[Codex App] Browser preview/PiP repeatedly opens over chat despite visible: false

Environment

• Codex desktop app on macOS.
• Installed unified-computer-use/browser plugin version: 26.901.51231.
• Exact desktop app version has not been independently confirmed.

What issue are you seeing?

During browser automation, a floating browser preview / Picture-in-Picture window repeatedly appears on top of the chat. It obscures the conversation and requires manual dismissal each time.

Global custom instructions and project instructions explicitly require browser work to remain in the background, prohibit enabling browser visibility or showing preview cards, and request ordinary clickable links for handoffs. These instructions were confirmed present. Recent browser creation calls also explicitly supplied hidden mode:

await cua.createBrowserTab("iab", url, { visible: false });

The installed tool documentation describes visible: false as keeping the browser hidden. The unwanted floating preview still occurs in the user's workflow. The exact operation that triggers the overlay after tab creation has not yet been isolated; this report does not claim a confirmed root cause or an independently reproduced minimal test.

Steps / observed workflow

1. Use Codex desktop with Browser and Computer Use enabled.
2. Instruct the agent to keep all browser activity in the background.
3. Have it perform browser work with in-app tabs created using visible: false.
4. Observe floating browser previews appearing over chat during the workflow.
5. Dismiss the preview manually; it appears again during subsequent browser activity.

Expected behavior

Hidden browser automation should remain hidden throughout the operation and after control returns to chat. Browser tool activity should not automatically show a floating preview when visibility is explicitly false.

Impact

The repeated overlay interrupts reading and writing in the chat and requires repeated manual cleanup. Adding stronger custom instructions has not resolved it.

Related request

Related to #32451, which requests a persistent opt-out for automatic PiP. This report adds the specific hidden-mode concern involving visible: false. A persistent setting such as “Never automatically show browser previews,” while retaining Browser and Computer Use capabilities, would also address the user-control problem.

No private project information, customer data, screenshots, credentials, or session logs are included.

Start with the Codex desktop app's Browser and Computer Use workflow, using cua.createBrowserTab with visible: false. Reproduce the overlay and isolate which browser operation after tab creation triggers it. Done means hidden browser activity remains hidden throughout the operation and after control returns to chat.