Windows Codex Desktop: creating and removing local projects fails

Windows Codex Desktop: creating and removing local projects fails

Summary

The desktop app can display existing local projects, but both project creation and project removal fail. The failure persists after updating to the latest available desktop build and fully restarting the app.

Environment

• Platform: Windows desktop app
• App version: latest available at the time of reporting
• Project type: local project

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Codex Desktop.
2. In the Projects sidebar, select an existing local project.
3. Use the project menu and choose Remove project.
4. Confirm removal.

Actual result

The app shows the toast: Failed to remove <project name> (Chinese UI: 未成功移除 <项目名>).

Creating a new local project also fails. Existing projects remain visible and usable.

Expected result

Removing a project should remove only its sidebar/project registration while preserving the local files and existing chats, as stated by the confirmation dialog. Creating a local project should also succeed.

Additional evidence

• Restarting and updating the app did not resolve the issue.
• The local project state JSON is syntactically valid and its existing project references are internally consistent.
• Editing that local state cache while the app is closed does not persist: after reopening, the desktop project service rehydrates the original project list. This suggests a separate project-registry source or a write-path failure in the desktop app.

Request

Please provide a supported repair/rebuild mechanism for the desktop project registry, or fix the create/remove write path and display an actionable error message.

Start by reproducing local-project creation and removal in the Windows desktop app, then trace the desktop project service and its project-registry write path. Done means both operations succeed, local files and chats remain intact when removing a project, and failures show an actionable error message.