Make "Organize sidebar by project" group machines under one project and add per-thread target selection
What variant of Codex are you using?
App
What feature would you like to see?
Codex App already has Organize sidebar -> By project and Organize sidebar -> By connection.
I would like the existing By project mode to become truly project-first when the same logical project exists on multiple machines/connections.
Today, a user with several machines and several recurring projects still has to manage host/folder targets separately. With 3 machines and 5-10 projects, that can become 15-30 project targets, even when many refer to the same Git repository or logical project.
Desired behavior in Organize sidebar -> By project:
- Show one top-level group per logical project, for example
.dotfiles,tanstack, ornextjs. - Under that project, show available execution targets/machines, for example:
- Local
- Mac mini
- SSH devbox
- When creating a new thread from that project, let me choose which machine/connection the thread should run on.
- In an existing thread, show which machine the current turn will run on.
- Allow changing the target machine for a later turn in the same thread, when the same project is available there.
- If a thread has run on more than one machine, show that clearly in the thread metadata/history.
The key request is not just grouping by connection. It is project-first navigation plus explicit execution-target selection per thread/turn.
Additional information
This is related to openai/codex#24295, but the model requested here is different.
openai/codex#24295 asks for Connection -> Project -> Thread grouping. That helps users who navigate host-first.
This request is for improving the existing Organize sidebar -> By project mode:
Project -> Machine/Connection -> Thread
or visually:
Project<br> Local<br> Mac mini<br> SSH devbox<br> Threads, each with a run-location indicator
4 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
Powered by Codex Action
Not a duplicate.
#31407 is about missing remote projects in the sidebar.
This issue is about project-first grouping across machines plus explicit per-thread/turn target selection and run-location metadata.
This is very close to the behavior I am looking for. One additional piece may be needed: a supported way to determine that project directories on different hosts represent the same logical project.
For Git repositories, Codex already has part of this identity model. Handoff requires the same repository to be saved as a project on both hosts, and Codex uses that match to identify eligible destinations. It would be useful for the existing By project view to reuse that identity and place tasks from those hosts under one project.
For non-Git projects, I suggest allowing an explicit, user-managed mapping:
<project-directory-on-host-a><project-directory-on-host-b>My preferred presentation would not require an additional machine subgroup. The project’s conversation list could directly contain tasks from different hosts, with the existing remote icon identifying remote tasks, as illustrated in the attached mockup.
Each task would retain its actual execution host and working directory. If its host is offline, the task could remain visible with an unavailable status.
Suggested additions to the proposal:
This would let one logical project preserve a coherent task history while work moves between local and remote computers.
<img width="1548" height="1016" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a082c755-241f-42ea-ba90-6b59e36154c4" />
how is this not a thing