IDE: provide a complete editor workflow with a persistent Codex launcher and recurring sessions

What variant of Codex are you using?

IDE Extension (openai.chatgpt), primarily in Cursor on macOS arm64. Installed versions: Cursor 3.21.9 and Codex extension 26.908.40401. VS Code is also part of the desired supported workflow; the observations below were checked in Cursor.

What feature would you like to see?

Please make the IDE extension a complete, dependable place to work with Codex using ChatGPT sign-in, including recurring sessions, so users can stay in their editor instead of managing a separate desktop app alongside it.

The requested experience:

1. A recognizable, persistent Codex launcher. Provide a branded Activity Bar/sidebar button that can be pinned and remains available when switching views and reopening the editor. Fall back to a supported container when an IDE reserves its secondary sidebar for its own agent. Include an obvious “Pin Codex” or “Restore Codex button” action.
2. Remember completed onboarding. Returning users should land directly in their chats, without clicking through the same several welcome/tips screens. Make reopening the tour an explicit action.
3. Discoverable startup behavior. Expose the existing chatgpt.openOnStartup option prominently and preserve the user's chosen view placement.
4. Manage recurring work from the IDE. Let users create, inspect, pause, and resume scheduled/looping Codex sessions using their ChatGPT/Codex account. Clearly show what runs locally, what needs a running process, and what can continue after closing the editor. Where host integration is supported, expose these sessions in its agent/session view; otherwise provide a full Codex session manager within the extension.
5. Clear shared project and chat organization. When the desktop app and extension share history, provide a way to reconcile duplicate project entries pointing at the same directory while preserving chats and their timestamps.

The goal is to use Codex as an integrated daily workspace, with minimal setup and no uncertainty about which application owns a session or schedule.

Additional information

• Related sidebar report: #38359. Related repeated-onboarding report: #25146. This request is for the broader IDE workflow, rather than a new claim to have independently reproduced every detail of those reports.
• In this Cursor setup, the Codex view was initially under Explorer. Moving it into a new sidebar entry produced a generic “User View Container” label/icon. The helper initially opened that entry without pinning it; explicitly pinning it later kept it visible across view switches. That workaround is confusing compared with a native branded launcher.
• Repeated multi-step welcome/tips screens were reported on opening Codex. Inspection showed that the extension's saved onboarding-completion flags were already true. A fresh sidebar opening skipped the tour; the recurrence after a full restart has not yet been reproduced or isolated.
• Two saved projects pointed to the same local directory; one also included an additional folder. A merge/reconcile affordance would be useful for overlapping projects, rather than silently collapsing legitimately different multi-root projects.
• The user also finds the VS Code integration frustrating, but this report does not claim a separate controlled VS Code reproduction.

Success would mean one obvious Codex button, onboarding shown once, predictable restoration of chats and projects, and recurring work managed from the IDE with clear account and runtime ownership.

No source files or tests are named. Start by reviewing related issues #38359 and #25146, then inspect the existing chatgpt.openOnStartup behavior and the reported Cursor sidebar and onboarding observations. Done would require a scoped design and implementation plan covering the launcher, onboarding, session management, and project reconciliation requirements.