Closed side chats cannot be reopened, making side-chat history effectively unrecoverable

Codex app version

Desktop Codex: 26.609.30741 — released Jun 11, 2026

Platform / plan

• macOS Tahoe 26.5.1
• Apple Silicon MacBook Pro
• Pro plan

Summary

Codex Desktop currently does not appear to provide a way to reopen an old side chat after the side chat has been closed.

If a user accidentally or intentionally closes a side chat, there is no obvious entry point to find and reopen that previous side-chat transcript. The main conversation menu has an Open side chat option, but I cannot find a way to list or restore previously closed side chats for the same parent conversation.

I am not sure whether this is an unfinished feature or a bug, but it creates a serious usability problem.

Observed behavior

• A side chat is opened from a normal Codex conversation.
• The user discusses something inside the side chat.
• The side chat is then closed, either accidentally or intentionally.
• After closing it, there is no visible way to reopen that same old side chat.
• The user cannot review the previous side-chat messages or continue from that side-chat context.

Expected behavior

Codex should provide a way to reopen previous side chats for a parent conversation.

Possible solutions:

• show a list of side chats attached to the parent conversation,
• add a Reopen side chat / View side chat history option,
• keep closed side chats accessible from the parent conversation menu,
• or show side chats as child threads under the main conversation.

Actual behavior

Once a side chat is closed, the previous side-chat transcript appears to become inaccessible from the UI. The user cannot easily view or continue the old side chat.

Why this matters

Side chats can contain important debugging notes, temporary plans, clarifying discussion, or context that affects the main task. If the user cannot reopen a closed side chat, important information may effectively be lost.

This is especially risky because users may close a side chat accidentally, or close it intentionally expecting that it can be reopened later. If they later need to review what happened there, there is no clear recovery path.

Request

Please improve or fix side-chat persistence and discoverability. Users should be able to reopen and review old side chats associated with a parent conversation, instead of losing access to the transcript after the side chat is closed.