Codex Desktop: assign stable live sequence numbers and deep links to activity items

Summary

Please add stable sequence numbers to Codex Desktop activity items as each item is created during execution, and allow users to link to or jump to a specific activity item.

This is not a request to add decorative numbers after a task finishes. The number should be generated live when the activity starts.

User problem

During long, tool-heavy tasks, the activity rail can contain many visually similar markers and progress entries. It is difficult to tell Codex:

• "Check step 21"
• "Continue from step 08"
• "Why did step 14 fail?"
• "Steps 21 and 22 belong together"

The current thread-level link is not granular enough for reviewing or discussing individual execution steps.

Proposed behavior

1. Assign a monotonically increasing display number when an activity item starts: 01, 02, 03, etc.
2. Keep that number unchanged when the item completes, fails, or is cancelled.
3. Preserve the same numbers after reconnect, renderer reload, app restart, task resume, or history compaction.
4. Show the number beside the corresponding marker/activity entry in the progress rail.
5. Make the number clickable and provide “Copy link to step”.
6. Use the durable thread/item ID as the actual link target; the visible sequence number is a human-friendly label.
7. Do not renumber earlier items when some entries are collapsed, hidden, retried, or filtered.
8. Optionally represent nested tool progress as 21.1, 21.2, while keeping the parent number stable.

Example

• [07 · Running] Render slide 17
• [07 · Completed] Render slide 17
• [08 · Running] Reopen the PowerPoint and verify editability

A user should be able to paste a link to step 07 or say “review step 07”, and Codex should reliably identify the same activity item.

Why this matters

Stable live numbering would improve:

• communication between the user and Codex during active work;
• review of long-running tasks;
• recovery after WebSocket reconnects;
• support and bug reporting;
• accessibility for users who cannot distinguish small activity markers easily;
• precise references without taking and annotating screenshots.

Acceptance criteria

• Numbers appear while the task is running, not only after completion.
• The number-to-item mapping remains stable across reconnect and resume.
• Clicking/copying a number opens the same thread at the corresponding activity item.
• Existing thread-level links continue to work.