Codex Thread Reader

Codex Thread Reader is a read-only Windows WPF tool for recovering and exporting local Codex Desktop threads, including threads that no longer appear in the Codex Desktop sidebar or search.

What It Reads

By default the app reads:

• %USERPROFILE%\.codex\state_5.sqlite
• %USERPROFILE%\.codex\session_index.jsonl
• %USERPROFILE%\.codex\sessions\**\rollout-*.jsonl
• %USERPROFILE%\.codex\archived_sessions\**\rollout-*.jsonl

It does not write to .codex, repair Codex state, or call Codex APIs.

Features

• Enumerates active, archived, hidden, and rollout-only threads.
• Groups threads by Codex project label, then Active/Archived state, with anchored threads sorted first inside their project.
• Searches thread metadata immediately and scans rollout transcript content in the background for slower full-thread matches.
• Shows recovery flags such as Anchored, Archived, MissingFromSessionIndex, ExtendedPath, RolloutOnly, DbOnlyMissingFile, and LargeRollout.
• Lets you persistently anchor a thread ID at the top of the list even when Codex Desktop cannot show it.
• Resolves sidebar titles from Codex's session index or rollout title events before falling back to compacted SQLite text.
• Supports System, Light, and Dark theme modes.
• Renders conversation messages as Markdown in the chat preview while keeping tool output as plain monospace text.
• Pages the chat preview with per-page message navigation so long rollouts remain scrollable and precise.
• Streams rollout JSONL so very large thread files are not loaded as raw text.
• Exports selected threads as:
  • thread.html
  • thread.normalized.json
  • thread.raw.jsonl
  • handoff.md
• Copies the handoff prompt to the clipboard after export.

Build

dotnet test .\CodexThreadReader.slnx
dotnet publish .\src\CodexThreadReader\CodexThreadReader.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false /p:PublishSingleFile=true -o .\publish

Run:

.\publish\CodexThreadReader.exe

Privacy Boundary

Thread exports contain private conversation content, local paths, command output, and potentially secrets. The repository .gitignore excludes JSONL, SQLite, export folders, and .codex data. Do not commit generated exports.