[macOS][26.908.31457] cua_repl js tool is available but cua global is undefined after reset

What version of the Codex App are you using?

ChatGPT/Codex Desktop 26.908.31457 (build 8690). The running process is /Applications/ChatGPT.app/Contents/MacOS/ChatGPT.

Bundled components observed:

• Codex CLI: 0.154.0-alpha.6.1
• unified-computer-use@openai-bundled: 26.908.31457

What subscription do you have?

Signed-in ChatGPT account; the exact subscription tier was not inspected for this reproduction.

What platform is your computer?

macOS 26.6.2 (25G83), Apple Silicon (arm64).

What issue are you seeing?

The cua_repl/js MCP tool is present and accepts JavaScript, but the documented cua global is not defined. Browser control therefore fails before creating or selecting an in-app Browser tab.

Following the tool's first-call instructions exactly:

let tab = await cua.createBrowserTab("iab", "https://example.com", { visible: true });

returns immediately with:

cua is not defined

Resetting the JavaScript kernel succeeds, but does not restore the global:

cua_repl/js_reset -> js kernel reset

The required initialization call after reset:

await cua.getState();

returns the same error:

cua is not defined

The failure reproduced again with https://example.com, so it occurs before target-site access or authentication.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Launch ChatGPT/Codex Desktop on macOS.
2. Start a task with the bundled unified computer-use/browser integration enabled.
3. Ask the task to open https://example.com in the visible in-app Browser.
4. Let it invoke cua_repl/js with the documented cua.createBrowserTab(...) call.
5. Observe cua is not defined.
6. Invoke cua_repl/js_reset.
7. Invoke cua_repl/js with exactly await cua.getState(); as required after a reset.
8. Observe cua is not defined again.

What is the expected behavior?

The cua_repl/js runtime should inject the documented cua global. cua.getState() should return the enabled surfaces, and cua.createBrowserTab("iab", ...) should create and return an in-app Browser tab binding.

Additional information

This appears related to the current browser/computer-use initialization and lifecycle reports, but none of them contains this exact symptom: the MCP tool itself is callable while its required global is absent.

Related issues:

• #44518 — cua_repl does not respawn after its host exits; reset does not recover it
• #42757 — trusted worker crashes before browser attachment on macOS
• #39591 — in-app Browser runtime exits during initialization on macOS
• #38549 — browser-control MCP client never becomes ready on macOS

No private target URL, page content, credentials, account identifiers, or raw configuration files are included.

Reproduce through the bundled cua_repl/js and cua_repl/js_reset tools, first calling cua.getState() and then cua.createBrowserTab(...) as described. Trace the browser/computer-use initialization and reset lifecycle referenced by issues #44518, #42757, #39591, and #38549. Done means the documented cua global is available after startup and reset, getState() works, and createBrowserTab() returns an in-app Browser tab binding.