Side chats disappear and cannot be reopened from history or mobile

What issue are you seeing?

Side chats / side conversations in Codex can effectively disappear after leaving them. I can start a side chat, use it normally, and then later have no obvious way to return to it.

The conversation is not exposed like a normal persistent Codex thread in history, and it is also not reliably available from ChatGPT on mobile. This makes side chats unsafe for any useful or important work because the user cannot tell whether the conversation will remain accessible after switching away from it.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Codex Desktop.
2. Start a side chat / side conversation from an existing Codex conversation.
3. Have a normal conversation in the side chat.
4. Switch away from the side chat or return to the parent conversation.
5. Try to find and reopen the side chat later from Codex history.
6. Try to find the same conversation from ChatGPT on iOS / Remote.

Actual behavior

There is no clear, reliable way to find and reopen the previous side chat. From the user's perspective it appears to have disappeared.

This is especially confusing because the side chat behaves like a normal capable conversation while it is open, so there is no strong indication that it may be ephemeral or difficult/impossible to recover later.

Expected behavior

At least one of the following should be supported:

• Side chats should appear in conversation history and be reopenable.
• The parent conversation should expose a list of its side chats.
• Side chats should have a persistent ID/deep link that can be copied and reopened.
• There should be a "Promote to normal chat" action.
• If a side chat is intentionally ephemeral, the UI should clearly warn the user before they put important work into it.
• Ideally, persistent side chats should also be visible/reopenable from mobile when the associated Codex conversation is available there.

Why this matters

The current behavior makes it very easy to lose access to useful context, decisions, or work performed in a side chat. It also makes users hesitant to use the feature at all.

Related: #40199, which asks for documentation of side-conversation identity, lifecycle, persistence, and limitations. This issue is specifically about the user-facing inability to reliably return to an existing side chat after leaving it.

Environment

• Codex Desktop on macOS
• ChatGPT iOS for mobile access
• Observed August 23, 2026

Start by reproducing the side-chat flow in Codex Desktop, then check whether the chat can be found in Codex history or from ChatGPT on iOS/Remote. Trace the side-chat entry point and its history or reopening behavior; done means a side chat remains reliably reopenable, or the UI clearly communicates its ephemeral status.