[Windows] IAB route disappears after successful getInfo and persists after full app-data reset

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

26.908.4834.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.22635.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex in-app browser (IAB) is unavailable in every task. The failure occurs before interacting with any website, so it is not site-specific.

A fresh browser discovery attempt returns:

{"apps":[],"browsers":[],"errors":["Browsers: Error: nodeRepl.fetch request failed"]}
Error: nodeRepl.fetch request failed

The Codex Desktop log reports:

No ChatGPT browser route is available for browser session <CURRENT_SESSION>

The native IAB pipe starts and the current task route is initially captured. One getInfo request completes successfully, but another getInfo request for the same task immediately fails because the browser route is no longer available. Subsequent attempts continue to fail.

The issue persists after restarting Codex, creating new tasks, repairing the Windows app package, restarting Windows, and fully resetting the package-local application data.

This appears to be an IAB route lifecycle or task/session-binding problem on Windows rather than a website, config.toml, permission, or package-cache problem.

Possibly related issues:

• https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/21530
• https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/21912
• https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/23222

diagnostic-excerpt.txt

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Start Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Create or open a local task.
3. Ask Codex to open https://example.com using the in-app browser.
4. Browser discovery returns no applications or browsers and reports nodeRepl.fetch request failed.
5. Create a new task and repeat the request; the same failure occurs.
6. Restart Codex Desktop and repeat; the failure remains.

Troubleshooting already completed:

• Restarted Codex Desktop multiple times.
• Created and tested fresh tasks.
• Restarted Windows.
• Verified that Browser Use and the in-app browser feature are enabled.
• Verified that config.toml does not disable Browser Use.
• Repaired the Windows application package.
• Fully reset the package-local Codex application data.
• Retested after the reset; the issue still reproduces.

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should discover the current task's IAB backend, open a usable in-app browser session, and allow the agent to create, inspect, navigate, and interact with browser tabs.

For example, when asked to open https://example.com, Codex should open the page in the in-app browser and return its title instead of reporting nodeRepl.fetch request failed.

Additional information

No response

Start at the Windows Codex Desktop flow that starts the native IAB pipe and captures the task route, then trace the nodeRepl.fetch and getInfo requests for one task. Reproduce the failure with https://example.com and inspect the diagnostic excerpt and logs. Done means repeated getInfo calls retain a usable route and browser discovery succeeds across new tasks and restarts.