OpenAI Support Diagnostic: Browser and Chrome Runtime Bootstrap Failure

OpenAI Support Diagnostic: Browser and Chrome Runtime Bootstrap Failure

Suggested support ticket subject

ChatGPT desktop on Windows rejects bundled Browser service as outside trusted code path

Summary

The ChatGPT/Codex desktop app cannot initialize either the built-in Browser or
the Chrome extension control surface. Both fail before browser discovery, tab
selection, URL navigation, or website permission checks.

The exact error is:

Trusted RPC dependency must resolve within a configured trusted code path: file:///C:/Users/Maui%20JM%20Photography/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/browser/26.814.41407/scripts/browser-service.mjs

The target file exists on disk. The same failure occurs when initialization is
started through the Browser plugin and through the Chrome plugin.

Impact

• The built-in Browser cannot initialize.
• The Chrome connection cannot be queried or validated.
• Localhost UI testing cannot begin.
• No webpage was reached, and no browser action was performed.

Environment

Diagnostic captured: 2026-08-18T13:56:43.9393520-04:00

Component	Observed value
Operating system	Microsoft Windows 10, version 10.0.19045.7663, x64
Desktop package path version	OpenAI.Codex_26.814.5167.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
Desktop executable	ChatGPT.exe
Desktop executable file/product version	151.0.7922.137
Browser plugin	OpenAI bundled browser, version 26.814.41407
Chrome plugin	OpenAI bundled chrome, version 26.814.41407
Browser service path	C:\Users\Maui JM Photography\.codex\plugins\cache\openai-bundled\browser\26.814.41407\scripts\browser-service.mjs

The application package version and plugin version are different. That may be
normal versioning, but it is relevant because the failure is specifically a
trusted-code-path rejection at the plugin boundary.

Reproduction: built-in Browser

1. Open this task in the ChatGPT desktop app on Windows.
2. Ask Codex to check the internal Browser connection or invoke @Browser.
3. Codex loads the documented Browser client from the absolute installed path:
   ...\browser\26.814.41407\scripts\browser-client.mjs.
4. The runtime attempts to initialize the built-in Browser selector (iab).
5. Initialization stops immediately with the trusted RPC dependency error
   above.

Expected: the Browser runtime initializes and returns a built-in Browser
binding.

Actual: initialization fails before the Browser selector can be queried.

Reproduction: Chrome

1. Ask Codex to check the Chrome connection or invoke @Chrome.
2. Codex loads the documented Chrome client from the absolute installed path:
   ...\chrome\26.814.41407\scripts\browser-client.mjs.
3. The runtime attempts to initialize the Chrome selector.
4. Initialization stops with the same rejection of the shared Browser plugin
   service path.

Expected: the runtime initializes and reports whether the ChatGPT Chrome
extension is connected.

Actual: initialization fails before Chrome discovery, so extension status is
unknown.

Repetition and isolation results

• The failure reproduced repeatedly in this task.
• It reproduced with an explicit built-in Browser selector.
• It reproduced with an explicit Chrome selector.
• It reproduced when localhost was the intended target.
• It occurred before any URL, login, browser profile, tab, site permission,
  cookie, or local-storage access.
• The Chrome plugin directory metadata changed during troubleshooting, but the
  same plugin version and failure remained. The diagnostic does not assume
  which user or application action caused that metadata change.

These results make a localhost application bug, authentication problem, site
allowlist problem, and ordinary Chrome-extension disconnection unlikely as the
immediate cause.

File integrity evidence

All required files below exist and were readable.

File	Bytes	SHA-256
Browser scripts/browser-client.mjs	147,953	3B9D8DCC6DC968887E8A969C63DAE6380E3C1C59FF5C474EB32DF08C353DAD87
Browser scripts/browser-service.mjs	1,250,004	B6FD7F485FDF59CC4A25445479545B24972F6226C79C72AB7BD985D86F069615
Chrome scripts/browser-client.mjs	147,953	3B9D8DCC6DC968887E8A969C63DAE6380E3C1C59FF5C474EB32DF08C353DAD87

The Browser and Chrome client files are byte-identical by SHA-256, and both
resolve to the shared Browser service that is rejected.

Working hypothesis

Strong hypothesis: the desktop app's trusted RPC/module configuration does not
recognize the installed bundled Browser service path as trusted, possibly due
to an application/plugin cache version mismatch or packaging/configuration
error.

This is not claimed as a proven root cause. The error occurs inside the
OpenAI-bundled runtime before browser discovery, and the agent cannot inspect
the desktop app's internal trust configuration.

Requested support investigation

Please check:

1. Whether desktop package 26.814.5167.0 is compatible with bundled Browser
   and Chrome plugin version 26.814.41407.
2. Whether the trusted-code roots supplied to the browser-control runtime
   include the installed cache path for browser-service.mjs.
3. Whether the plugin cache should be invalidated and repopulated with a newer
   compatible build.
4. Whether the SHA-256 values above match the expected published artifacts.
5. Whether a desktop app update or server-side plugin rollout is required.

Privacy and safety notes

• No secrets, tokens, cookies, browser history, local storage, or credentials
  were inspected or included.
• No checkout action, payment action, Etsy action, website submission, or other
  external write occurred.
• The Windows profile name appears only because it is part of the exact path in
  the runtime error.

How to attach the affected task

In the ChatGPT desktop app, type / in the message composer and choose the
feedback option. When prompted, attach/share this existing task so support can
receive the session evidence and provide a session ID.

Official references:

• Browser documentation
• Chrome extension documentation
• ChatGPT desktop troubleshooting

Session-close declaration

No standards changes this session.

Start by reproducing the built-in Browser and Chrome selector failures described for the installed browser-client.mjs and browser-service.mjs paths. Compare desktop package 26.814.5167.0 with plugin version 26.814.41407, then verify whether the service path is included in the trusted-code roots. Done means both runtimes initialize without the trusted RPC rejection.