Chrome extension reports app not installed because native-host manifest points to stale plugin link on macOS

What version of the Codex App are you using?

26.707.31123 (build 5042)

What platform is your computer?

• macOS 27.0 (26A5368g)
• Apple Silicon (arm64)
• Google Chrome 150.0.7871.115

What issue are you seeing?

The ChatGPT Chrome Extension side panel displays:

Install the app to use ChatGPT in Chrome

However, the desktop app is installed at /Applications/ChatGPT.app, is currently running, and has bundle identifier com.openai.codex.

Codex cannot acquire the Chrome backend and reports:

Browser is not available: extension

Local inspection found a concrete broken native-host path:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/com.openai.codexextension.json

The manifest exists, has the expected host name and allowed origin, and the bundled checker reports correct: true. Its configured executable is:

~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/latest/extension-host/macos/arm64/extension-host

But the latest symlink is stale:

~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/latest
  -> ~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/26.616.71553

That old target no longer exists. The installed Chrome plugin is version 26.707.31123, and its native host exists at:

~/.codex/plugins/cache/openai-bundled/chrome/26.707.31123/extension-host/macos/arm64/ChatGPT for Chrome

So there are two mismatches:

1. latest still targets a removed plugin version.
2. The current macOS native-host binary is named ChatGPT for Chrome, while the stale manifest expects extension-host.

The generic “Install the app” message appears to be the extension's fallback when the native messaging host cannot be launched, rather than evidence that the desktop app is absent.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Install/update the Codex desktop app and bundled Chrome plugin.
2. Install and enable the ChatGPT Chrome Extension.
3. Open Chrome and open the extension side panel.
4. Observe “Install the app to use ChatGPT in Chrome.”
5. Verify that /Applications/ChatGPT.app is installed and running.
6. Inspect com.openai.codexextension.json and the bundled plugin latest symlink.
7. Observe that the manifest resolves through a stale symlink to a nonexistent executable.

Troubleshooting already attempted

• Fully quit and reopened Chrome and the desktop app.
• Uninstalled and reinstalled the bundled Chrome plugin.
• Restarted both applications after reinstalling.
• Verified the desktop app is installed.
• Verified the native-host manifest exists and has the expected extension origin.

The stale symlink and manifest path persisted.

What is the expected behavior?

Installing or updating the bundled Chrome plugin should:

• update the latest link to the active plugin version;
• rewrite the Chrome native-host manifest with the current executable name/path; and
• allow the Chrome extension to connect to the running desktop app.

The native-host diagnostic should also verify that manifest.path exists and is executable. At present it can report correct: true even when the configured executable does not exist.

Additional information

There are other open reports of Chrome backend discovery failures, including #31769, but this report identifies a specific stale symlink and nonexistent manifest executable on macOS.