[macOS][Desktop] Image artifact preview requires Command-W twice to return to chat

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

ChatGPT Desktop powered by Codex & OWL, version 26.825.51511 (build 7377).

What subscription do you have?

Not included; the issue appears independent of subscription tier.

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.2 (build 25C56), Apple Silicon (arm64).

What issue are you seeing?

After a generated local PNG opened in the desktop app's full-size artifact/file preview, the preview occupied the main workspace and made the active chat effectively inaccessible.

The conversation was still visible as an adjacent tab, and the preview tab displayed a close control, but the user could not return to normal chat mode through the expected navigation. A programmatic request to navigate back to the same task reported success, but the image preview remained active.

Closing the preview required pressing Command-W twice. After the first press, the preview was still present; only the second press restored the normal conversation. During this state the app appeared unusable for ordinary chat.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open a Codex task in the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS.
2. Generate or open a local PNG so it appears in a full-size artifact/file preview tab.
3. Observe that the image preview occupies the main workspace while the conversation remains in a neighboring tab.
4. Attempt to return to the conversation.
5. Press Command-W once.
6. Observe that the image preview remains.
7. Press Command-W a second time.
8. The preview finally closes and the conversation becomes usable again.

This was observed during an image-generation workflow. A screenshot showed the generated-image tab active, the conversation tab immediately beside it, and the latest-turn/composer interface floating over the full-size image.

What is the expected behavior?

Any one of these actions should be sufficient:

• selecting the adjacent conversation tab;
• navigating programmatically to the active task;
• clicking the preview tab's close control;
• pressing Command-W once.

A file preview should never trap the user in a state where normal chat is effectively inaccessible.

Additional information

A search of open issues found no exact report for the two-press Command-W behavior. Issue #41653 may concern the same general right-pane/tab lifecycle area, but it describes stale Windows tabs whose close controls disappear entirely; this macOS case retained a visible tab/close control and specifically required two Command-W presses.

No project names, local paths, or artwork details are included in this report.

No files or tests are named. Start by reproducing the macOS flow with a local PNG, then trace the desktop artifact/file preview tab, adjacent conversation tab, close control, and Command-W handling. Done means selecting the conversation, navigating to the task, clicking close, or pressing Command-W once restores the chat.