[app] Project sorting controls do not change the sidebar project order

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

• #32166
• #31964

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This may be related to #32166. The workaround shared there rebuilds project-order from state_5.sqlite and explicitly sets the sort mode to updated_at.

In my case, removing the persisted project-order was enough to restore By project → Last updated sorting. After fully quitting the app, I used:

state="$HOME/.codex/.codex-global-state.json"
backup="$state.before-project-order-reset-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
tmp="$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/codex-global-state.XXXXXX")"
trap 'rm -f "$tmp"' EXIT

cp "$state" "$backup"
jq 'del(.["project-order"])' "$state" > "$tmp" &&
mv "$tmp" "$state"

trap - EXIT

After reopening the app, recent-first sorting worked correctly. It continued working until I added a new SSH connection/project. At that point, project-order was recreated and the sidebar became stuck again, even though Last updated remained selected.

This suggests that creating or syncing an SSH project may regenerate a persisted project order that overrides the selected sorting mode. This SSH-triggered recurrence may provide an additional clue beyond the workaround already documented in #32166.

Update: I packaged this workaround into a small repository:
https://github.com/jarvisluk/codex-project-order-reset
It backs up the Codex global state, removes only the top-level project-order, and restarts ChatGPT/Codex using a self-removing one-shot worker so the cleanup can survive the app exiting.
This remains a temporary macOS workaround. The field may be regenerated after creating or syncing local or SSH projects.

Superseded by the same diagnostic reposted from the reporting account @teo-goulois: https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/33077#issuecomment-4977755416

Confirmed on the same macOS build: 26.707.72221 (5307).

I reproduced this with By project enabled:

• Switching between Priority, Last updated, and Manual order changes the menu checkmark.
• Priority and Last updated can reorder tasks inside each project group, but the project groups themselves remain unchanged.
• The persisted legacy sort setting is correctly saved as updated_at, so this is not just a failed click or preference-persistence issue.

Read-only inspection of the bundled renderer and local state shows a likely cause:

1. Project groups are initially sorted by the maximum recency timestamp of the project and its threads.
2. That recency-sorted result is then passed through the persisted project-order.
3. When project-order contains every visible project, it completely overrides the recency order.
4. The selected sort mode is applied later to thread keys within each group, not to the project-group list.

This also explains why deleting project-order temporarily restores recent-first behavior, and why the bug returns when Codex recreates that value.

Suggested behavior: apply persisted project-order only for Manual order. For Last updated, keep the project-group recency order; for Priority, derive a project-level priority from the tasks in each group.

Confirmed on a newer macOS desktop build: ChatGPT.app / com.openai.codex 26.721.41059 (build 5848).

I can reproduce the same behavior with the Projects view set to sort by Last updated: the visible project order does not reflect the latest project/thread activity.

Read-only local checks show that thread recency itself is available and coherent:

• The active thread list / thread API is ordered correctly by recent activity.
• The local ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite thread rows have valid updated_at / recency timestamps.
• Grouping visible, unarchived threads by cwd shows several projects with newer activity than projects currently displayed above them in the Projects list.
• The project listing exposed to the app does not appear to include a project-level updatedAt field, while thread data does include recency fields.

This matches the existing diagnosis here: project groups appear to remain governed by persisted/manual project ordering, while the selected Last updated mode affects thread ordering inside groups or does not invalidate/recompute the project group order.

No data loss observed in this case; it looks like a Desktop sidebar/project-ordering bug. Related symptoms also match #31836 and #35090.

Confirmed still reproducible on a newer macOS desktop build: ChatGPT.app / com.openai.codex 26.727.40816 (build 6067).

I observed a more specific recurrence path with a new local project (not only SSH projects):

1. The selected sort mode remained persisted as updated_at in both sidebar preference entries.
2. Adding a new project recreated/populated the fixed-order state (project-order, with the unified sidebar order cache also present).
3. Project groups then stopped following recent activity, even though Last updated was still selected.
4. After fully quitting the app and removing only project-order and unified-sidebar-project-order-v1, reopening the app restored recent-first project sorting.
5. Trying to remove these entries while the app was running did not stick; the app wrote them back within a few seconds.

This strengthens the existing diagnosis: project creation appears to persist or refresh manual-order caches regardless of the active sort mode, and those caches subsequently override the dynamic project-group order.

Suggested fix: only apply and update fixed project-order caches when the active mode is manual. Creating a project while updated_at or priority is active should not regenerate an order that overrides the selected dynamic sort.

I can reproduce the same issue on the Windows Codex desktop app.

• The sorting menu shows Priority, Last updated, and Manual order.
• Changing the selected option updates the checkmark, but the project list itself does not move.
• The behavior appears to affect project-level ordering, not just items inside each project.
• I previously customized the app locally and was able to make project sorting work, which suggests the underlying data can be sorted, but modifying the bundled app made future updates harder to apply.

Expected behavior: the Projects sidebar itself should reorder by Priority or Last updated, and Manual order should be directly rearrangeable without modifying the app bundle.

Windows users around me are seeing the same behavior, so this does not appear to be Mac-only.

日本語補足：Windows版でも、優先度・最終更新・手動順を選んでもプロジェクト一覧の順番が変わりません。以前ローカルカスタマイズでは並べ替えできましたが、公式アップデートが適用しにくくなったため、標準機能としての修正を希望します。