouped project list that renders normally at first;
  • after hover/scroll, wide gray bands covering large parts of the settings window and sidebar while some archived rows float above or below those bands;
  • an expanded project view where a selected row and the list panel remain visible but a wide gray overlay spans across the left sidebar and content area.

Screenshots:

Empty/striped archived list:

!Archived chats empty striped rendering glitch

Grouped projects initially visible:

!Archived chats grouped projects striped view

After scrolling/hovering, gray bands cover the page and rows float/displace:

!Archived chats scroll hover gray bands

Expanded project/list view with gray band across sidebar and content:

!Archived chats expanded project gray overlay

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Open Codex Desktop on macOS.
  2. Open Settings.
  3. Navigate to Archived chats.
  4. Use the Archived chats controls/list, including the project/grouped view.
  5. Hover over archived project rows, row action areas, or list controls.
  6. Scroll the archived list or expand a project with archived chats.

Actual result: the archived list and surrounding settings page can redraw into large gray bands/overlays, with some rows displaced or floating over the bands. The exact corrupted layout changes as hover/scroll state changes.

What is the expected behavior?

Settings -> Archived chats should render consistently while hovering and scrolling. Archived project rows and expanded archived chat rows should stay clipped/aligned inside the list panel, without gray overlay bands covering the sidebar or content area.

Additional information

I searched existing openai/codex issues and did not find an exact duplicate for Archived chats specifically rendering this way. These look related by area or symptom, but not exact matches:

  • #24853 - Settings layout/rendering bug in Hooks page on macOS.
  • #23811 - Persistent ghost overlay / duplicated blurred layer in Codex Desktop plugins page on Intel Mac.
  • #19259 - Stray horizontal overlay above Settings in the sidebar.
  • #25405 - "Could not load archived chats." on the Archived chats page, but that appears to be a load/performance failure rather than this visual corruption.

The screenshots are hosted in a secret gist only so they can render inline from this CLI-filed issue.

View original on GitHub ↗

4 Comments

Byebai13 · 2 months ago

I can reproduce what looks like the same issue on Codex Desktop 26.608.12217 build 3722 on macOS 26.4.1 (25E253, Apple Silicon / arm64).

Additional recovery/diagnostic signal from my repro:

  • Cmd+R does not recover the corrupted Archived chats view.
  • Typing any text into the Search archived chats / 搜索已归档聊天 field immediately recovers the view.
  • Deleting the typed text afterward keeps the page usable again, at least temporarily.

That makes this look less like a data-loading failure and more like a render/layout state issue in the Archived chats page. Updating the search input seems to force the archived list to re-filter/re-render/re-measure, which clears the large gray/pale overlay. A normal app refresh shortcut does not appear to invalidate the same state.

I originally opened #27542 with the same repro surface, but this issue appears to be the earlier/primary report, so I am closing mine as a duplicate.

ZhongBintao · 2 months ago

I can reproduce this on a newer Codex Desktop build as well:

  • Codex Desktop: 26.609.41114 build 3888
  • Bundled Codex CLI: codex-cli 0.140.0-alpha.2
  • macOS: 26.5.1 (25F80)
  • Architecture: Apple Silicon / arm64
  • Locale/UI: Chinese UI labels in the app

Repro path from my screen recording:

  1. Open Codex Desktop.
  2. Open Settings.
  3. Click Archived chats / 已归档对话 in the Settings sidebar.
  4. The Archived chats page shows the same kind of visual corruption described here: large pale/gray overlay bands across the settings content, with archived chat/project rows still visible in a partially displaced/floating state.

This looks like the same render/layout invalidation issue rather than a data-loading failure. It is also not tied to the current Codex conversation; it happens in the Codex app Settings UI when viewing archived chats.

I have a local screen recording that reproduces it, but I am intentionally not uploading the raw video because it contains private project/thread names and archived chat titles. The visible behavior matches the screenshots already attached in this issue.

ZhongBintao · 2 months ago

Adding a screen recording repro as requested:

The uploaded MP4 is a converted copy of the local recording with audio removed and a neutral filename. It shows the Settings -> Archived chats / 已归档对话 rendering issue described above.

jskoiz · 2 months ago

this was fixed in a recent build today.