Codex Desktop: saved sidebar views with regex search and custom sort rules

What variant of Codex are you using?

App / Codex Desktop

What feature would you like to see?

Please add an advanced sidebar view layer for Codex Desktop chats: saved/custom searches, regex filtering, custom sort rules, and rule-based grouping/ordering for the sidebar.

Related issues I found first:

• #28692 asks for custom ordering and sections in the left sidebar.
• #28213 asks for flags, labels, icons, or folders for organizing chats.
• #26762 asks for pinning and custom sorting for threads in the project sidebar.

Those are useful, but this request is specifically about search-driven and rule-driven views, not only manual organization.

Problem

Once the desktop app has dozens or hundreds of active chats, recent ordering plus pinning is too weak. Users need to find and arrange threads by semantic structure: controller lanes, research lanes, proof lanes, blocked work, specific projects, title conventions, or other local operating rules.

Right now that requires manual title discipline, pin churn, external notes, or repeated visual scanning of the sidebar. That does not scale for users running many long-lived Codex sessions in parallel.

Requested behavior

Support one or more of these capabilities:

1. Sidebar search modes:

• literal search
• fuzzy search
• regex search with a visible regex toggle and clear invalid-regex feedback

1. Saved sidebar views:

• save a search/filter as a named view
• switch between saved views quickly
• allow global views and project-scoped views
• persist views across app restarts

1. Custom sort rules:

• sort by updated time, created time, title, project, pinned state, active/running state, archived state, or other available metadata
• support multi-key sorts, such as pinned first, then project, then title
• optionally allow regex capture groups from titles to drive sort order, for naming schemes like Research 1, Research 2, Controller, Proof, etc.

1. Rule-based sidebar sections:

• group threads into sections using rules, such as title matches /Controller/, title matches /Research/, status is running, project is a specific workspace, or pinned is true
• keep a default normal sidebar unchanged for users who do not want advanced organization

Why this matters

For power users, Codex Desktop is not just a chat list. It becomes a working control plane for active projects, recurring processes, reviews, proof lanes, and long-running tasks.

The sidebar should be able to answer questions like:

• Show me all active controller threads.
• Show me every research lane, sorted numerically by title.
• Show me blocked or human-attention threads first.
• Show me only this project, but grouped by lane type.
• Show me pinned work in my own stable order, not only app-controlled recency.

This would reduce accidental thread selection, lower pin/title churn, and make Codex Desktop much stronger for serious multi-session workflows.

Additional information

This could start small: a regex-capable search box plus saved searches and a few built-in sort keys would already cover most of the value. More advanced rule-based sections could build on the same model later.