Codex Desktop projects are shared across different accounts on the same PC but do not sync across devices
Open 💬 6 comments Opened Jun 20, 2026 by kfa-balpmirhsdnas
💡 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)?
Version 26.611.61753 • Released 2026. 6. 17.
What subscription do you have?
plus
What platform is your computer?
windows
What issue are you seeing?
My issue is not related to exporting data, deleting files, or deleting my account.
I would like to report a possible bug in Codex Desktop.
On the same PC:
- Account A and Account B can see the exact same projects.
- Projects, chats, uploaded files, and deletions are fully shared between both accounts.
On different PCs:
- The same account does not receive those projects or chats.
This appears to indicate that Codex Desktop projects are tied to the local machine rather than the logged-in OpenAI account.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
Feedback ID: no-active-thread-019ee2ec-84dc-7461-94d1-4dc94c410634
What is the expected behavior?
Projects, chats, uploaded files, and project memory should be tied to the logged-in OpenAI account.
When I log into the same account on a different PC, I should be able to access the same projects and chat history.
Different OpenAI accounts should not be able to see each other's projects, chats, or files.
Additional information
_No response_
6 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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This may be related, but my issue is broader.
In my case, different OpenAI accounts on the same Windows machine share entire Codex Desktop projects, including:
Changes made by Account A are immediately visible to Account B, and vice versa.
This is not limited to search history visibility.
This is not limited to search suggestions. Entire projects, chats, uploaded files, and deletions are shared between different OpenAI accounts on the same machine.
This is a very serious issue, as users naturally expect projects, conversations, and files to be isolated and protected by account authentication. The current behavior allows different accounts on the same device to access each other's project data, which creates significant privacy, security, and usability concerns.
I wanted to add a different perspective from a real-world developer workflow.
I completely understand why project isolation between different accounts is important from a security standpoint.
However, I discovered that this behavior is extremely useful for my particular use case.
I am a single developer who legitimately uses two different OpenAI accounts on the same Windows machine (for example, a personal subscription and a work account). Being able to continue the same local Codex project, with the same context, workspace, and uploaded files, lets me continue working seamlessly when one account reaches its usage limits.
For long-running software engineering projects, preserving the local workspace and context across accounts on the same trusted machine has been a significant productivity improvement.
If this behavior is considered a bug from a security perspective, I completely understand that it may need to change. However, I would strongly encourage the team to consider supporting this workflow as an explicit, opt-in feature, rather than removing it entirely.
For example:
A per-project setting such as "Share this local project across accounts on this device."
Or a trusted-device option that allows multiple accounts owned by the same user to continue the same local workspace.
That would preserve account isolation by default while still enabling an excellent developer experience for users who intentionally work across multiple accounts on the same machine.
From my experience, this has been one of the most productive aspects of the new Codex desktop workflow.
The cross-device part here is exactly what pushed me to build a workaround.
CtxHop lets me explicitly carry a Codex session from one PC to another, instead of assuming the local project/session state will follow the account.
Storage is user-controlled via R2/S3:
https://github.com/CCCCY-ci/ctxhop
I'd like to agree with @ksivamohan4. And if privacy is a concern, the user should use different workspace accounts for each openai accounts. E.g. for windows, use a different windows accounts. All app data are stored under the workspace user profile