Codex Desktop 26.820.60940: Chrome and Edge navigation consistently times out

[luoyeai]

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.820.60940

What subscription do you have?

Pro

What platform is your computer?

No response

What issue are you seeing?

Product:
Codex Desktop for macOS

Codex version:
26.820.60940, build 7119

Affected browsers:

• Google Chrome 151.0.7922.174
• Microsoft Edge 151.0.4129.107

Browser extensions:

• Chrome extension: 1.2.27268.51612
• Edge extension: 1.2.30001.51613

Issue:
Codex can connect to both Chrome and Microsoft Edge and successfully create an
about:blank tab. However, every navigation request hangs and times out after
approximately 30 seconds. DOM reading cannot proceed after the timeout.

The issue occurs in a fresh, sequential, single-task test. Browser concurrency
is not required to reproduce it.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Fully quit Codex, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.
2. Start Codex Desktop.
3. Ask Codex to use Chrome.
4. Create a new browser tab.
5. Navigate to https://example.com/
6. The blank tab is created successfully, but navigation times out after 30 seconds.
7. Repeat with Microsoft Edge; the same timeout occurs.

Expected result:
The browser should navigate to example.com and Codex should be able to read the
page title and DOM.

Actual result:
Navigation hangs for 30 seconds and returns:
"js execution timed out; kernel reset, rerun your request"

After the timeout:

• Reconnecting to clean up the browser tab also times out.
• A child "codex app-server --listen stdio://" process remains running.
• The stale process has to be terminated or Codex has to be fully restarted.

Diagnostics already completed:

• Both browser extensions are installed and enabled.
• Native Messaging manifests exist and contain the correct extension origins.
• Browser discovery and blank-tab creation work.
• Direct network request to https://example.com/ returns HTTP 200 in about 0.67 seconds.
• Therefore this is not caused by DNS, website availability, or general network latency.
• Reinstalling the browser extensions multiple times does not resolve the issue.
• Updating Codex from 26.818.61809 to 26.820.60940 does not resolve the issue.
• The Chrome and Edge extension background scripts have the same SHA-256:
  620aaf4c1315c1590318ec3783a2ce823002111b4da90797df6390ada3276c0c

Suspected component:
The failure appears to be in the Codex browser bridge/navigation request
lifecycle or in compatibility between the updated Codex browser plugin and the
existing Chrome/Edge extensions. The extension discovery/control plane works,
but navigation and DOM operations hang, and timeout cleanup leaves a stale
app-server process.

Reproduction time:
August 26, 2026, approximately 13:36–13:40, Asia/Shanghai timezone.

Impact:
This blocks automated browser navigation, DOM inspection, responsive testing,
and visual QA in both Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Environment

• Codex Desktop: 26.820.60940 (build 7119)
• Platform: macOS, Apple Silicon / arm64
• Google Chrome: 151.0.7922.174
• Chrome extension: 1.2.27268.51612
• Microsoft Edge: 151.0.4129.107
• Edge extension: 1.2.30001.51613

Issue

Codex can connect to both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge and can create an about:blank tab immediately. However, every navigation request hangs and times out after approximately 30 seconds. DOM inspection cannot proceed after the timeout.

The issue reproduces in a fresh, sequential, single-task test. Browser concurrency is not required.

Steps to reproduce

1. Fully quit Codex Desktop, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.

2. Start Codex Desktop.

3. Start a fresh local task.

4. Ask Codex to use Chrome to open https://example.com/ and read the page title and DOM.

5. Codex successfully connects to Chrome and creates an about:blank tab.

6. The navigation request hangs for 30 seconds and returns:

   js execution timed out; kernel reset, rerun your request

7. Repeat the same test with Microsoft Edge.

8. Edge creates the blank tab successfully, but navigation also times out after 30 seconds.

9. After the timeout, reconnecting to close the test tab also times out.

10. Inspecting the process tree shows that this child process remains alive:

    codex app-server --listen stdio://

Minimal reproduction

const { setupBrowserRuntime } =
  await import("<chrome-plugin-root>/scripts/browser-client.mjs");

const agent = await setupBrowserRuntime();
const chrome = await agent.browsers.get("chrome");
const tab = await chrome.tabs.new();

await tab.goto("https://example.com/");

The same failure reproduces when agent.browsers.get("edge") is used.

Diagnostics already completed

• Both browser extensions are installed and enabled.
• Native Messaging manifests exist and contain the correct extension origins.
• Browser discovery succeeds.
• Creating an about:blank tab succeeds immediately.
• A direct request to https://example.com/ returns HTTP 200 in approximately 0.67 seconds.
• Reinstalling the browser extensions multiple times did not resolve the issue.
• Updating Codex Desktop did not resolve the issue.
• The issue reproduces in both Chrome and Edge.
• The failure still occurs without concurrent browser tasks.

Related issues

• Chrome extension deep control hangs while direct chrome.debugger works; ambient network adds ~30s delay #30841
• [Regression] In-app Browser and Chrome extension still wait ~30s on ab.chatgpt.com Statsig timeouts in VPN TUN mode #33713
• [macOS Desktop] Interrupted in-app Browser call leaves task stuck and headless Chrome processes running #39031

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should connect to the selected Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser, create or claim a tab, navigate to a reachable URL, and return the page URL, title, and DOM within a reasonable bounded time.

For https://example.com/, navigation should complete within a few seconds rather than timing out after 30 seconds.

If navigation or DOM inspection fails, the browser request should return a clear diagnostic error and automatically clean up the pending request, browser-control session, test tab, and child app-server process.

A timed-out request must not leave the browser connection or subsequent Codex browser operations stuck.

Additional information

No response

[github-actions]

Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.

• [Windows][26.814.5517.0] In-app Browser page commands consistently stall for ~21 seconds, causing the 30-second Node REPL deadline to reset the control session #39766

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