Codex Provider Sync Skill

codex-provider-sync

Skill by ara.so — Codex Skills collection.

What It Does

codex-provider-sync solves a specific Codex problem: when you switch model_provider (e.g., from OpenAI to Anthropic, or vice versa), historical sessions may become invisible in Codex Desktop or /resume — not because the session files are lost, but because provider/visibility metadata across rollout files, SQLite thread tables, and project path caches becomes inconsistent.

This tool synchronizes metadata in:

• ~/.codex/sessions (rollout files)
• ~/.codex/archived_sessions
• ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite (threads table)
• .codex-global-state.json (project root path cache)

Important limitations:

• Does not modify session content, messages, or titles
• Does not handle authentication or auth.json
• Does not re-encrypt encrypted_content across providers
• Does not modify updated_at timestamps to change session ordering
• Sessions with encrypted_content may only regain list visibility; continuing them may still error with invalid_encrypted_content

Installation

Windows GUI (Recommended)

Download CodexProviderSync.exe from the Releases page:

1. Extract the release ZIP
2. Run CodexProviderSync.exe
3. Click Refresh to scan current state
4. Select target provider
5. Click Execute to sync

CLI (macOS/Linux/Node.js)

Requires Node.js 24+ (due to node:sqlite dependency):

npm install -g git+https://github.com/Dailin521/codex-provider-sync.git

Or clone and run locally:

git clone https://github.com/Dailin521/codex-provider-sync.git
cd codex-provider-sync
npm install
npm link

Key Commands

Status Check (Dry Run)

Check current provider, rollout metadata, SQLite state, and project visibility without making changes:

codex-provider status

Sample output:

[INFO] Current provider: openai
[INFO] Rollout files: 127 (openai: 50, anthropic: 77)
[INFO] SQLite threads: 130
[INFO] Project visibility: 12/15 projects have visible sessions
[WARN] Project /home/user/my-project: first page 0/50, ranks 64-77 (Desktop likely won't show)

Sync Metadata (No Provider Switch)

Synchronize all historical session metadata to the current provider without changing config.toml:

codex-provider sync

This updates:

• Rollout files model_provider field
• SQLite threads.model_provider
• Project root path caches in .codex-global-state.json

Switch Provider & Sync

Change the root-level model_provider in config.toml and sync all metadata:

codex-provider switch anthropic
codex-provider switch openai
codex-provider switch apigather

This:

1. Updates ~/.codex/config.toml model_provider
2. Syncs all rollout/SQLite/project metadata to the new provider

Restore from Backup

Every sync/switch creates a timestamped backup in ~/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/<timestamp>.

Restore all:

codex-provider restore ~/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/2026-05-16T123045

Restore selectively:

# Restore only config.toml
codex-provider restore <backup-dir> --no-db --no-sessions

# Restore only SQLite
codex-provider restore <backup-dir> --no-config --no-sessions

# Restore only session rollouts
codex-provider restore <backup-dir> --no-config --no-db

Prune Old Backups

Keep only the last N backups created by this tool:

codex-provider prune-backups --keep 5

This only touches backups in ~/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/, not other Codex backups.

Configuration

The tool reads from standard Codex config paths:

No additional configuration needed. The tool auto-detects Codex home directory from:

• CODEX_HOME environment variable (if set)
• Default: ~/.codex (macOS/Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.codex (Windows)

Code Examples (Node.js/JavaScript)

Programmatic Status Check

import { checkStatus } from 'codex-provider-sync';

async function diagnose() {
  const result = await checkStatus({
    codexHome: process.env.CODEX_HOME || require('os').homedir() + '/.codex',
    verbose: true
  });

  console.log('Current provider:', result.currentProvider);
  console.log('Rollout files:', result.rolloutStats);
  console.log('SQLite threads:', result.sqliteStats);
  console.log('Project issues:', result.projectDiagnostics);
}

diagnose().catch(console.error);

Programmatic Sync

import { syncProvider } from 'codex-provider-sync';

async function syncToAnthropic() {
  const backupPath = await syncProvider({
    targetProvider: 'anthropic',
    codexHome: process.env.CODEX_HOME,
    createBackup: true,
    verbose: true
  });

  console.log('Sync complete. Backup:', backupPath);
}

syncToAnthropic().catch(console.error);

Programmatic Provider Switch

import { switchProvider } from 'codex-provider-sync';

async function switchToOpenAI() {
  const result = await switchProvider({
    newProvider: 'openai',
    codexHome: process.env.CODEX_HOME,
    updateConfig: true, // Modify config.toml
    syncMetadata: true  // Sync all sessions
  });

  console.log('Switched to:', result.provider);
  console.log('Sessions synced:', result.sessionsUpdated);
  console.log('Backup:', result.backupPath);
}

switchToOpenAI().catch(console.error);

Restore from Backup

import { restoreBackup } from 'codex-provider-sync';

async function rollback() {
  await restoreBackup({
    backupDir: '/home/user/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/2026-05-16T123045',
    restoreConfig: true,
    restoreDb: true,
    restoreSessions: true
  });

  console.log('Restore complete');
}

rollback().catch(console.error);

Common Patterns

Before/After Major Provider Switch

# 1. Check current state
codex-provider status

# 2. Switch and auto-backup
codex-provider switch anthropic

# 3. Verify sessions visible in Desktop
# If issues persist, restore:
codex-provider restore ~/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/<latest>

Manual Rollout File Inspection

Rollout files are newline-delimited JSON. Each session has metadata in the first line:

# Check first line of a rollout file
head -n 1 ~/.codex/sessions/<session-id>.rollout | jq .

Look for model_provider field:

{
  "session_id": "abc123",
  "model_provider": "openai",
  "created_at": 1715900000000,
  "project_root": "/home/user/my-project"
}

If this doesn't match your current provider, sessions won't appear in Desktop.

