Codex Desktop: Add an “All Projects” launcher / visual grid for fast project switching

What variant of Codex are you using?

Codex Desktop App

What feature would you like to see?

I would like Codex Desktop to have a dedicated “All Projects” launcher/view for quickly navigating large numbers of projects.

The current sidebar works well with a small number of projects, but once you have 20, 30, 40+ projects, finding a specific one becomes increasingly slow.

Even with project icons, the sidebar still requires scrolling through a long vertical list and visually scanning project names.

I think Codex could benefit from an additional project overview similar to an application launcher, Launchpad, Windows Start, or other icon-based navigation interfaces.

Proposed UI

An “All Projects” button could open a dedicated view or modal:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  All Projects                              Search... 🔎   │
│                                                          │
│      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐               │
│      │  🟣  │      │  🔵  │      │  🟢  │               │
│      └──────┘      └──────┘      └──────┘               │
│       Hermes         Buzz          Website               │
│                                                          │
│      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐      ┌──────┐               │
│      │  🟡  │      │  🟠  │      │  ⚫  │               │
│      └──────┘      └──────┘      └──────┘               │
│      Extension       Game           API                  │
│                                                          │
│                         ↓                                │
│                       scroll                             │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each project could have:

• a project icon / visual identity
• the project name underneath
• optional custom icon or color
• one-click switching
• search / fuzzy search
• keyboard navigation
• recent/favorite indicators

The project grid should be scrollable so it can comfortably handle dozens or even hundreds of projects.

Suggested interaction

For example:

Sidebar
────────────────
Recent
★ Project A
★ Project B
★ Project C

▦ All Projects

Clicking All Projects opens the full project overview.

Alternatively, it could be opened via a keyboard shortcut / command palette.

Searching could immediately filter the project grid:

Search projects: "ext"

Extension Manager
Chrome Extension
Extension Experiments

Pressing Enter or clicking the icon switches directly to that project.

Why this would help

The sidebar is a good interface for:

• recent projects
• pinned projects
• a small number of frequently used projects

But it is not necessarily the best interface for browsing the complete project library.

When there are 30–40+ projects, a vertical sidebar requires a lot of scrolling and name scanning.

A visual launcher would make project switching much faster because users could rely on:

• spatial memory
• icons
• colors
• project names
• search

instead of only reading a long list of similar repository names.

This could complement the sidebar rather than replace it:

Sidebar → recent / pinned / active projects

All Projects → full project library

Possible future extensions

Not required for the initial implementation, but this view could later support:

• favorites
• folders / collections
• tags
• custom project icons
• sorting
• recently used projects
• alphabetical ordering
• archive / hidden projects
• drag-and-drop organization

Related issues

This overlaps with some existing requests around managing many projects, but proposes a different navigation model.

#35124 requests better project sorting and favorites for users managing many projects.

This request focuses specifically on adding a dedicated visual project launcher / grid, rather than only improving how projects are ordered inside the existing sidebar.

Related organization requests include:

• #35124 — improved sidebar organization for many projects
• #38259 — project-level sorting controls
• #33304 — nested local projects
• #28692 — custom ordering and sidebar sections

These features could work together rather than being mutually exclusive.

Start by locating the existing Codex Desktop sidebar and project-switching entry point; the payload names no file or test. Compare related issues #35124, #38259, #33304, and #28692, then define a bounded first version and completion criteria for the launcher, search, and switching behavior.