Windows browser control fails across Chrome, Edge and in-app browser after update; nodeRepl.fetch request failed #53056

App version

ChatGPT desktop app on Windows (Powered by Codex & OWL).
Current: 26.1007.21434, build 13901, prod channel. The app update checker returned up_to_date on October 11, 2026.
Previously: 26.1002.52244, build 13536. Updating did not resolve this issue.

Subscription / platform

ChatGPT Plus; Windows. Exact Windows build was not collected.

Problem

Browser control is blocked before any scrolling or opening a work item can execute. Chrome and Edge are detected, but their tab inventories return nodeRepl.fetch request failed. The in-app browser can report an existing tab's URL/title through inventory but binding/reading that tab times out.

Earlier in a separate side chat, page-text reading was reported successful, but actual scrolling failed. That limited reading result does not demonstrate working browser control.

Reproduction in this affected session

1. Start a local desktop chat with browser tools enabled and an ordinary signed-in webpage open.
2. Execute await cua.getState();.
3. Chrome and Edge are listed, with empty tab arrays and these errors:

   Browser <Edge ID>: Error: nodeRepl.fetch request failed
   Browser <Chrome ID>: Error: nodeRepl.fetch request failed
   

   Browser IDs change between runs. The call takes approximately 21–24 seconds.
4. An existing in-app browser tab is listed with a title and URL.
5. Execute await cua.getTab('<observed tab ID>', {browser: '<observed in-app browser ID>'});.
6. After approximately 30 seconds:

   js execution timed out; kernel reset, rerun your request
   

7. Creating an in-app browser tab with cua.createBrowserTab also timed out in prior tests.

Additional observed error

Prior browser-tool calls also reported POST networking failures for ab.chatgpt.com/v1/initialize and ab.chatgpt.com/v1/rgstr. Their causal relationship to browser control is unknown. No credential-bearing URLs, full traces, account page identifiers, or private browsing content are included here.

Troubleshooting already performed

• Restarted the desktop app, including user-confirmed complete exit and reopening.
• Updated the app; current update status is verified as up_to_date.
• Removed and reinstalled the official Chrome extension.
• Tested a new chat in Chrome's side panel.
• Kept Chrome and its side panel foreground.
• Tested Chrome, Edge, and the in-app browser.
• Switched the computer's network to a phone hotspot while retaining proxy configuration: same failure.
• Switched the existing proxy client from split routing to global proxy, keeping the hotspot and node otherwise unchanged: same failure.

Proxy-free connectivity has NOT been tested. Switching to a hotspot therefore does not rule out the local proxy or computer-level networking. No sandbox changes or security protection disabling were performed as part of these tests.

Expected behavior / impact

The supported browser tools should retrieve tab state and execute a scroll or open a page. A previously functioning account-content audit is now blocked across browser backends.

Uploaded feedback

Feedback/session ID: 01a125b0-7f71-7d81-84d3-ebd42e7dc09f.
The desktop UI explicitly confirmed feedback submission on October 10, 2026.

Related reports

• Windows Codex Desktop: Browser automation fails with nodeRepl.fetch request failed #52898: same current desktop version and multi-browser failure, including in-app timeout.
• Windows Codex browser control fails: nodeRepl.fetch request failed #46095: Windows nodeRepl.fetch failures and concurrent ab.chatgpt.com POST errors.
• Windows: Chrome control fails with nodeRepl.fetch request failed #44135: Chrome detection succeeds but browser control fails.

Please triage this uploaded session alongside those reports and advise supported diagnostics or a workaround for the actual browser-control connection path. The root cause has not been established.