macOS 27: Chromium native host accumulates duplicate “ChatGPT for Chrome” Files & Folders entries

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

26.825.51511 (build 7377)

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 27.0.0 arm64 arm (macOS 27.0 build 26A5425a, Apple silicon)

What issue are you seeing?

Summary

Using the ChatGPT browser extension with Chromium-based browsers causes repeated, visually identical ChatGPT for Chrome entries to accumulate under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files & Folders.

I have reproduced this with Brave and Helium. Multiple top-level entries appear with identical or generic icons and cannot be meaningfully distinguished. The growth is correlated with extension/native-host use, although I have not isolated whether each row is created on every host launch, host update, or newly attributed protected-data access.

User impact

• The Files & Folders pane becomes increasingly cluttered.
• Current and stale permissions cannot be distinguished by browser, version, path, or date.
• Permission auditing becomes ambiguous.
• System Settings provides no supported targeted removal control for these individual rows.

Browser-extension versions observed

• Google Chrome extension: 1.2.27203.26575
• Brave extension: 1.26.827.12125
• Helium extension: 1.2.27268.51612

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install and enable the ChatGPT extension in Brave or Helium.
2. Use ChatGPT side chat or invoke browser control from the ChatGPT desktop app.
3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files & Folders.
4. Observe a ChatGPT for Chrome privacy entry.
5. Continue using or relaunching the browser integration.
6. Return to the Files & Folders pane and observe additional visually identical entries.

I have reproduced the accumulation in more than one Chromium-based browser. I have not reproduced a deterministic one-launch/one-row mapping yet.

What is the expected behavior?

macOS should show one stable privacy principal for the current ChatGPT browser helper, ideally associated with the parent ChatGPT app. Native-host launches and updates should reuse or update that identity instead of producing indistinguishable duplicate entries.

Additional information

Local diagnostic findings

All inspected Chromium native-messaging manifests point to:

~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/latest/extension-host/macos/arm64/ChatGPT for Chrome

The latest symlink currently resolves to:

~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/26.825.51511/extension-host/macos/arm64/ChatGPT for Chrome

The native host is signed by OpenAI:

• Code identifier: extension-host
• Team identifier: 2DC432GLL2
• Signing timestamp: August 29, 2026 at 19:24:53

The macOS TCC log records creation of the privacy item as:

• Service: kTCCServiceSystemPolicyAppDataDetailed
• Identifier type: Path
• Identifier: the resolved, version-specific native-host path

This suggests a possible interaction between a path-identified standalone executable, the versioned plugin cache, symlink resolution, and macOS 27 TCC/System Settings deduplication. This is a hypothesis, not a confirmed root cause. Because this is a prerelease macOS 27 build, an Apple TCC/System Settings regression may also be involved.

Requested investigation

Please investigate whether the macOS native host can use a stable bundle identity and stable physical path, and whether existing path-based TCC records can be migrated or deduplicated. Please also confirm whether the behavior is specific to macOS 27 prerelease builds.

Related issues

• #38530 — same kTCCServiceSystemPolicyAppDataDetailed service in the ChatGPT Chromium integration on macOS 27
• #31904 — same versioned chrome/latest native-host path and stale-path lifecycle
• #32238 — recommends a stable native-host location outside the replaceable plugin cache
• https://github.com/asmvik/yabai/issues/2688 — separate macOS report involving path-identified TCC clients and System Settings UI handling

Privacy

No authentication token, cookie, account ID, browser profile contents, browsing history, or private project path is included.

Start by inspecting the native-messaging manifests and the resolved ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/latest/extension-host/macos/arm64/ChatGPT for Chrome path described in the report. Compare the versioned cache path, symlink behavior, and TCC records, then review related issues #38530, #31904, and #32238. Done means determining whether a stable identity/path can prevent duplicate entries or whether the behavior is specific to macOS 27.