Codex Desktop renders local thread messages out of order even though rollout JSONL is ordered

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

Codex Desktop 26.513.40821, Windows Store build. Local runtime context also shows Electron 42.0.1.

What subscription do you have?

Not included in this public report.

What platform is your computer?

Windows 10 x64, version 10.0.19045, locale zh-CN, timezone Asia/Shanghai.

What issue are you seeing?

A long local Codex Desktop thread initially appeared to be missing several user messages in the conversation UI. The underlying local data was still present, and after rebuilding the UI caches the missing messages reappeared, but the timeline order in the conversation view is still wrong.

This looks like a renderer / local thread hydration / UI ordering bug rather than data loss:

• The rollout JSONL under %USERPROFILE%\.codex\sessions\YYYY\MM\DD\rollout-...jsonl contains the missing user messages.
• .codex-global-state.json prompt history also contains those prompts.
• state_5.sqlite has a threads.rollout_path pointing at the same rollout JSONL.
• A timestamp-order scan over the rollout JSONL reported timestamp inversions: 0.
• After clearing/rebuilding Electron UI caches, the missing messages came back, but the rendered conversation order remained incorrect.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

I do not yet have a minimal synthetic reproduction, but the observed workflow was:

1. Use Codex Desktop on Windows in a long local project thread.
2. Continue the thread through many user/assistant turns, including image attachments and local tool calls.
3. Observe that several earlier user messages are missing from the rendered conversation.
4. Verify locally that the missing messages still exist in the rollout JSONL and in Codex global prompt history.
5. Restart Codex and try normal recovery actions such as switching threads and searching inside the thread.
6. Clear/rebuild local Electron UI caches including Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache, Session Storage, Network, blob_storage, Local Storage, and Partitions.
7. Reopen the affected thread.
8. The missing messages reappear, but the conversation timeline order is still incorrect.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex Desktop should render messages in the same chronological/event order as the local rollout JSONL, or otherwise use a stable ordering key that preserves the original thread sequence. Rebuilding UI caches should not change or scramble message order.

Additional evidence

Local inspection found the affected user messages in sequence in the rollout JSONL around these line ranges:

• 536/537: user message around correcting OCR output case
• 546/547: user message asking why recognition was wrong
• 555/556: user message suggesting using the first character size as a heuristic
• later assistant response appears around 661/662

The exact local path, username, account id, and thread id are intentionally omitted from this public issue, but they can be provided through the in-app bug report flow if needed.

Recovery attempts already tried

• Restarted Codex Desktop.
• Switched away from and back to the affected thread.
• Searched within the thread.
• Rebuilt common Electron caches.
• Rebuilt Local Storage and Partitions as well.

Only the cache rebuild changed the symptom from “messages missing” to “messages visible but out of order”; it did not restore correct chronology.