Codex CLI: Pin Threads, Fork Sessions & Switch Side Conversations
CodexCodex CLI 0.146.0 gave developers finer control over long-running work by letting them pin important threads for quick access, switch between side conversations without closing the main one, and fork threads with paginated history — including temporary forks that don't clutter the thread list. Sessions can also be named directly from /new or /clear, building on the persisted-name and search capabilities Codex shipped the week before in 0.145.0. Together these changes make it easier to juggle multiple parallel lines of work inside a single Codex CLI session without losing track of any of them.
Key Takeaways
- Thread pinning lets developers mark important Codex CLI sessions for quick access instead of letting them get buried under newer conversations.
- Side conversation switching allows branching off to ask a quick question or test an idea without closing or losing the primary thread's context.
- Temporary forks — a new fork type that doesn't appear in the regular thread listing — make it practical to explore alternative approaches without cluttering thread history.
- Forking now works together with the paginated thread history system introduced in 0.145.0, so forked threads retain full navigable history.
- Session naming is now available directly from
/newor/clear, giving developers a faster way to label sessions at creation time rather than renaming them afterward. - The release also shipped fixes for proxy configuration consistency across authentication, plugins, MCP, and WebSocket connections, plus improved terminal rendering responsiveness.
Sources & Mentions
2 external resources covering this update
Managing Multiple Threads Got Easier
Codex CLI 0.146.0, released July 29, 2026, focused on giving developers better tools for organizing and navigating multiple active conversations inside the terminal. As Codex sessions grow longer and developers increasingly juggle several parallel lines of work — debugging one issue while exploring an alternative approach to another — keeping track of individual threads had become harder to manage. This release addresses that directly.
Thread Pinning
Developers can now pin important threads, marking them for quick access rather than letting them get buried under newer sessions. This is particularly useful for long-lived reference threads — for example, a session containing a working solution to a tricky bug, or a plan document that gets revisited across a multi-day task.
Side Conversations Without Losing Your Place
Codex now supports switching between side conversations without closing the one currently in progress. Previously, exploring a tangential question meant either derailing the main thread or opening an entirely separate session and losing the surrounding context. With this update, developers can branch off to ask a quick question or test an idea, then jump straight back to the primary thread.
Forking with Paginated History
Thread forking has been extended to work with Codex's newer paginated history system (introduced experimentally in 0.145.0). Forks now preserve full paginated history, and Codex introduces the concept of temporary forks — forks that do not appear in the regular thread listing. This makes it practical to branch off and try an alternative approach without permanently cluttering the thread history with exploratory dead ends.
Session Naming from the Command Line
Sessions can now be named directly when starting a new one, using /new or /clear. This complements the persisted, human-readable thread names Codex began supporting the week prior, giving developers a faster way to label a session right as they create it rather than renaming it later.
Other Changes
The release also shipped a round of bug fixes affecting proxy configuration (now consistently honored across authentication, plugin downloads, MCP authorization, remote execution, and WebSocket connections), MCP connection stability during configuration changes, message preservation across interruptions and replays, and terminal rendering responsiveness, along with Windows-specific fixes for navigation keys and sandboxed process termination.