@remote tasks created from ChatGPT iOS do not appear in the Project task list on desktop, but are searchable

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

• #31166
• #31555
• #30895

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Reproduced on macOS with ChatGPT Desktop 26.707.72221 (build 5307) and bundled codex-cli 0.144.2.

Additional diagnostic detail / workaround:

1. Start a Codex chat from ChatGPT iOS Remote Control against a local Mac host, selecting a repository subdirectory as the project (for example repo/vault/areas).
2. The chat runs normally and is present in the host's thread inventory as active, unarchived, and local; it can also be found by search.
3. On Desktop, the chat is absent from the project sections when that exact subdirectory is not present in Desktop's saved local-project registry—even if the repository root is already registered.
4. Manually adding the exact missing subdirectory (repo/vault/areas) as a local project immediately makes the existing chat appear in the Desktop sidebar.

This suggests the iOS Remote creation flow can start a thread with a valid cwd without ensuring the corresponding local project is registered/synchronized on Desktop. The sidebar then has no project bucket for the thread.

Expected behavior: the phone-created project should be registered on the host automatically, or active orphaned threads should remain visible in a chronological/projectless fallback without requiring manual project registration.

Reproduced on Windows 11, additional diagnostic detail:
Feedback ID: 01a00afb-30b2-7670-bcd0-31c0e5499cc0

A task created through Mobile Remote exists and remains accessible from the desktop app’s notification center, but it is missing from the normal desktop sidebar and project task list. The issue persists after restarting the desktop app.

At the same time, the desktop task-history listing is not accessible by CODEX: attempts to retrieve even a minimal task list do not return a usable result. This may be related to the missing-sidebar behavior, or it may be a separate task-catalog or indexing failure.

ChatGPT app Version 26.810.52044

Expected behavior: Mobile Remote tasks should be consistently discoverable in the desktop task list, and task history should remain available for browsing, search, and organization.

I can reproduce this on macOS with an SSH-connected Linux Remote host. This occurrence adds one useful detail: Desktop’s local task catalog is healthy and already contains the missing task, but Desktop still does not register it in the sidebar.

Environment

• ChatGPT/Codex Desktop: 26.810.52044 (bundle build 6662)
• macOS 26.5.2 (25F84), Apple Silicon
• Flow: ChatGPT iOS → Codex Remote → saved SSH Linux host → existing project
• Remote project path: /home/<user>/<repo>

User-visible behavior

1. I selected an existing SSH-hosted project from iOS Remote.
2. The phone-created task ran normally in the correct working directory and remains accessible from the phone.
3. The task never appeared in the corresponding Desktop project sidebar.
4. Quitting and reopening Desktop did not make it appear.
5. Desktop-created tasks for the same remote project continue to appear normally.

This is not task loss, an unavailable host, or an incorrect project path.

Read-only state evidence

The missing task already exists in Desktop’s local_thread_catalog:

catalog row exists: yes
host: correct saved SSH host
cwd: correct existing project root
missing_candidate: 0
catalog initial_build_complete: 1
catalog watermark: current

However, the task is absent from every Desktop sidebar placement mechanism I checked:

thread-project-assignments: absent
sidebar-project-thread-orders: absent
projectless-thread-ids: absent
thread-workspace-root-hints: absent

The project itself is already registered and populated. For the same SSH host and exact cwd, Desktop’s catalog contains 202 tasks; 186 are present in persisted sidebar order and 162 have an explicit project assignment.

All 202 catalog rows have thread_source=NULL, including the older sidebar-visible tasks. Therefore, thread_source=NULL identifies this Remote task path but cannot independently explain why newer tasks are hidden.

Desktop log evidence

During the affected period, Desktop repeatedly logged:

Received turn/started for unknown conversation conversationId=<redacted>
Received turn/completed for unknown conversation conversationId=<redacted>

The same day contained 65 turn/started messages across 33 unique conversation IDs. Some events were logged by both the primary and overlay renderers.

This suggests an event-ordering and reconciliation failure:

Remote task starts
→ turn/started arrives while Desktop does not know the conversation
→ Desktop drops the event
→ the task later enters local_thread_catalog successfully
→ Desktop does not backfill project assignment or sidebar order
→ the valid task remains absent from the sidebar

Possible fix directions:

• Hydrate, buffer, or retry an unknown conversation when turn/started arrives.
• Reconcile catalogued tasks into sidebar assignments and ordering, even after initial_build_complete=1.
• Add an out-of-order Remote test where turn/started arrives before or without thread/started.
• Surface valid unassigned tasks in a projectless fallback instead of hiding them.