Scheduled Tasks: switching to Existing task dead-ends when no local task is pinned

[arichter83]

What version of the Codex App are you using?

ChatGPT Desktop / Codex 26.721.31836 (build 5828)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.5.2 (25F84), Apple Silicon (arm64)

What issue are you seeing?

Editing an existing scheduled task and changing Run in from New task to Existing task leads to a dead end when no local task is currently pinned.

The next field says Select pinned task. Opening it only displays this message in the German UI:

Zielaufgabe
Hefte zuerst eine lokale Aufgabe an, um geplante Aufgaben zu nutzen

The editor provides no action, link, or picker for pinning/selecting one of the existing local tasks. Previous runs are visible directly below the editor, but none can be selected as the target. Attempting to save leaves the editor showing Speichern erneut versuchen (Retry save).

This makes the feature appear broken even though changing the same automation through the supported automation_update action works immediately: converting kind = "cron" to kind = "heartbeat" and supplying a valid targetThreadId successfully attaches the schedule to an existing task.

Local thread discovery at reproduction time showed pinnedThreads: [], while multiple eligible local Codex tasks existed.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Have an active cron automation with several previous local run tasks.
2. Ensure no local Codex task is currently pinned.
3. Open the automation in Scheduled Tasks.
4. Change Run in from New task to Existing task.
5. Open Select pinned task.
6. Observe that the dropdown contains only the instruction to pin a local task first, with no way to do that from the editor and no eligible existing tasks listed.
7. Try to save and observe Retry save.

What is the expected behavior?

Any of the following would resolve the dead end:

• Let the picker list eligible existing local tasks directly, not only pinned ones.
• Provide a search/picker plus an inline Pin and select action.
• Provide a clear link that opens the task list and explains exactly how to pin a task, then preserve the unsaved automation edit when returning.
• Disable Save with a precise validation message instead of the generic Retry save state.

At minimum, the UI should make it clear before switching modes that only pinned local tasks are eligible targets.

What do you see instead?

The editor switches modes successfully but offers no selectable target and no recovery action inside the flow. Existing tasks and prior automation runs remain inaccessible from the target selector, and Save ends in a generic retry state.

Additional information

• Reproduced in the German UI on 2026-07-24.
• Three screenshots were captured showing the New task state, the Existing task state, and the empty pinned-task selector. They can be provided if needed.
• No exact duplicate was found by searching open openai/codex issues for scheduled-task existing/pinned task selection and retry-save behavior.
• Related but not identical: Codex App automations clutter main thread list and lose recurring task intent #30515 covers cron runs cluttering the task list, and Codex Desktop: automation_update omitted from tool manifest; visible heartbeat misses run and becomes daily #32609 covers missing automation_update/heartbeat execution. This report is specifically about the desktop editor's target-selection dead end.