Codex Desktop: add a discoverable Archived Chats view with restore/open actions

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 17, 2026 by tommy-techdadda

Enhancement request

Codex Desktop should expose archived chats in a discoverable place in the app, with search, open, restore, and delete actions.

Problem

Archived chats still exist locally and can be opened directly if the user knows the task/thread id. But a normal user has no practical way to know that id.

Today, the only workable path is effectively:

  1. Inspect local archived session files under ~/.codex/archived_sessions/.
  2. Extract the task id from the JSONL filename.
  3. Open the task directly by id.

That is not a user workflow. It is filesystem archaeology.

Expected behavior

Add a visible Archived Chats area in Codex Desktop, ideally in one or more of these places:

  • Chat history sidebar filter: Active, Archived, All
  • Settings: Archived Chats
  • Global search results, including archived chats

Each archived chat should show at minimum:

  • Title
  • Date archived or last updated
  • Project/workspace
  • Open action
  • Restore/unarchive action
  • Delete action, if deletion is supported from archive

Actual behavior

Archived chats are hidden from the normal chat list. They remain on disk and direct navigation by task id can still open them, but the task id is not discoverable from the UI.

Why this matters

Archiving is only useful if the user can later find what they archived. Right now archive behaves like a one-way hide action unless the user knows internal storage details.

Suggested fix

Ship a first-class archived chat browser and include archived chats in search results. If there is already an intended Archived Chats location, make it easier to find and document it inside the app UI.

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