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[macOS][Chrome extension] Native host reports outdated and browser control is read-only #39800
Description
What version of the IDE extension are you using?
ChatGPT desktop app 26.818.21641; ChatGPT Chrome extension 1.2.27267.15375
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT plus
Which IDE are you using?
Google Chrome (ChatGPT Chrome extension/sidebar)
What platform is your computer?
Darwin 27.0.0 arm64 arm (macOS, Apple Silicon)
What issue are you seeing?
The ChatGPT Chrome sidebar can read the active page, but it cannot interact with Chrome. It reports:
"Chrome interaction is unavailable because the native host is outdated. Please update or reinstall the ChatGPT Chrome plugin, then ask me to try again."
After reinstalling and relaunching, it also reports:
"This Chrome connection is read-only, so I can't edit or save it."
ChatGPT Settings > Computer use shows Google Chrome enabled with "Browser extension installed".
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Install or update the ChatGPT desktop app and the official ChatGPT Chrome extension.
- In ChatGPT Settings > Computer use, enable Any App and Google Chrome, and confirm that Chrome reports "Browser extension installed".
- Open the sample inventory page at https://chatgpt.com/work/extension/installed.
- Open the ChatGPT Chrome sidebar and ask: "I sold out of these 3 products today but ordered 5 new desk mousepads. Update the stock and save the inventory."
- The sidebar can read the inventory but cannot click, type, edit, or save. It reports that the native host is outdated or that the Chrome connection is read-only.
- Fully quit and relaunch both ChatGPT and Chrome, then remove and reinstall the Chrome extension/plugin and repeat the test. The issue persists.
What is the expected behavior?
With the current ChatGPT app and Chrome extension installed, the Chrome sidebar should be able to click, type, edit, and save the requested changes. If the connection is not usable, it should report the specific compatibility or permission problem instead of incorrectly presenting a current installation as outdated or read-only.
Additional information
Environment:
- ChatGPT desktop app: 26.818.21641
- Google Chrome: 151.0.7922.138
- Chrome extension: 1.2.27267.15375
- Platform: Darwin 27.0.0 arm64 arm
- Native messaging protocol: v2
This is reproduced on macOS after relaunching Chrome and reinstalling the extension/plugin. A similar open report exists as #39531, but that report is Windows-specific; this report confirms the same behavior on macOS. No private page data, credentials, tokens, or screenshots are included.
Activity
github-actions commentedon Aug 20, 2026
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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9lkyuu commentedon Aug 24, 2026
Confirming the same issue on a separate macOS setup today, August 24, 2026.
Environment:
Exact message shown: “The Chrome native host for Codex is outdated, so only the text of the current page can be read right now.”
Codex can read the current page, but cannot search, create/open tabs, or interact with Chrome. This reproduced on my own computer and another computer. Many of my friends independently encountered the same extension connection failure today on their own computers and accounts.
This same-day cluster across independent setups looks like a current extension/native-host compatibility regression rather than one corrupted local installation.
One potentially relevant clue: Chrome simultaneously displayed “Claude started debugging this browser,” suggesting that a debugger conflict may be involved. Please consider the issue potentially widespread and escalate it to the Chrome extension/native-host engineering team.
indraX3112 commentedon Aug 25, 2026
Confirming the same issue on my macOS setup.
This has been extremely disruptive because Codex browser control is part of my normal workflow, and it suddenly became unusable even though everything appears correctly installed.
What I have already tried:
The result is still the same:
“The Chrome native host for Codex is outdated.”
Codex can read the active page, but it cannot reliably click, type, open tabs, edit, or complete browser tasks.
What makes this especially concerning is that Chrome itself is functioning normally, and another browser-control tool is able to interact with the same browser/session. That makes this look much more like a Codex Chrome-extension/native-host compatibility regression than a corrupted local Chrome installation.
I rely on this functionality for real production work, not just testing. Losing browser control means workflows that normally take Codex a few minutes suddenly require significant manual intervention and context switching.
Given the number of similar reports now appearing across macOS and Windows, please escalate this. Reinstalling the app/extension repeatedly is clearly not resolving the underlying problem.
Happy to provide diagnostics or logs if there is a specific collection process the engineering team wants users to run.
indraX3112 commentedon Aug 26, 2026
Update: I installed the latest ChatGPT desktop update today, Aug. 25, 2026, and immediately retested Codex Chrome control. The exact same error remains: “The Chrome native host for Codex is out of date.”
So this is still reproducible on the current ChatGPT build after updating both Chrome and ChatGPT, reinstalling the extension/integration, restarting macOS, and confirming Chrome is enabled under ChatGPT → Settings → Computer Use.
At this point, repeated reinstall/update instructions are not resolving the issue. Please treat this as an active compatibility/regression bug rather than a stale local installation.
pych-ky commentedon Aug 28, 2026
I reproduced the same high-level split state on official Google Chrome: the side panel could read the current page, but click/type/navigation were unavailable and it reported an outdated/read-only native connection.
My tested environment used extension
1.2.27268.51612_0, whereas this report used1.2.27267.15375. In my reproduction, the host returned a validbrowserClientPath,trustedBrowserClientSha256swas absent, and the actual unmodified extension parser rejected the entire runtime-config object. I documented the concrete parser evidence and a version-specific, unsupported local compatibility workaround in #40823.Because the extension builds differ and this issue does not include the raw parser result, this is only a possible match. It should be considered the same failure only if the valid-path / missing-trust-property / whole-object-rejection signature is confirmed; the generic outdated-host message has other causes.
MrMeAgy commentedon Aug 30, 2026
Confirming this on macOS after updating both ChatGPT and Chrome browser. ChatGPT can read the active Chrome page, but it cannot click, type, navigate, or open new tabs. I see this error:
"I can’t control Chrome because the Codex Chrome native host is out of date. Please update or reinstall the Codex Chrome plugin, then ask me again to search for “golden retrievers.”"
Environment :
ChatGPT
Powered by Codex & OWL
Version 26.825.51511
Released Aug 29, 2026
Macbook Pro
macOS Tahoe Version 26.6.2
Chrome Browser Version 152.0.7977.65 (Official Build) (arm64)
This is a major issue to a very useful feature. Please prioritize this fix....thanks !