Appshots work in Work mode but fail in Chat mode after switching away

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
42/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Needs clarification
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
macos
Domain
desktop

Research direction

Reproduce the reported sequence in ChatGPT.app on macOS: compare Appshots in Work mode and Chat mode, then switch away for about a minute and return. Verify the configured Accessibility and Screen & System Audio Recording permissions, and compare behavior while the app is foregrounded versus backgrounded. Done means Chat mode remains reliable after switching away, or the failure is documented with a clear cause.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

app bug computer-use

I’m seeing Appshots behave differently between ChatGPT desktop modes.

The main thing I’ve found: Appshots work in Work mode, but not in Chat mode. In Chat mode, Appshots may work briefly after focusing the desktop app, then stop working after I switch away.

Environment:

  • App: ChatGPT.app
  • Version: 26.715.72359 (5718)
  • Bundle ID: com.openai.codex
  • macOS: 26.5.2 (25F84)
  • Darwin: 25.5.0
  • Machine: Apple Silicon / arm64

What happens:

  1. I open ChatGPT.app.
  2. In Work mode, Appshots works.
  3. In Chat mode, Appshots does not work reliably.
  4. If I keep ChatGPT foregrounded, Appshots may work briefly.
  5. After I switch to another app/tab and leave ChatGPT in the background for about a minute, Appshots stops working in Chat mode.
  6. Bringing ChatGPT back to the foreground can temporarily restore it, but Work mode remains the reliable path.

I checked the macOS permissions, and they look correct:

  • Accessibility is enabled for ChatGPT.app, ChatGPT Classic.app, and Codex Computer Use.app.
  • Screen & System Audio Recording is enabled for ChatGPT.app, ChatGPT Classic.app, and Codex Computer Use.app.
  • System Audio Recording Only is also enabled for ChatGPT.app.

This does not seem like the usual missing-permission case. It looks like Appshots is enabled/working in Work mode, but the Chat mode path either does not keep the same capture/session state or does not invoke the same Appshots flow.

I also have these related apps installed:

  • /Applications/ChatGPT.app - the app I’m using
  • /Applications/ChatGPT Classic.app
  • /Applications/ChatGPT Atlas.app
Dominant language
Rust
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