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Codex Issues / #35183

Windows app: Chat Recents stop refreshing after switching to Codex

Open 💬 2 comments Opened Jul 24, 2026 by ralphwest1
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.721.3996.0 (also reproduced on 26.721.3404.0)

What subscription do you have?

Plus plan

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64 (Windows 11 25H2, OS build 26200.8875)

What issue are you seeing?

In the unified ChatGPT/Codex Windows desktop app, Chat Recents can stop updating after switching between ChatGPT and Codex. A new conversation created on chatgpt.com is saved and searchable with Ctrl+K, but it does not appear in Recents even after 10+ minutes. Fully quitting and reopening the app makes it appear.

This makes Recents unreliable and forces an app restart to recover.

The clearest diagnostic signal is that the cloud conversation-update subscription is unmounted while the window is focused and visible. A later pubsub reconnect opens with topicCount=0, so the transport is connected but appears to have no conversation topic subscribed. After an app restart, the subscription is recreated and conversation updates are received/applied.

Occurrence: 2026-07-24 approximately 05:12:05–05:19:01 MDT (11:12:05–11:19:01Z).

Relevant log sequence:

  • 2026-07-24T11:12:05.392Z — chatgpt_conversation_updates_subscription_unmounted with the renderer window focused and visible
  • 2026-07-24T11:18:54.864Z — pubsub transport closed with topicCount=0
  • 2026-07-24T11:18:54.865Z — reconnect scheduled
  • 2026-07-24T11:19:01.390Z — pubsub transport opened with topicCount=0

The current app version also logged chatgpt_conversation_updates_subscription_unmounted at 2026-07-24T13:07:02.428Z while focused and visible.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Open the Windows desktop app and switch between ChatGPT and Codex (the failure is often noticed after working in Codex).
  2. Leave the desktop app running; it may remain foregrounded and visible.
  3. Create a new Chat conversation on chatgpt.com.
  4. Return to the desktop app's Chat Recents list.
  5. Wait 10+ minutes. The new conversation may remain missing from Recents.
  6. Press Ctrl+K and search for the conversation. It is found even though it is absent from Recents.
  7. Fully quit and relaunch the desktop app. The conversation then appears in Recents.

A related symptom has also been observed with the Codex task/history list after creating a task from the VS Code extension, but the logged reproduction above specifically demonstrates the cloud Chat Recents subscription failure.

What is the expected behavior?

New web-created Chat conversations should appear promptly in the desktop app's Recents list. Switching between ChatGPT and Codex should not leave the cloud conversation-update subscription unmounted.

If the pubsub transport reconnects, it should restore the conversation subscription automatically and refresh Recents without requiring the app to be restarted.

Additional information

Environment:

  • Unified ChatGPT/Codex Windows desktop app installed from the Microsoft Store
  • Store product/package identity: 9PLM9XGG6VKS / OpenAI.Codex
  • App versions observed: 26.721.3404.0 and 26.721.3996.0
  • Windows 11 25H2, OS build 26200.8875, x64

Working hypothesis: navigating between ChatGPT and Codex can unmount the cloud conversation-update subscription, and it is not remounted. Pubsub later reconnects with topicCount=0, leaving Recents stale even though Ctrl+K can query the synced conversation.

Suggested recovery feature: add a Ctrl+Shift+P command named Refresh conversations that:

  1. Re-fetches cloud Chat/Work Recents.
  2. Re-establishes the conversation-update subscription.
  3. Refreshes the local Codex session index.
  4. Re-renders the lists without terminating active tasks.

An optional Reload application window command would also provide a less disruptive recovery path. The existing Force reload skills command does not refresh Recents or history.

A concrete affected conversation identifier and fuller sanitized logs can be supplied privately to maintainers. I have intentionally omitted the private conversation URL from this public issue.

View original on GitHub ↗

2 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 1 month ago

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

  • #34051

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ralphwest1 · 1 month ago

Thanks for flagging #34051. I reviewed it and believe the two issues are related, but not duplicates.

  • #34051 is on macOS and concerns an already-open conversation in Codex Quick Chat. Individual messages sent from another client do not arrive live; refreshing or reactivating Quick Chat synchronizes the conversation.
  • #35183 is on Windows and concerns the desktop app's Chat Recents list. An entirely new web conversation remains absent from the sidebar for 10+ minutes even though Ctrl+K can find it, and recovery requires fully quitting and relaunching the app.
  • #35183 also includes lifecycle evidence not present in #34051: chatgpt_conversation_updates_subscription_unmounted occurs while the app is focused and visible, followed by a pubsub reconnect with topicCount=0. The failure is often observed after switching between ChatGPT and Codex.

The issues may share an underlying inbound pubsub/subscription mechanism, but they affect different surfaces and states, have different reproduction triggers and recovery behavior, and occur on different platforms. I am keeping #35183 open so the Windows Recents-specific failure and its subscription logs can be tracked, unless a maintainer prefers to consolidate them.