Find or recover a conversation
2 minute read · Chats & Local Agents
First look for an existing chat. Recovery is for messages missing from the current account's saved conversations; adding a project folder alone does not restore its chat history.
- Find a saved chat
- Recover missing messages
- What restoration includes
- Check the recovered conversation
Find a saved chat
Use Vortex Search → Chats, the workspace's chat search, or ask the agent: “Find the conversation about the article editor.” Agent search can look across this Vortex account's workspaces and standalone chats. If several results match, compare their title, excerpt, workspace and project before opening one.
Opening a result selects the existing conversation when supported, or provides its exact link. It does not send a new message or start an agent. Finding a chat in another workspace does not give the searching agent permission to read or change that workspace's files.
Check archived conversations and the selected Vortex account before assuming history is lost. A missing local project folder, a locked Vault and a missing conversation require different remedies.
Recover missing messages
Ask from the original project's workspace and select the original provider account. Available sources include the account's local pre-migration backup and local Codex or Claude Code history for that selected project. Recovery searches this computer's available sources; it is not a universal cloud backup or a search through every provider account.
The agent lists candidates, previews the exact conversation and then restores the chosen result. Inspect the title, message sample and reported limitations before relying on it. If the project's folder is missing from Vortex, register its existing folder first and continue recovery in that project.
What restoration includes
A successful restoration creates a separate persistent chat with the available user and assistant text. The original source remains intact. Repeating the same restoration returns the already restored conversation rather than duplicating it.
Attachments, tool executions, approvals and provider sessions are not replayed or imported. Continuing starts a fresh provider session with recovered text. A recovered instruction that once authorized a release does not cause the old release command to run again.
If no source contains the messages, report that limitation. Do not reset the profile, replace encryption keys or delete backups to make a recovery attempt appear successful.
Check the recovered conversation
Open the returned chat link and confirm the expected beginning, recent messages and project association. Record any missing portions before sending new work. Restoring conversation text does not restore deleted checkout files, databases or attachments; those need their own backups.
Related guides: chats and drafts, cross-device work, Vault recovery, support.