Possible solution for automatic close of assistant and also about network error while chatting with assistant

[Rakesh Raja (rakeshr)]

I downloaded repo and worked with AI to find the problem and get possible solution for this problem and here is the solution it suggested. Not sure if its true or what but I cant test it myself so if anyone can please do.

Bug: Assistant panel closes automatically during active use + spurious network errors
Symptoms

1. Side panel closes while user is actively working (not idle)
2. Network errors appear mid-conversation despite valid AI model and sufficient balance
   Root cause
   The background service worker (Manifest V3) restarts at arbitrary times — tab switches, navigation, memory pressure, etc. On every restart, ensureSidePanelRuntimeStateLoaded() is called, which re-applies chrome.sidePanel.setOptions({ enabled: false }), closing any open side panel and orphaning active streaming connections.
   Trace
   background/index.ts:52
   ensureSidePanelRuntimeStateLoaded().catch(() => null)
   → toggleSidePanel.ts:96 refreshSidePanelRuntimeState()
   → toggleSidePanel.ts:47 loadSidePanelScopePreference()
   → toggleSidePanel.ts:39 applySidePanelPerWindowPreference(false, epoch)
   → toggleSidePanel.ts:38 chrome.sidePanel.setOptions({ enabled: false })
   ← THIS CLOSES THE OPEN PANEL
   sidePanelPerWindowStorage defaults to false (sidePanelOpenStateStorage.ts:5), so every service worker restart calls setOptions({ enabled: false }).
   Affected files

• packages/browseros-agent/apps/app/entrypoints/background/index.ts — calls ensureSidePanelRuntimeStateLoaded() on startup (line 52)
• packages/browseros-agent/apps/app/lib/browseros/toggleSidePanel.ts — applySidePanelPerWindowPreference() calls setOptions({ enabled: false }) (line 38); loadSidePanelScopePreference() runs on every worker init (line 47)
  Suggested fix
  Skip the setOptions({ enabled: false }) call during service worker startup re-hydration. Only call it when the user explicitly changes the panel scope preference. The service worker should restore in-memory state from storage without re-applying side-effectful Chrome API calls.

[Rakesh Raja (rakeshr)]

background.js

Ok I think I have fixed this issue

1. Close BrowserOS
2. Go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\BrowserOS\User Data\Default\Extensions\bflpfmnmnokmjhmgnolecpppdbdophmk\0.0.118.0_0\
3. Replace background.js with this file
4. Restart BrowserOS

just make sure you find proper browser extension folder.. for me this was the url. Problem is that assistant is built in extension so we just need to modify it manually.

Please let me know if this works for you or not . I have tested it for few mins and it never closed somehow. earlier it was closed almost every few seconds

[CTX1000]

Rakesh Raja (@rakeshr) Thanks for your contribution. Will test and return with results.

[leo2kwan]

Great find Rakesh Raja (@rakeshr)! I think you're right about the service worker restart causing the side panel to close. Combined with the auto-diff OOM issue from #1701, these two bugs explain most of the crash/network error problems users are facing. Hope the BrowserOS team can merge both fixes soon. Thanks for sharing this! 🙏

[Nikhil (shadowfax92)]

This is fixed in BrowserOS Server v0.0.127.

Rakesh Raja (@rakeshr), you were right about the service-worker startup path: rehydration no longer reapplies the side-panel option that could close an open panel. This release also includes the related snapshot-diff and transcript OOM hardening for the network-error/crash chain.

Thank you for digging into the code, testing a workaround, and sharing such a clear write-up—it directly helped us land the fix.

[CTX1000]

I still have the same issue, solution did not fix the side panel close.

[Rakesh Raja (rakeshr)]

well it worked for me. atleast its not closing sidepanel everynow and then but yes network connection error comes sometimes.