Fix thread/list cwd filtering for Windows verbatim paths (#17414)

Addresses #17302

Problem: `thread/list` compared cwd filters with raw path equality, so
`resume --last` could miss Windows sessions when the saved cwd used a
verbatim path form and the current cwd did not.

Solution: Normalize cwd comparisons through the existing path comparison
utilities before falling back to direct equality, and add Windows
regression coverage for verbatim paths. I made this a general utility
function and replaced all of the duplicated instance of it across the
code base.

codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs

@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ use codex_core::find_thread_name_by_id;
 use codex_core::find_thread_names_by_ids;
 use codex_core::find_thread_path_by_id_str;
 use codex_core::parse_cursor;
+use codex_core::path_utils;
 use codex_core::plugins::MarketplaceError;
 use codex_core::plugins::MarketplacePluginSource;
 use codex_core::plugins::OPENAI_CURATED_MARKETPLACE_NAME;
@@ -4768,9 +4769,9 @@ impl CodexMessageProcessor {
                 if source_kind_filter
                     .as_ref()
                     .is_none_or(|filter| source_kind_matches(&summary.source, filter))
-                    && cwd
-                        .as_ref()
-                        .is_none_or(|expected_cwd| &summary.cwd == expected_cwd)
+                    && cwd.as_ref().is_none_or(|expected_cwd| {
+                        path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(&summary.cwd, expected_cwd)
+                    })
                 {
                     filtered.push(summary);
                     if filtered.len() >= remaining {

codex-rs/core/src/config/service.rs

@@ -629,14 +629,7 @@ fn validate_config(value: &TomlValue) -> Result<(), toml::de::Error> {
 }
 
 fn paths_match(expected: impl AsRef<Path>, provided: impl AsRef<Path>) -> bool {
-    if let (Ok(expanded_expected), Ok(expanded_provided)) = (
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(&expected),
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(&provided),
-    ) {
-        expanded_expected == expanded_provided
-    } else {
-        expected.as_ref() == provided.as_ref()
-    }
+    path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(expected, provided)
 }
 
 fn value_at_path<'a>(root: &'a TomlValue, segments: &[String]) -> Option<&'a TomlValue> {

codex-rs/core/src/tools/runtimes/mod.rs

@@ -76,14 +76,7 @@ pub(crate) fn maybe_wrap_shell_lc_with_snapshot(
         return command.to_vec();
     }
 
-    if if let (Ok(snapshot_cwd), Ok(command_cwd)) = (
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(snapshot.cwd.as_path()),
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(cwd),
-    ) {
-        snapshot_cwd != command_cwd
-    } else {
-        snapshot.cwd != cwd
-    } {
+    if !path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(snapshot.cwd.as_path(), cwd) {
         return command.to_vec();
     }
 

codex-rs/exec/src/lib.rs

@@ -1205,13 +1205,7 @@ async fn parse_latest_turn_context_cwd(path: &Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
 }
 
 fn cwds_match(current_cwd: &Path, session_cwd: &Path) -> bool {
-    match (
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(current_cwd),
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(session_cwd),
-    ) {
-        (Ok(current), Ok(session)) => current == session,
-        _ => current_cwd == session_cwd,
-    }
+    path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(current_cwd, session_cwd)
 }
 
 async fn resolve_resume_thread_id(

codex-rs/rollout/src/recorder.rs

@@ -1342,13 +1342,7 @@ async fn select_resume_path_from_db_page(
 }
 
 fn cwd_matches(session_cwd: &Path, cwd: &Path) -> bool {
-    if let (Ok(ca), Ok(cb)) = (
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(session_cwd),
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(cwd),
-    ) {
-        return ca == cb;
-    }
-    session_cwd == cwd
+    path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(session_cwd, cwd)
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]

codex-rs/tui/src/lib.rs

@@ -1524,13 +1524,7 @@ async fn read_latest_turn_context(path: &Path) -> Option<TurnContextItem> {
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn cwds_differ(current_cwd: &Path, session_cwd: &Path) -> bool {
-    match (
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(current_cwd),
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(session_cwd),
-    ) {
-        (Ok(current), Ok(session)) => current != session,
-        _ => current_cwd != session_cwd,
-    }
+    !path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(current_cwd, session_cwd)
 }
 
 pub(crate) enum ResolveCwdOutcome {

codex-rs/tui/src/resume_picker.rs

@@ -1148,13 +1148,7 @@ fn thread_list_params(
 }
 
 fn paths_match(a: &Path, b: &Path) -> bool {
-    if let (Ok(ca), Ok(cb)) = (
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(a),
-        path_utils::normalize_for_path_comparison(b),
-    ) {
-        return ca == cb;
-    }
-    a == b
+    path_utils::paths_match_after_normalization(a, b)
 }
 
 #[cfg_attr(not(test), allow(dead_code))]

codex-rs/utils/path-utils/src/lib.rs

@@ -16,6 +16,19 @@ pub fn normalize_for_path_comparison(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> std::io::Result<
     Ok(normalize_for_wsl(canonical))
 }
 
+/// Compare paths after applying Codex's filesystem normalization.
+///
+/// If either path cannot be normalized, this falls back to direct path equality.
+pub fn paths_match_after_normalization(left: impl AsRef<Path>, right: impl AsRef<Path>) -> bool {
+    if let (Ok(left), Ok(right)) = (
+        normalize_for_path_comparison(left.as_ref()),
+        normalize_for_path_comparison(right.as_ref()),
+    ) {
+        return left == right;
+    }
+    left.as_ref() == right.as_ref()
+}
+
 pub fn normalize_for_native_workdir(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> PathBuf {
     normalize_for_native_workdir_with_flag(path.as_ref().to_path_buf(), cfg!(windows))
 }

codex-rs/utils/path-utils/src/path_utils_tests.rs

@@ -78,3 +78,38 @@ mod native_workdir {
         assert_eq!(normalized, path);
     }
 }
+
+mod path_comparison {
+    use super::super::paths_match_after_normalization;
+    use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matches_identical_existing_paths() -> std::io::Result<()> {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir()?;
+
+        assert!(paths_match_after_normalization(dir.path(), dir.path()));
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn falls_back_to_raw_equality_when_paths_cannot_be_normalized() {
+        assert!(paths_match_after_normalization(
+            PathBuf::from("missing"),
+            PathBuf::from("missing"),
+        ));
+        assert!(!paths_match_after_normalization(
+            PathBuf::from("missing-a"),
+            PathBuf::from("missing-b"),
+        ));
+    }
+
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    #[test]
+    fn matches_windows_verbatim_paths() -> std::io::Result<()> {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir()?;
+        let verbatim_dir = PathBuf::from(format!(r"\\?\{}", dir.path().display()));
+
+        assert!(paths_match_after_normalization(verbatim_dir, dir.path()));
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}