Codex Desktop bundled Browser/Chrome plugins not available or failing on Windows

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.506.3741.0

What subscription do you have?

Chatgpt Plus

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0 x64

What issue are you seeing?

I am using Codex Desktop on Windows, version 26.506.11943.

The bundled Browser / browser-use and Chrome plugins are not available or do not install/work correctly from the official plugin UI.

I inspected the local Codex Desktop installation package and found these bundled plugins:

• browser-use
• chrome
• latex-tectonic

However, Browser / browser-use and Chrome do not appear normally in the plugin marketplace, or fail after uninstall/reinstall.

This does not appear to be caused by CODEX_HOME. Browser / Chrome were already missing when CODEX_HOME pointed to my Codex data directory. Later I removed CODEX_HOME and made C:\Users\<USER>\.codex a junction to the same directory, without changing the underlying files.

Chrome-specific issue:
After Chrome plugin setup, Codex Desktop can show the Chrome integration as connected, but the Chrome extension itself shows “Disconnected”. The Chrome plugin then fails to actually use the browser.

Errors/diagnostics observed:

• privileged native pipe bridge is not available
• Missing native messaging host:

HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.openai.codexextension
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\OpenAI\extension\com.openai.codexextension.json

A Node runtime issue also appeared during troubleshooting:

• node_repl used my system Node v22.17.1
• the Chrome plugin required >= v22.22.0
• pointing node_repl to Codex’s bundled Node v24.14.0 fixed the Node version error, but Chrome extension / native host connection still did not work reliably.

I previously opened issue #22429 for this, but I accidentally closed it and do not have permission to reopen it.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install and open Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Open the Codex plugin marketplace.
3. Search for Browser, browser-use, Chrome, or chrome.
4. Observe that Browser / browser-use and Chrome do not appear normally, or fail during installation/reinstallation.
5. Inspect the local Codex Desktop installation package. It contains bundled plugin files for browser-use, chrome, and latex-tectonic.
6. If the Chrome plugin appears and is installed, open Chrome and check the Codex Chrome extension.
7. Observe that the Chrome extension shows “Disconnected”, while Codex Desktop may show the Chrome integration as connected.
8. Try to use the Chrome plugin from Codex.
9. Observe native host / bridge errors such as “privileged native pipe bridge is not available”.

What is the expected behavior?

Browser / browser-use and Chrome should appear normally in the official Codex plugin marketplace if they are bundled with Codex Desktop and available for my platform/account.

Installing or reinstalling the Chrome plugin from the official UI should correctly configure the Chrome extension, native messaging host, extension-host, and required runtime dependencies.

After installation, the Chrome extension should show as connected, and Codex should be able to use Chrome without native host / bridge errors.

If these plugins are gated, unsupported, hidden, or unavailable for my account/platform, the UI should explain that clearly.

Additional information

Additional information:

This seems related to Codex Desktop’s bundled plugin discovery, marketplace exposure, or Chrome native host setup flow on Windows.

I originally thought latex-tectonic was unaffected, but I can no longer use it as a reliable control case. My clean config.toml currently only contains GitHub as an enabled plugin:

[plugins."github@openai-curated"]
enabled = true

There are no openai-bundled entries in config.toml.

The local Codex Desktop installation still contains bundled plugin files for:

• browser-use
• chrome
• latex-tectonic

Chrome/Browser are still the main broken cases for me, especially because Chrome additionally fails around the extension/native messaging host setup.