[app][linux] Heartbeat and automation chats are omitted from Activity view

Open 💬 3 comments Opened Aug 18, 2026 by solankydev
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (github-actions[bot], contributor) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

Summary

On the Linux desktop app, chats attached to heartbeat automations are omitted from the sidebar Activity view, even though they exist and are visible in the normal sidebar.

The problem appears specific to heartbeat/automation chats. Ordinary recent chats continue to appear in Activity view.

A heartbeat-attached chat remains missing even when:

  • scheduled heartbeat turns have completed in that chat;
  • a heartbeat returns NOTIFY;
  • the user is actively exchanging normal messages in the same chat; and
  • the chat is visible in the normal sidebar's Recents section.

Environment

  • ChatGPT/Codex desktop app: 26.810.52044
  • OS: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Installation: official Debian package

Steps to reproduce

  1. Create or use a chat that has a heartbeat automation attached to it.
  2. Allow the automation to trigger and complete a heartbeat turn.
  3. Confirm that the chat is visible in the normal sidebar under Recents.
  4. Click the bell icon to enable Activity view.
  5. Inspect the Priority, Today, and Yesterday sections.
  6. Observe that the heartbeat/automation chat is absent.
  7. Send and receive normal interactive messages in that same chat.
  8. Toggle Activity view off and on again.
  9. The automation-attached chat remains absent, while ordinary recent chats are present.

Expected behavior

The July 30 changelog describes Activity view as showing chats that the user engaged with recently or that require attention.

A heartbeat-attached chat should therefore appear when:

  • it has recent interactive activity; or
  • its heartbeat returns NOTIFY and requires attention.

Actual behavior

Heartbeat/automation chats are visible and usable in the normal sidebar but are completely absent from Activity view. New interactive messages do not make them appear.

This prevents Activity view from surfacing completed automation notifications and ongoing conversations associated with automations.

Additional context

This is narrower than openai/codex#36300:

  • openai/codex#36300 reports stale ordering of Activity-view entries on macOS.
  • This Linux case appears to filter out heartbeat/automation chats entirely rather than merely ordering them incorrectly.

A separate one-time heartbeat test did not dispatch as scheduled; that scheduler behavior is not part of this report. This issue concerns chats with confirmed heartbeat activity that remain absent from Activity view.

Privacy note

No screenshots, chat titles, task contents, local paths, thread IDs, automation IDs, account details, or organization/repository names are included because the original UI contains private information.

User feedback: macOS and Windows show the same Activity-view omission

  • Source: [https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/39156#issuecomment-5324788765](<https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/39156#issuecomment-5324788765>)
  • Source: [https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/39156#issuecomment-5385367307](<https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/39156#issuecomment-5385367307>)
  • Type: external
  • User reports:
  • On macOS, “Removing the attached heartbeat makes the task reappear immediately in Activity view, without restarting the app.”
  • On Windows, a chat can disappear from Activity view after refresh while its turn remains running.
  • The Windows reporter says the underlying task remains active and recoverable outside Activity view.

View original on GitHub ↗

3 Comments

github-actions[bot] contributor · 10 days ago

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

  • #38152

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adamthuvesen · 10 days ago

Additional macOS reproduction

I can reproduce the same behavior on macOS. Removing the attached heartbeat makes the task reappear immediately in Activity view, without restarting the app.

Environment
  • ChatGPT/Codex desktop app: 26.810.52044, build 6662
  • App server: 0.148.0-alpha.9
  • macOS: 26.5.2, build 25F84
  • Architecture: Apple Silicon, arm64
Reproduction
  1. Create or open a local task and pin it.
  2. Attach an active heartbeat schedule using Run in: Existing task.
  3. Confirm the task is visible in the normal sidebar.
  4. Enable View activity.
  5. The heartbeat target is omitted from the Activity-view task list, including the Pinned section.
  6. Delete the heartbeat schedule.
  7. The target task immediately appears again in Activity view under Pinned.
hewzhew · 5 days ago

Additional Windows reproduction on a newer build

I can confirm the same failure mode on Windows: a chat can disappear from Activity view after a refresh while its turn is still running.

Environment
  • ChatGPT/Codex desktop app: 26.818.5229.0
  • Windows 11 Pro: 10.0.26200
  • Architecture: x64
  • Local AppX installation
Read-only diagnostics
  • The local automation registry has active heartbeat automations attached to existing chats.
  • At the time of capture, one heartbeat target matching the report was still reported by the app-server as:
  • thread status: active
  • latest turn: inProgress
  • error: null
  • The chat remained present in the normal thread-list surface, and turn/stream events continued to arrive in the local logs.
  • There was no corresponding thread not found, process crash, or completed-turn transition that would explain the disappearance.
  • Another active heartbeat target completed normally and remained recoverable outside Activity view.

This supports the issue's current diagnosis: Activity view is omitting/filtering an automation-attached chat; the underlying task has not stopped or been deleted. It also shows the problem still occurs on app build 26.818.5229.0, newer than the builds already reported here.

The generic Activity-view snapshot bugs in #38152 / #37017 may contribute after refresh, but the heartbeat association is strong in this reproduction. The safe workaround is to use the normal sidebar/search or Scheduled view as the source of truth rather than assuming absence from Activity means the task stopped.

Privacy note: no chat titles, prompts, local paths, thread IDs, automation IDs, account details, or repository names are included.