Codex macOS: "Import other agent setup" corrupted sidebar, chat titles, timestamps, and project mapping

Codex
,
1

After clicking Settings > General > “Import other agent setup” on the Codex macOS app, my local project state became corrupted. Local repos are fine (git status shows clean working trees). The problem is in the app’s sidebar, chat history display, search index, and project-to-thread mapping.

What happened after clicking Import:

  • Extra unwanted project entries appeared in the sidebar (duplicates, parent-folder-style containers, generic project names I never created)
  • Chats appeared under the wrong project
  • Some projects that had chat history now show “No chats”
  • Chat titles were overwritten with path-like prompts, command text, or unrelated snippets instead of the original titles
  • Raw internal command markup appeared at the top of conversations I did not type:
<command-name>/clear</command-name>
<command-message>clear</command-message>
<command-args></command-args>
  • Timestamps became unreliable. Old chats displayed as modified 20-60 minutes ago

Evidence gathered:

  • Local repos verified clean via git status
  • Local Codex session/transcript JSONL files still exist on disk
  • Filesystem search over those files finds terms from the “missing” chats
  • Codex app search returns “No matches” for the same terms
  • Re-adding projects does not restore old chat mapping
  • Moving the Codex data folder aside and starting fresh, then copying session folders back, restores some content but also restores the corrupted titles and internal command markup

The likely cause:

The “Import other agent setup” label is misleading. It sounds like it imports configuration or settings from another agent app. It does not communicate that it may import sessions into visible projects, create new project entries, or alter existing sidebar state and chat history. So, not really a “likely cause” but more like what caused me to click it and what I was expecting it to do. Regardless, even if used as for the “intended” purpose, in no way should it create this scenario.

What I need to understand:

  1. Is there a supported way to rebuild the sidebar/search/project index from existing local session JSONL files?
  2. Can internal command metadata be filtered out of visible chat titles and conversation content?
  3. What exactly does “Import other agent setup” import (sessions, history, projects, metadata, or only configuration)?

Local repos appear unaffected based on git status checks, but the fact that this import flow unexpectedly altered visible project state raises a reasonable concern about whether it could also modify local repo files. A clear answer from the team on this would help.

I have an open support case on this but wanted to flag it here in case others hit the same issue. :grimacing: