Agent-created top-level task is hidden from desktop search and Codex Mobile Remote

What version of the Codex App are you using?

Codex Desktop 26.707.51957 (build 5175), with codex-cli 0.144.0-alpha.4.

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT account with Codex access.

What platform is your computer?

macOS (Apple Silicon).

What mobile client are you using?

ChatGPT mobile app using Codex Remote. Exact mobile build not captured.

What issue are you seeing?

A durable top-level Codex task created programmatically by another root task is hidden from both:

1. desktop task search/listing by its exact title, and
2. Codex Mobile Remote on the connected host.

The task is not a disposable subagent child:

• it has no incoming parent/child spawn edge;
• its registry metadata identifies it as a top-level user task;
• it has its own title and user-authored operating prompt;
• it can itself spawn child subagents;
• it is active and directly readable when addressed by thread ID.

The task can be read successfully by direct ID through the app-server, so the rollout/history is intact. Only discovery/listing is broken.

Diagnostic thread ID:

019f55d6-4d83-77f2-b52c-2db3cf44274b

Local metadata:

• title: Minimal - Chief of Staff
• source: exec
• thread source: user
• history mode: legacy
• archived: false
• originator: Codex Desktop

Remote Control is enabled and the same host is otherwise reachable from mobile.

Steps to reproduce

1. In a normal Codex Desktop task, ask Codex to create a separate durable/background task for ongoing project coordination.
2. Let the created task start and produce output.
3. Confirm that the created task has no incoming spawn edge and can be read directly by its thread ID.
4. Search desktop task history using the created task's exact title.
5. Connect to the same host from ChatGPT mobile and inspect Codex Remote task history.
6. Observe that the task is absent from discovery on both surfaces even though direct thread/read succeeds.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should distinguish between:

• disposable child/subagent threads, which may reasonably stay collapsed under their parent; and
• durable top-level tasks created on the user's behalf, which should appear in normal desktop and mobile task discovery.

A useful product model would provide:

1. automatic visibility for agent-created root tasks;
2. child/subagent threads collapsed by default;
3. an optional “show background/child threads” filter; and
4. a “promote to normal task” or “show in task list” control.

This would avoid flooding history with every subagent while still making intentionally durable controller/orchestrator tasks reachable from mobile.

Actual behavior

The durable root task is directly addressable and active, but absent from title search and Codex Mobile Remote. There is no documented setting to expose or promote it.

Additional information

Related but not duplicate:

• #22773 — mobile Remote state/hydration problems
• #22099 — background task and subagent visibility proposal
• #2604 — subagent UI/visibility discussion
• #24475 — subagent thread-state/reconnect failures

The strongest diagnostic is that exact-title listing returns no result while direct thread read by ID succeeds.