Windows desktop: project chat titles stay stale and account settings request returns 401 after clean reset

Summary

Chat titles inside a ChatGPT project are correct on the web and in the app's source thread list, but the Windows desktop sidebar continues to show stale auto-generated titles.

The issue persists after refresh, app Repair, app Reset, and rebuilding the desktop app's embedded ChatGPT browser partition from scratch.

Environment

• ChatGPT desktop app for Windows
• App version: 26.818.8289.0

Steps to reproduce

1. Create several normal ChatGPT chats inside a ChatGPT project.
2. Rename the chats so their titles exactly match the desired names.
3. Confirm that the titles are correct on ChatGPT web.
4. Open the same project in the Windows desktop app.
5. Refresh or restart the app.

Expected behavior

The project sidebar in the desktop app displays the same chat titles as ChatGPT web and the source thread list.

Actual behavior

The desktop sidebar continues to display older auto-generated titles, while the web and source thread list show the updated titles.

Diagnostics already performed

• Verified all affected server/source titles are correct.
• Windows app Repair and Reset did not resolve the issue.
• Fully terminated all ChatGPT processes.
• Renamed the embedded ChatGPT partition so the app created a completely new partition on restart.
• The stale-title behavior remained.
• Immediately after the clean partition was created, the new app log again recorded:

desktop_fetch_auth_401
GET /backend-api/accounts/:param/settings
{"detail":"Must use workspace account for this operation"}

This suggests an account/workspace context or desktop synchronization issue rather than stale local cache alone.

Full logs may contain account identifiers, so they are not attached publicly. Sanitized excerpts or a feedback session ID can be provided if needed.

Start by reproducing the stale project-sidebar titles in the Windows desktop app and compare them with the web and source thread list. Inspect sanitized logs around GET /backend-api/accounts/:param/settings and the desktop_fetch_auth_401 entry, using the embedded ChatGPT browser partition context. Done means the sidebar reflects renamed titles after refresh or restart and the account settings request no longer returns 401.