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

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
• Source: 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.

No source files or tests are named. Start by tracing how the desktop app builds Activity view entries and filters heartbeat or automation chats, comparing that path with the normal sidebar Recents path. Done means eligible heartbeat chats appear in Activity view after heartbeat or interactive activity, including when a heartbeat returns NOTIFY.