Separate ChatGPT Work and Codex organization models in the unified desktop app

Summary

The unified desktop app currently mixes two fundamentally different organization models:

• ChatGPT Work includes a large number of conversations from ChatGPT on the web.
• Codex organizes work around local folders, local projects, and task threads.

Showing both kinds of content within the same organizational structure makes the interface feel cluttered and conceptually inconsistent. It is difficult to tell whether I am navigating cloud ChatGPT conversations, ChatGPT Projects, local Codex tasks, or local folders.

Proposed experience

Please separate the two modes clearly and make each mode use the organizational model that naturally belongs to it.

ChatGPT Work mode

• Show the same conversations and ChatGPT Projects available on chatgpt.com.
• Use an organization and navigation model consistent with the ChatGPT web experience.
• Do not show local Codex folders or local-folder project groups in this mode.

Codex mode

• Show local folders, local projects, and Codex task threads.
• Keep the existing folder-oriented Codex workflow here.
• Do not mix in the full history of unrelated ChatGPT web conversations.

Switching modes should also switch the sidebar and project organization model, rather than only changing the assistant or task type inside one mixed interface.

Why this would help

ChatGPT Work and Codex represent different mental models:

• ChatGPT Work is cloud- and conversation-oriented.
• Codex is local-workspace- and task-oriented.

Keeping them visually and organizationally separate would:

• reduce sidebar clutter;
• make the active context obvious;
• preserve the familiar ChatGPT Projects experience for Work;
• preserve the focused local-folder workflow for Codex;
• make switching modes feel intentional and predictable.

Current experience

At present, Work mode brings in a large amount of web conversation history while the app still retains Codex-style local project organization. The result feels overloaded and confusing rather than unified.

Related issues

This proposal is related to, but more specific than:

• #31862 — Desktop UX regressions in the unified ChatGPT/Codex app
• #31878 — ChatGPT Projects visible on chatgpt.com but missing from desktop sidebar after ChatGPT/Codex merge

Those reports describe symptoms of the merged experience. This request proposes a clearer product-level solution: separate navigation and organization by mode.