[Chat][All platforms] "Archive all chats" leaves stale Recents entries that cannot be archived or deleted

What version of the Codex App are you using (From "About Codex" dialog)?

ChatGPT unified desktop app 26.825.51511

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

Reproduced across multiple systems:

• macOS, Apple Silicon
• Windows
• Linux

The same account shows the same stale Recents entries on each desktop installation.

What issue are you seeing?

After using "Archive all chats" in ChatGPT, the conversations are correctly removed from Recents on chatgpt.com, but they remain visible in the Recents sidebar of the unified ChatGPT desktop app.

The stale entries appear on every desktop installation I have tested, including macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Attempting to archive one of these conversations from the desktop app fails with:

"Failed to archive conversation"

Attempting to delete one also fails.

I completely reinstalled the desktop application, but after signing back into the same account, the stale Recents entries returned.

The web version remains correct and does not show these conversations in Recents.

Because this reproduces across multiple operating systems and after reinstalling the desktop app, it may involve remote Recents synchronization rather than a local cache issue.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Have multiple normal ChatGPT conversations.
2. On chatgpt.com, use Settings > Data Controls > Archive all chats.
3. Confirm the conversations disappear from Recents on the web.
4. Open the unified ChatGPT desktop app.
5. Observe that the archived conversations still appear under Recents.
6. Attempt to archive one of the stale entries.
7. The app displays "Failed to archive conversation."
8. Attempt to delete the same entry.
9. Delete also fails.
10. Sign into the same account on another desktop installation.
11. The same stale Recents entries appear there as well.

Reproduced on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Reinstalling the desktop app does not resolve the issue.

What is the expected behavior?

After "Archive all chats" succeeds, archived conversations should disappear from Recents on every ChatGPT client.

The desktop Recents list should synchronize with the conversation state used by chatgpt.com.

Stale conversation entries should not continue appearing across newly installed desktop clients.

Additional information

This appears related to existing reports involving stale ChatGPT Desktop Recents entries:

• #40219 - Server-deleted conversations repopulate in Recents and cannot be removed
• #41602 - Deleted conversations remain as stale titles in Windows app Recents

My case differs in two important ways:

1. The conversations were archived using "Archive all chats", rather than deleted.
2. I can reproduce the same stale Recents state across macOS, Windows, and Linux using the same account.

The issue persists after completely reinstalling the desktop application.

Start by reproducing the archive-all flow on chatgpt.com, then compare the Recents state after signing into the desktop app on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Trace how the desktop Recents list synchronizes conversation state; done means archived entries disappear across clients and individual archive or delete actions no longer fail.