Windows app 26.915.4065.0: repeated main-process crashes during embedded browser tab lifecycle

Environment

• Windows x64; Codex package version 26.915.4065.0.
• Bundled ChatGPT.exe file version 153.0.8010.48.
• Local website development with built-in browser interaction/visual tests.

Actual behaviour

Six browser/main-process crash sidecars and one renderer crash sidecar were recorded during 19–20 September 2026. The application repeatedly exits during embedded-browser testing, interrupting the task and its local test processes.

For all six main-process incidents, the last desktop log entry precedes the crash-sidecar modification time by approximately 0.4–0.6 seconds and concerns the browser sidebar being rebound/created or a browser-use tab being closed.

Times below are UTC; sidecar times are file modification times, not native exception timestamps:

Sidecars contain capture_kind: crash, osarch: x86_64, ptype: browser. A separate page-renderer crash at 2026-09-19 17:29:29 UTC logged reason=crashed, exitCode=-2147483645; its sidecar reports ptype: renderer.

Observed workflow / expected behaviour

Use the embedded browser to inspect a loopback-only development website, switch between browser tabs and close completed test tabs. The desktop application should stay running. This is a recurring observed association, not an isolated minimal reproduction; I have not deliberately reproduced another crash after diagnosis.

Checks and limitations

• Approximately 32 GB RAM; about 9 GB free at the diagnostic snapshot. No Windows System event2004 low-memory warnings in the preceding seven days. This does not rule out transient or per-process allocation failures.
• No out-of-memory/heap-limit indicators found in the targeted terminated-session logs.
• No matching recent display-driver reset found.
• Only sidecar metadata remains in the inspected Crashpad report directory; no native stack trace available locally.
• Embedded-browser lifecycle handling is the leading hypothesis, not a confirmed defective function. No evidence establishes context compaction or website source as the cause.
• Proposed mitigation: external-browser testing; not yet established as a fix.

This report intentionally excludes project identifiers, paths, account details, conversation contents, screenshots, raw logs and private website data. Please advise whether this browser-lifecycle failure is known and what minimal additional diagnostic information would help.

Begin with the desktop logs and remaining Crashpad sidecar metadata in the inspected Crashpad report directory, focusing on browser sidebar rebinding, webview creation, and tab closure. Because no native stack trace, file path, test, or minimal reproduction is provided, establish a reproducible lifecycle case and define the additional diagnostics needed to confirm a fix.