[app] “Sort chats by” options do not reorder project groups in the sidebar

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

26.803.81509 (build 6415)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro 20x

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.6.1 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

When the sidebar is organized By project, changing Sort chats by between Priority, Last updated, and Manual order changes the selected checkmark, but the visible project-group order does not change.

This has not worked for me since the feature was released. In particular, a project lower in the sidebar remains in the same position even after recent activity while Last updated is selected.

The current wording is also ambiguous: if these options are intended to sort only chats within each project group, the app does not provide a corresponding way to sort the project groups themselves.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open the Codex desktop app with multiple projects.
2. Open the sidebar organization menu.
3. Select By project.
4. Select Last updated under Sort chats by.
5. Work in a project that is lower in the sidebar.
6. Observe that the project group does not move according to its recent activity.
7. Switch between Priority, Last updated, and Manual order.
8. Observe that the checkmark changes, but the project-group order remains unchanged.

What is the expected behavior?

When By project is active, the selected sorting mode should visibly reorder the project groups when the underlying activity or priority differs.

If the existing options intentionally apply only to chats inside each project, the UI should state that scope clearly and provide a separate control for sorting project groups by priority, last updated, or manual order.

Additional information

The behavior is persistent rather than intermittent.

Related reports:

• #31836
• #33077
• #37733

No private paths, task IDs, project IDs, logs, or account details are included in this report.