diff --git a/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs b/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs
index 14eee2f3e3..15024f8849 100644
--- a/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs
@@ -3927,10 +3927,9 @@ impl CodexMessageProcessor {
         let mut thread =
             build_thread_from_snapshot(thread_id, &config_snapshot, loaded_rollout_path.clone());
 
-        // Temporary live-thread metadata shim: stored-thread metadata is owned by
-        // ThreadStore, but loaded threads that are not yet readable from the store may
-        // still have local metadata. Keep this compatibility path centralized here so
-        // future remote threadstore implementations have one app-server boundary to replace.
+        // Temporary live-thread metadata shim: loaded threads that are not yet
+        // readable from the store may still have local metadata, so use it to fill
+        // summary fields for the live fallback view.
         let loaded_state_db = loaded_thread.state_db();
         let summary = match loaded_state_db.as_ref() {
             Some(state_db) => {
diff --git a/codex-rs/thread-store/src/local/read_thread.rs b/codex-rs/thread-store/src/local/read_thread.rs
index 83cba57f1a..fca74b0376 100644
--- a/codex-rs/thread-store/src/local/read_thread.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/thread-store/src/local/read_thread.rs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ use crate::StoredThreadHistory;
 use crate::ThreadStoreError;
 use crate::ThreadStoreResult;
 
+/// Reads a persisted thread by preferring discoverable rollout files, then SQLite metadata for external or legacy rows.
 pub(super) async fn read_thread(
     store: &LocalThreadStore,
     params: ReadThreadParams,
@@ -107,6 +108,9 @@ async fn read_thread_from_rollout_path(
         .ok()
         .and_then(|meta_line| meta_line.meta.forked_from_id);
     let mut found_sqlite_title = false;
+    // This overlay is different from the no-preview fallback above: the rollout
+    // summary was readable, so SQLite only supplies mutable metadata such as
+    // user-edited title, git fields, or explicit git-field clears.
     if let Ok(Some(metadata)) = read_sqlite_metadata(store, thread.thread_id).await {
         if let Some(title) = distinct_title(&metadata) {
             found_sqlite_title = true;