Where OpenAI Codex CLI stores your session history

Codex CLI saves each session as a rollout JSONL file in ~/.codex/sessions by date and compresses old ones to .jsonl.zst. How to find, resume, archive and delete them.

Updated October 29, 2026 // Markdown

Quick factsas of October 2026 (v0.166.0)

Made by: OpenAI
History lives in: All~/.codex/sessions/YYYY/MM/DD/rollout-<timestamp>-<id>.jsonl
Archived~/.codex/archived_sessions/
Format: JSONL; older files compressed in place to .jsonl.zst
Kept for: No automatic deletion documented
Resume: codex resume [--last | ID]
Cloud copy: Local CLI sessions; Codex cloud tasks are a separate remote product

Codex CLI records each session as a rollout file, filed by date. Unlike Claude Code, it does not delete old sessions; it compresses them.

Where the files are

~/.codex/
├── sessions/
│   └── 2026/10/29/
│       ├── rollout-2026-10-29T09-14-02-<id>.jsonl
│       └── rollout-2026-10-21T17-40-55-<id>.jsonl.zst   # compressed when cold
├── archived_sessions/
├── session_index.jsonl         # id, thread name, last update
├── state_*.sqlite              # thread list: path, cwd, title, model, tokens
└── config.toml

The layout is the same on macOS, Linux and Windows. Set CODEX_HOME to move it.

Count your sessions, compressed ones included:

find ~/.codex/sessions -name 'rollout-*.jsonl*' | wc -l

What is inside a rollout file

Each line is a record with a type and a payload:

Record	What it holds
`session_meta`	Session id, working directory, CLI version, model
`turn_context`	Settings for a turn: model, approval and sandbox policy
`response_item`	Messages, reasoning, and tool calls (`function_call`) with their output
`event_msg`	Events such as task start, token counts, task complete

Shell commands appear as function_call items named shell or exec_command, with the command in the arguments.

Compressed sessions

A background worker compresses cold rollouts in place to .jsonl.zst. Older sessions are usually the compressed ones. To read one:

zstd -dc ~/.codex/sessions/2026/10/21/rollout-...jsonl.zst | head

Resume, fork and archive

codex resume                 # pick from a list
codex resume --last          # the most recent session
codex resume <ID>
codex fork                   # start a new session from an old one
codex archive <ID>           # hide from the list, keep the file
codex unarchive <ID>

codex exec resume and codex exec fork do the same for non-interactive runs.

Delete history

codex delete <SESSION>
codex exec --ephemeral "..."   # a run that saves nothing

The prompt history file is controlled by history.persistence (save-all or none) and history.max_bytes in config.toml.

Privacy notes

Rollouts include command output and file contents the agent read. Redact before sharing.
On personal ChatGPT plans, the "Improve the model for everyone" setting also covers Codex. Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces are not used for training by default.

Measure it

The evaluator reads ~/.codex/sessions, compressed files included, and counts sessions, hours and tool calls in your browser.

Questions

Where does Codex CLI save conversations?+

In ~/.codex/sessions, sorted into year, month and day folders. Each session is a file named rollout-<date-time>-<id>.jsonl. CODEX_HOME moves the whole ~/.codex folder.

Why do some Codex session files end in .zst?+

Codex compresses older rollout files in place with zstd to save space. Tools that only read .jsonl files miss them; the groundedby evaluator reads both.

How do I resume a Codex session?+

Run codex resume to pick from a list, codex resume --last for the most recent one, or codex resume <ID>. codex fork starts a new session from an old one.

How do I delete Codex history?+

Run codex delete <SESSION>, or codex archive to move a session out of the list without deleting it. To run without saving, use codex exec --ephemeral.

Where OpenAI Codex CLI stores your session history

#Where the files are

#What is inside a rollout file

#Compressed sessions

#Resume, fork and archive

#Delete history

#Privacy notes

#Measure it