Sync Only Specific Provider (Not Implemented Yet)

Current tool syncs all sessions to the target provider. If you need selective sync (e.g., keep some sessions on OpenAI, others on Anthropic), you must manually edit rollout files or filter before sync.

Codex Desktop 50-Session Limit

Codex Desktop currently loads only the most recent 50 sessions on first page load. This is an upstream limitation.

Symptoms:

• CLI /resume shows sessions that Desktop doesn't
• Project sidebar shows "No conversations" even after sync
• codex-provider status reports ranks 64-77 (beyond first 50)

Workarounds:

• Use CLI /resume to access sessions beyond rank 50
• Wait for Codex Desktop to implement project-scoped pagination
• Don't modify updated_at to force old sessions into top 50 (not supported by this tool)

Troubleshooting

"Database is locked" / "SQLITE_BUSY"

Cause: Codex Desktop, Codex App, or app-server has state_5.sqlite open.

Fix:

1. Close all Codex applications
2. Kill app-server process if running:

   # macOS/Linux
   pkill -f app-server
   
   # Windows
   taskkill /IM codex.exe /F
   

3. Re-run codex-provider sync

"Malformed database" / "Unreadable SQLite"

Cause: state_5.sqlite is corrupted.

Fix:

1. Check if a backup exists: ~/.codex/backups_state/
2. Restore from backup:

   codex-provider restore <backup-dir> --no-config --no-sessions
   

3. If no backup, SQLite recovery is beyond this tool's scope

Rollout File Locked (Session in Use)

Symptom: Tool skips certain .rollout files with "file locked" warning.

Cause: Active Codex session has the file open.

Fix:

1. Close the specific session in Codex
2. Re-run sync (tool will process previously skipped files)

GUI EXE Won't Start (Windows)

Symptoms:

• Double-clicking CodexProviderSync.exe does nothing
• No window appears

Diagnostics:

1. Check %AppData%\codex-provider-sync\startup-error.log
2. Run from PowerShell to see console output:

   cd C:\path\to\extracted\folder
   .\CodexProviderSync.exe
   

3. Verify all files were extracted (ZIP extraction issue)
4. Check Windows SmartScreen didn't block execution

Sessions Still Invisible After Sync

Checklist:

1. Run codex-provider status — check provider matches config
2. Check session ranks — if beyond 50, Desktop won't show (see "50-Session Limit")
3. Verify state_5.sqlite threads.model_provider updated:

   sqlite3 ~/.codex/state_5.sqlite "SELECT model_provider, COUNT(*) FROM threads GROUP BY model_provider;"
   

4. Check project root path cache in .codex-global-state.json
5. If session has encrypted_content, it may not be continuable cross-provider

Node Version Error (node:sqlite)

Symptom: Cannot find module 'node:sqlite'

Cause: Node.js <24 doesn't have built-in SQLite.

Fix: Upgrade to Node.js 24+:

# Using nvm
nvm install 24
nvm use 24

# Or download from nodejs.org

Advanced: Manual Metadata Editing

If you need surgical changes (not recommended), rollout files are JSON-lines:

// Read rollout file
const fs = require('fs');
const lines = fs.readFileSync('~/.codex/sessions/abc123.rollout', 'utf-8').split('\n');

// Parse first line (metadata)
const meta = JSON.parse(lines[0]);
console.log('Current provider:', meta.model_provider);

// Change provider (manual edit)
meta.model_provider = 'anthropic';
lines[0] = JSON.stringify(meta);

// Write back
fs.writeFileSync('~/.codex/sessions/abc123.rollout', lines.join('\n'));

Warning: Always backup before manual edits. Use the official CLI when possible.

Safety & Backups

Every sync/switch automatically creates:

~/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/<timestamp>/
  ├── config.toml
  ├── state_5.sqlite
  ├── sessions/
  └── archived_sessions/

Backup retention:

• Default: unlimited (manually prune with prune-backups)
• Recommended: codex-provider prune-backups --keep 10

Restore example:

# Full restore
codex-provider restore ~/.codex/backups_state/provider-sync/2026-05-16T123045

# Config only
codex-provider restore <backup> --no-db --no-sessions

Testing

# JavaScript tests
npm test

# C# GUI tests (if contributing to desktop app)
dotnet test desktop/CodexProviderSync.Core.Tests/CodexProviderSync.Core.Tests.csproj

License

MIT