Chrome browser integration rejects API-key auth: unsupported Codex auth method: apikey

Bug report: Chrome BrowserSkill 0.2.1 rejects Codex API-key authentication

Summary

The Codex Chrome/browser integration stopped working after a recent update. The browser extension is discovered, but any attempt to enumerate or read Chrome tabs fails with:

unsupported Codex auth method: apikey

This worked normally last week on the same Windows workstation and Chrome profile.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 x64
• Codex CLI: codex-cli 0.153.4
• BrowserSkill CLI/extension: 0.2.1
• Browser: Google Chrome 153.0.8010.37
• Codex desktop app with the Chrome extension integration
• Authentication: API-key mode using a compliant third-party provider exposing the GPT-6 Astra model
• The API key itself is valid and is intentionally omitted from this report

Reproduction

1. Start Codex desktop with API-key authentication configured.
2. Install/enable BrowserSkill 0.2.1 in Chrome.
3. Ask Codex to inspect the existing Chrome session, for example by selecting the Chrome browser integration.
4. The extension instance is discovered, but listing tabs or obtaining the browser target fails.

Observed error:

unsupported Codex auth method: apikey

The same error is returned consistently when the browser connector attempts to list Chrome tabs. The browser extension is present and Chrome is running; this is an authentication compatibility failure between the Codex browser connector and API-key sessions.

Expected behavior

The Chrome integration should either support API-key authenticated Codex sessions, or report a clear supported-authentication requirement and provide a documented fallback. API-key authentication works for the normal Codex model workflow, and browser access worked before the recent update.

Additional context

• Chrome Web Store lists BrowserSkill 0.2.1 as updated on 2026-09-08.
• The local extension files were updated on 2026-09-11.
• A similar report is described in issue #30535, but this reproduction is specifically the apikey authentication rejection.
• No API key, account identifier, private URL, or customer data is included here.

Requested fix

Please restore browser connector compatibility with API-key sessions, or document the exact supported authentication modes and version compatibility between Codex desktop/CLI and BrowserSkill. A regression test covering agent.browsers.list() and agent.browsers.get() under API-key authentication would help prevent recurrence.

Start with the browser connector entry points agent.browsers.list() and agent.browsers.get(), using the reported “unsupported Codex auth method: apikey” error to trace the authentication handling. Add or run regression coverage for both calls under API-key authentication; done means Chrome tabs and the browser target can be accessed, or the supported authentication requirement is documented.