Windows browser connector returns HTML instead of JSON and detects no Edge/Chrome tabs
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Description
What happened
Codex Desktop on Windows cannot connect to the browser extension or enumerate browser tabs. Both Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are open, but the browser connector returns no available browsers:
apps: []
browsers: []
Browsers: Error: Unexpected token '<', "<html>..." is not valid JSON
The error indicates that the connector receives an HTML response where it expects JSON. As a result, Codex cannot inspect or control any Edge or Chrome tab.
Steps to reproduce
- Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
- Enable the browser integration and open tabs in Edge or Chrome.
- Ask Codex to inspect/open the browser.
- The connector returns the JSON parsing error above and an empty browser list.
What I already tried
- Reinstalled the relevant skill/plugin.
- Reinstalled the browser extension.
- Restarted the browsers.
- Restarted Codex.
- Restarted the computer.
The issue persists. A similar issue previously disappeared only after a later update.
Expected behaviour
Codex should discover the open browser and its tabs, then allow browser interaction.
Actual behaviour
No browser is detected; the connector fails while parsing an HTML response as JSON.
Additional context
This appears related to, but is more specific than, #39184. No private URLs, account data, or credentials are included.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
No files, tests, or entry points are identified in the report. Start by reproducing the Windows connector failure and tracing where the HTML response is parsed as JSON; done means Edge or Chrome tabs are discovered without the parsing error.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- desktop
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100