[macOS] Sidebar chat reorder inserts a reference into the active composer on the first drag

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

26.901.31953 (build 7868), read from the installed desktop application's bundle metadata.

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

macOS 27.0 (build 26A5425a), Apple silicon.

uname -mprs: Darwin 27.0.0 arm64 arm

The desktop app was in Codex mode and macOS full-screen mode when this occurred.

What issue are you seeing?

When I drag a chat up or down within a project's sidebar list to change its order, the app treats the first drag as an attempt to reference that chat in the currently open chat.

During the drag, the UI indicates that it will add the dragged chat as a reference to the active chat. When I release it above another chat in the sidebar, the order does not change as intended. Instead, a reference to the dragged chat is inserted into the active chat's message composer.

Repeating the drag a second time successfully changes the sidebar order. This has been happening repeatedly when I try to reorder chats, so a simple reorder requires two drag attempts and leaves an unwanted reference in the composer.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open the desktop app on macOS, switch to Codex mode, and enter full-screen mode.
2. Expand a project containing multiple chats in the sidebar.
3. Keep a chat open in the main pane.
4. Drag another chat up or down within the same project's sidebar list, aiming to drop it immediately above another chat.
5. Observe the reference-to-current-chat feedback during the drag.
6. Release the dragged chat at the intended sidebar position.
7. Observe that the first attempt adds a chat reference to the active composer instead of correctly reordering the list.
8. Repeat the same reorder gesture. The second attempt successfully reorders the chat.

What is the expected behavior?

Dropping a chat at a reorder position within the project's sidebar list should update its position on the first attempt and leave the active message composer unchanged.

Additional information

• Observed on September 5, 2026.
• Full-screen mode describes the environment in which this happened; I have not established whether the issue also occurs in windowed mode.
• Repeating the drag is a temporary workaround for the ordering failure.
• Related: #39254 reports sidebar drop-target displacement during auto-scroll. This report concerns a different visible outcome: a sidebar reorder gesture inserts a chat reference into the active composer, with reordering succeeding on the second attempt.

Reproduce the first-drag failure in the macOS desktop app using the sidebar project chat list, an open chat, and the active composer. Trace the sidebar reorder gesture alongside the chat-reference drop feedback, then verify that dropping above another chat reorders it on the first attempt without changing the composer.