In-app Browser: add private sessions, clear site data, and hard reload controls

Problem

The Codex Desktop in-app Browser is useful for web development and QA, but it does not expose a reliable way to start from a fresh browser state.

The current UI does not provide clear controls for:

• opening a private or ephemeral session whose cookies and site storage are discarded when closed;
• clearing cookies and site data for the current origin;
• performing a hard reload that bypasses cached resources;
• reloading through familiar browser keyboard shortcuts when the Browser view is focused.

On macOS, standard shortcuts such as Cmd+R and Cmd+Shift+R do not reliably reload the in-app Browser. An ordinary agent-triggered tab reload is available, but it does not provide the same guarantee as clearing site data or bypassing the cache. Opening another tab also should not be treated as a clean session because it may share browser state.

This makes it difficult to determine whether a result is caused by the application under test or by stale cache, cookies, authentication state, local storage, or a service worker.

Requested behavior

Please add user-facing Browser controls for:

1. New private/ephemeral session

   • Isolated from the normal in-app Browser's cookies, cache, and site storage.
   • Clearly identified as private.
   • Discards its browser state when the private session is closed.

2. Clear site data

   • Clears cookies, local storage, session storage, service workers, and cached data for the active origin.
   • Shows the affected origin and asks for confirmation.

3. Reload and hard reload

   • A visible reload action.
   • A hard-reload action that bypasses cached resources.
   • Familiar shortcuts while the Browser view is focused:
     • macOS: Cmd+R and Cmd+Shift+R
     • Windows/Linux: Ctrl+R and Ctrl+Shift+R

4. Browser automation support

   • Expose equivalent operations to the bundled Browser tool, such as an explicit cache-bypassing reload and an isolated ephemeral browser context.

Why this matters

These controls would materially improve:

• local frontend development after CSS or JavaScript changes;
• anonymous-versus-authenticated testing;
• sign-in, sign-out, consent, and cookie-banner QA;
• verification after a deployment;
• diagnosing service-worker and cache-related issues;
• privacy-conscious browsing where state should not persist.

Acceptance criteria

• A private session does not inherit cookies or site storage from the normal in-app Browser.
• Closing a private session discards the state created within it.
• Hard reload bypasses or revalidates cached resources.
• Reload shortcuts work when the Browser view has focus.
• Site-data clearing is scoped to the displayed origin and requires confirmation.
• The UI clearly distinguishes ordinary reload, hard reload, clearing site data, and private browsing.

Private mode should be described as local state isolation/non-persistence, not as a guarantee of network anonymity.

Privacy

This report intentionally contains no account details, project URLs, local paths, logs, thread identifiers, or other personal information.

Start by locating the Codex Desktop in-app Browser implementation and the bundled Browser tool interfaces, then trace existing reload and browser-context state handling. Define the UI and automation entry points needed for private sessions, site-data clearing, ordinary reloads, hard reloads, and focused keyboard shortcuts. Done means all listed acceptance criteria are met, including scoped confirmation and non-persistence of private state.