Codex app opens Chrome even when in-app browser is explicitly requested and Chrome Use is disabled

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

Unknown (not available at time of filing)

What subscription do you have?

Unknown

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 25.5.0 arm64 arm

What issue are you seeing?

The Codex desktop app keeps opening/using Chrome even when I explicitly instruct it to use the Codex app in-app browser, and even when Chrome Use is disabled.

This makes it hard to force browser tasks onto the in-app browser surface. It also means the app appears to ignore both the explicit user instruction and the disabled Chrome Use setting.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. In the Codex desktop app, disable Chrome Use / Chrome browser use.
2. Start a task that requires browser navigation.
3. Explicitly instruct the agent to use the Codex app in-app browser, for example: "Use the in-app browser; do not use Chrome."
4. Ask the agent to open or navigate to a URL.
5. Observe that Chrome still opens instead of the Codex app in-app browser being used.

What is the expected behavior?

When the in-app browser is explicitly requested, Codex should route browser operations to the Codex app in-app browser and should not open Chrome.

When Chrome Use is disabled, Chrome should not be launched for browser tasks unless the user explicitly re-enables it or confirms a fallback.

Additional information

A related but opposite routing issue appears to exist: #21876 reports explicit @chrome routing to IAB. This report is the inverse: IAB is requested and Chrome Use is disabled, but Chrome still opens.