openai / openai/codex

MacOS desktop app keeps undeletable "ghost" conversations in the sidebar after deletion

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#41,987 13 comments 4 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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app bug session
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
125k
Forks
19.4k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

Environment

  • App: ChatGPT macOS desktop app (Codex-based), version 26.825.51511 (latest)
  • OS: macOS (Apple Silicon)
  • Account: fengw2002@gmail.com (Plus)

Description
After deleting several conversations, their titles remain stuck in the desktop app's sidebar "Recent" list. These ghost entries:

  1. Show "Unable to load this ChatGPT conversation" when clicked;
  2. Fail with "Chat could not be deleted" when using right-click → Delete chat;
  3. Fail with "Conversation could not be archived" when using Archive;
  4. Redirect to the chatgpt.com homepage when opened via "Open on chatgpt.com" — the conversation no longer exists server-side (e.g. conversation ID: 6a915541-a670-83ea-a3a1-baea4345992d);
  5. Do NOT appear in the web sidebar, so the issue is specific to the desktop app's conversation list index.

Troubleshooting already attempted (none worked)

  1. Fully quitting and relaunching the app;
  2. Deleting local app data and caches (~/Library/Application Support/com.openai.codex, ~/Library/Caches/com.openai.codex) — the list was restored identically after relaunch;
  3. Signing out and signing back in — ghost entries persist and delete/archive still fail;
  4. Confirmed the app is on the latest version.

Conclusion
The conversation objects were deleted server-side, but the desktop app's conversation list index retains stale references. Delete/archive requests fail because the target no longer exists, so the list cannot self-heal. The state is account-bound (server-side), independent of device or local data.

Request
Please purge the stale entries from my account's desktop conversation list, or fix the sync bug where deleting a non-existent conversation leaves a permanent sidebar entry.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No source file or test is identified in the report. Start by tracing desktop conversation-list synchronization and deletion handling for server-missing conversation IDs; done means stale entries are removed and deletion or archive requests no longer leave them behind, with a regression test.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
macos, rust
Domain
backend, desktop
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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