All conversations gone from sidebar — data export returned empty conversations.json and no chat.html (Plus subscriber)

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

26.825.51511

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

I'm a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, and in the early hours of August 29, 2026, simply by trying to access ChatGPT, I realized that all my chats had disappeared. This includes regular Q&A chats and chats using Work mode. In some of those Work mode chats, I had important programming projects using Codex.

I tried accessing my ChatGPT account via the mobile app on my iOS iPhone 15 Pro Max, and no conversations showed up. I also tried the mobile app on my Android Mi 10T, and still, no chats or projects appeared in the right sidebar. The only place that showed a few chats was the Windows app version, but even then, it doesn't load the content for any of them. Unlike the other platforms, the Windows app shows some chats in the left sidebar, but definitely not all of them, and clicking into any of them fails to load.

An important piece of information is that the ChatGPT Windows app has been the platform giving me the most problems lately. It hasn't been loading chat content, it doesn't allow me to delete or archive chats, and it even got to the point where a simple prompt in fast mode would take a long time to start responding.

When I access ChatGPT through the Google Chrome browser, I can actually view the Library with the files and images I uploaded, but the chats don't appear in the left sidebar. I didn't archive any chats, I didn't manually delete anything either.

I already went through standard support channels (chatbot and human agent) without resolution. As part of that process I requested a full data export, and that export is what points to a server-side issue rather than a client-side cache problem:

• chat.html wasn't generated at all. It simply isn't in the archive.
• conversations.json contains exactly [], an empty array. Zero conversations.
• Everything else exported normally. user.json, user_settings.json, export_manifest.json and library_files.json all came through with valid, populated data.
• library_files.json in particular is fully intact. File IDs, names, sizes, and timestamps are all present. My Library with uploaded images and generated documents is still visible and working in the account.

Since conversations.json is generated server-side from the account database at export time, an empty array there tells me the conversations aren't in the backend anymore. That would also explain why chat.html was never generated, since there was nothing to render it from. It also explains why every local troubleshooting step failed (reinstalling the app on every device, clearing caches) — none of it did anything, which is exactly what you'd expect if the problem is server-side.

The export also contains a set of .dat files, the attachments from my conversations saved without their original extensions. I'm going through those separately to see what's actually recoverable.

What I'm asking:

1. Please confirm whether this is a known issue — an account losing conversation records while Library and account metadata survive intact.
2. This looks like server-side data loss, not something the standard L1 support flow can resolve. I'd like this escalated to someone who can check backend data integrity for this account.
3. Does the Windows app still showing chat titles that no longer resolve mean anything diagnostically, or is that just a stale local cache on that client?

Some of what I lost was genuinely useful work, including active Codex projects. Happy to provide the full export files, ticket number from prior support contact, or anything else that helps investigate.

Exportated Files - IMG.pdf

Screenshots - ChatGPT error.pdf

Contents of the JSON Files - IMG.pdf

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded performance trace: no-active-thread-01a05a5b-0d8d-7723-a1f5-406cc9bb6025

What is the expected behavior?

My chat history and Work mode projects (including Codex conversations) should still be listed and openable across all clients, matching what's reflected server-side. If the account's Library and metadata are intact, my conversation history should be too — a data export should return my actual conversations in conversations.json, not an empty array.

Screenshots - ChatGPT error.pdf

Additional information

Already went through standard support (chatbot, then a human agent) with no resolution — was asked to export account data, which I had already done, and support stopped responding after that.

Environment: iOS 17 (iPhone 15 Pro Max), Android (Mi 10T), Windows desktop app, and Chrome browser (both logged-in and incognito). Account is ChatGPT Plus.

Behavior is inconsistent across platforms, which seems relevant to diagnosing this:

• On the Windows app, some older chat titles still appear in the left sidebar, but clicking into any of them fails with "Não foi possível carregar esta conversa do ChatGPT" ("Could not load this ChatGPT conversation") — no content ever loads.
• On Android, iPhone, and Chrome (both a regular logged-in window and an incognito window), no chats or projects appear in the sidebar at all — the list is just empty, not even showing titles.
• Across all platforms, the Library (uploaded files, images, and documents) still shows up normally and works fine. Only the conversations themselves are affected.

Some of the missing conversations were Work mode chats using Codex for active programming projects, so this isn't just chat history — it's lost project context I was actively using.

Attaching screenshots of: the sidebar showing no chats/projects across platforms, the "could not load conversation" error on the Windows app, the Library still populated, the data export confirmation and email, and the exported JSON files (conversations.json empty, library_files.json populated) opened in VS Code.

No repository file, test, or entry point is identified. Start by reviewing the reported export evidence and the cross-platform behavior, then determine whether this repository owns conversation retrieval or export handling. Done would require a confirmed reproducible cause and a defined backend fix, which the issue does not currently specify.