Bug report: Local projects disappear from sidebar after Windows desktop update

Bug report: Local projects disappear from sidebar after Windows desktop update

Summary

After updating the Codex/ChatGPT Windows desktop app, the Projects section shows No projects. Existing chats remain visible under Recents, and all source folders still exist on disk.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• Installed Windows package: OpenAI.Codex_26.901.4073.0_x64
• App-server client version observed in logs: 26.901.31953
• Bundled Codex CLI: codex-cli 0.153.1

Steps to reproduce

1. Have multiple local Codex projects with chats assigned to them.
2. Update the Windows desktop app.
3. Launch Codex.
4. Inspect the left sidebar under Projects.

Actual result

• Sidebar displays No projects.
• Clicking Choose project opens Create project, requiring projects to be recreated manually.
• Restarting the app and restarting Windows do not restore the projects.
• Closing the visible app window does not terminate all ChatGPT.exe background processes.

Expected result

Existing local projects and their chat assignments should be migrated and remain visible after an update.

Diagnostic evidence

The underlying data was checked locally:

• state_5.sqlite still contains 14 project records and 14 project roots.
• All 14 source folders still exist.
• 54 of 62 local threads have a non-null project assignment.
• The desktop global-state file is rewritten on startup with:
  • local-projects: {}
  • thread-project-assignments: null
  • migration state projectsMigrated: true
  • migration state threadAssignmentsMigrated: false
• Reconstructing the sidebar registry while the app is running is overwritten by the app's in-memory state when it closes.
• A recovery helper waiting for the app to exit timed out after 30 minutes because background ChatGPT.exe processes remained active after the window was closed.

This looks like a Windows desktop migration/regression where the durable SQLite project records survive, but the sidebar registry and thread-assignment migration do not load or complete.

Data-loss impact

No source folders appear to be deleted, but project organization is effectively lost in the UI. Manually recreating the projects would also require users to remember which chats belonged to each project.

Reproduce the update on Windows 11 and inspect state_5.sqlite alongside the desktop global-state file, focusing on local-projects, thread-project-assignments, and the projectsMigrated and threadAssignmentsMigrated flags. Trace why the durable project records and assignments are not loaded into the sidebar and why background ChatGPT.exe processes remain after the window closes. Done means existing projects and chat assignments remain visible after updating and the app can exit normally.