Codex Desktop: collapsed conversation history hides original user requirements and breaks traceability

Summary

In Codex Desktop on macOS, earlier conversation context appears to disappear from the visible transcript after being collapsed. The user can see a follow-up referring to earlier requirements and a final result, but the original requirements are no longer visible inline, making the conversation abrupt and difficult to trace.

Observed behavior

The screenshot supplied by the affected user shows:

• A user message equivalent to "Start the experiment according to the requirements above".
• A collapsed history entry labeled "上 331 条消息" (331 previous messages).
• A final assistant response reporting completion and linking to result artifacts.

The requirements referenced by "above" are not visible in this view. The user reports that the earlier conversation was folded away and appeared to disappear.

Expected behavior

Collapsed history should remain reliably discoverable and expandable, with original user messages preserved in chronological order. A direct reference or jump link to the original requirements would help retain the connection between instructions and results.

Impact

Users cannot readily review which requirements and parameters led to the reported results. This makes long-running tasks difficult to audit and resume.

Evidence and limitations

• Platform: macOS, Codex Desktop; exact app version not captured for this report.
• The screenshot demonstrates collapsed history, not confirmed underlying data deletion.
• Whether expanding the 331-message entry restores every original message has not yet been verified. No claim is made that expansion was tested and failed.
• Screenshot and internal experiment details are intentionally omitted for privacy.
• Potentially related: #19975 (history rendering), but replay/fork involvement is not established in this report.

No source file or test is named. Start by inspecting Codex Desktop's conversation-history rendering and the collapsed 331-message entry, then compare the behavior with related issue #19975. Done means confirming whether expansion restores the original messages and ensuring collapsed history remains discoverable with the requirements traceable to the result.