[App][macOS] Selected project folder is ignored when creating a new task

Codex / ChatGPT version

26.707.72221

Platform

• macOS

• Apple Silicon

What issue are you seeing?

When I create a new Codex task, I select an existing local folder as the working folder for the task.

However, after I start the conversation, the selected folder is ignored. The task is instead created in an automatically generated directory under:

~/Documents/Codex/<date>/<thread-slug>

For example:

/Users/pawelwitek/Documents/Codex/2026-07-14/w-j

This happens repeatedly, even though I selected a different folder before starting the conversation.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the ChatGPT / Codex desktop app on macOS.

1. Click New task.

1. Select an existing local folder.

1. Enter a prompt and start the conversation.

1. Check the task's working directory.

Actual behavior

The selected folder is ignored.

The task uses an automatically generated working directory such as:

~/Documents/Codex/2026-07-14/w-j

Expected behavior

The task should use the folder selected during task creation as its working directory.

Frequency

This issue occurs repeatedly.

Feedback ID

019f61f2-68ae-71a2-ba38-1b9ed57835c8

The feedback was submitted through the in-app feedback option with the relevant session data attached.

Additional information

There is a potentially related report concerning folder selection in the same app version:

https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/33015

However, my issue is slightly different: I can select a folder while creating a new task, but after the conversation starts, the selected folder is not used.``