Desktop Gmail: requested account has no usable authorization handoff when browser policy verification is unavailable

What version of the Codex App are you using?

Desktop application 26.903.61454, build 8378; bundle identifier com.openai.codex. Version verified from the installed application's Info.plist.

What subscription do you have?

Not independently verified for this report.

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.6.2, build 25G83. Observed September 10, 2026.

What issue are you seeing?

A user explicitly authorized reading an existing message in a personal Gmail account, but the available Gmail connection was bound to another Google account. The assistant could verify the mismatch but could not initiate a supported, user-operated authorization handoff for the requested account. Browser access then failed its required policy check before the inbox opened.

The specific problem reported here is the connection-recovery dead end: the assistant can name the missing account, yet cannot present the user with a working authorization step or an actionable explanation of which product control needs attention.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Observed sequence in one desktop session:

1. The installed Gmail plugin's profile lookup returns account A, a work account.
2. The user asks to connect and read a different personal Gmail account B, explicitly authorizing that access.
3. Repeated profile checks still return A. The exposed Gmail search/read schemas provide no account or connection selector. Tool discovery exposes no callable connect/account-switch action in this session.
4. Normal Browser Use selection for https://mail.google.com/ succeeds.
5. Opening the Gmail tab fails before inbox access. Browser Use reports that a browser security check is unavailable and that the administrator-enforced policy could not be verified, so access was not granted.
6. Native automation of the app's own controls is separately denied with: Computer Use is not allowed to use the app 'com.openai.codex' for safety reasons.
7. No supported agent-initiated connection handoff is available, and the requested mailbox remains unread.

Account addresses, message contents, authentication data, and full session transcripts are omitted.

What is the expected behavior?

Provide an explicit user-operated Google authorization handoff for the requested Gmail account, subject to Google consent and workspace policy. If only one Gmail account is supported, clearly present the supported switch/reconnect process and its effect on the existing connection.

When Browser Use policy verification is unavailable, keep enforcement intact while providing an actionable recovery path and identifying which control or administrator can resolve it. The assistant should verify the intended connected mailbox before searching or reporting results.

Please route the connection handoff to the OpenAI Gmail/plugin team and the policy-check failure to the Browser Use team, coordinating with Google if investigation identifies a Google authentication or integration dependency.

Additional information

Related reports were checked:

• #30418 covers multiple named Gmail accounts.
• #42466 and #43924 cover the matching browser policy-verification failure.

Please link or merge this report into the appropriate existing tracker if the connection-recovery problem is already covered.

Evidence limits:

• Profile lookup succeeds for account A; this is not a total Gmail service outage.
• No Google authorization rejection for B was observed, so a Google-side defect is not established.
• The unavailable agent action does not prove that human-facing connection controls are absent.
• No controlled restart or reinstall test was performed.
• No browser or native-app security restriction was bypassed.
• No message from B was read, and no email or order mutation was made during this lookup.

Start with the installed Gmail plugin's profile lookup and exposed Gmail search/read schemas, then trace the Browser Use flow for https://mail.google.com/. No source files or tests are named; done means providing a supported user-operated account handoff and an actionable recovery path when browser policy verification is unavailable, while confirming the intended mailbox.