Conversation unexpectedly deleted without user action
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app
bug
session
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 125k
- Forks
- 19.4k
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Description
Description
A conversation became unavailable in the ChatGPT desktop app even though I did not delete it.
Error shown
{"detail":{"message":"Conversation has been deleted. Start a new chat.","code":"conversation_deleted","can_retry":false}}
Expected behavior
The existing conversation should remain available unless I explicitly delete it.
Actual behavior
Opening the conversation showed a permanent conversation_deleted error with can_retry: false.
Additional information
- Platform: macOS desktop app
- Date observed: September 4, 2026
- The conversation was not intentionally deleted.
- This may be related to conversation synchronization or session storage.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reproducing the permanent conversation_deleted error in the macOS desktop app and investigate the reported conversation synchronization or session storage behavior. Done means an existing conversation remains available unless the user explicitly deletes it, with the reported error no longer occurring.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- macos
- Domain
- desktop
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100