ChatGPT/Codex Desktop 26.707 regression: per-thread relative timestamps disappeared from sidebar

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

ChatGPT/Codex Desktop 26.707.31428 (build 5059)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT subscription (plan claim: prolite)

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

After updating to the integrated ChatGPT/Codex Desktop app, the sidebar no longer shows the relative last-activity time for individual tasks/threads.

Before this update, each row exposed useful recency information such as minutes, hours, or days since the thread was last active. In the current build, rows show only the title plus the host/status indicator. The relative timestamp is completely absent.

This makes navigation substantially worse when many tasks are open or pinned: it is no longer possible to tell at a glance which session was used recently, which one is stale, or where work was last performed.

This appears to be a UI regression rather than missing timestamp data. The public app-server contract already provides dedicated thread recency metadata through recencyAt / the recency_at sort key (#27910).

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Update to ChatGPT/Codex Desktop 26.707.31428 on macOS.
2. Open the Projects/sidebar view with several pinned or project tasks that have different last-activity times.
3. Inspect the task/thread rows.
4. Observe that no row shows a relative age such as 5m, 2h, or 3d; only the title and host/status indicator remain.

The reported screenshot shows the regression in a pinned list containing SSH-managed remote tasks. The original screenshot is not attached publicly because it contains private task titles; a redacted copy can be provided if needed.

What is the expected behavior?

Restore the per-thread relative last-activity timestamp in the sidebar.

Preferred behavior:

• Show the age of each task/thread using recencyAt, with updatedAt as a compatibility fallback.
• Refresh the visible value when a new turn starts.
• Preserve the timestamp for both local and SSH-managed remote threads.
• Keep the value visible alongside the host/status indicator, or use a second line/tooltip if horizontal space is constrained.

If the denser row design is intentional, add a setting such as Show last activity time in sidebar, enabled by default for existing users.

Additional information

This is a regression from previously shipped Desktop behavior. Issue #26180, filed on June 3, explicitly documents relative task timestamps being visible in the Desktop sidebar and requests the same metadata on mobile.

The backend work for product recency was already merged in #27910 and was paired with an internal Codex Apps change. The current problem is therefore in the Desktop presentation layer, whose source is not available in the public openai/codex repository for an external UI PR.

For users managing many concurrent tasks, the timestamp is not decorative metadata; it is a primary navigation signal for recovering recent work.