VS Code Codex chat shows misleading visible message order and timestamps

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
45/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
rust, vscode
Domain
frontend

Research direction

Start by reproducing the ordering and timestamp behavior in the Codex chat UI inside VS Code on Windows, using the message examples and checking scroll position or lazy loading. Inspect message ordering, timestamp rendering, and grouping; done means each user message appears before its matching assistant reply and the visible timestamps are easy to follow.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

bug extension session windows-os

Problem

In Codex inside VS Code on Windows, the chat panel can show a visually confusing message order and timestamps.

In the same visible chat area, an older assistant reply appears above while a different user question appears below, making it look like the assistant replied before the question was asked.

What I observed

  • An assistant message ending with:
    • make a one-click PC slowdown check script
    • help update Codex step by step first
  • was shown above
  • with timestamp: Thursday 3:42 PM

At the same time, lower in the same visible chat area:

  • a user message: What is the issue in chat?
  • was shown below
  • with timestamp: Thursday 3:37 PM

Also, the actual reply to What is the issue in chat? appeared as a different assistant message starting with:

  • The issue in this chat is simple:
  • Your same message was sent multiple times.

This makes the visible order look wrong even though the underlying thread may still be intact.

Expected behavior

  • Each user message should clearly appear before its matching assistant reply.
  • Visible ordering in the chat panel should not make older assistant replies appear as if they belong to newer user questions.
  • Timestamps and message grouping should be easy to follow.

Actual behavior

  • Messages from different turns appear visually mixed in the visible panel area.
  • This creates confusion about which reply belongs to which question.
  • It can look like the assistant replied before the user asked.

Environment

  • Codex inside VS Code
  • Windows
  • India Standard Time (UTC+05:30)

Notes

Possible areas to check:

  • message ordering in the Codex chat UI
  • timestamp rendering/grouping
  • scroll position or lazy loading causing mixed visual sequencing
  • whether messages from different turns are shown in a misleading visible order

I have screenshots available if needed.

Dominant language
Rust
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