In-app Browser enters unresponsive Picture-in-Picture after Browser Use releases control

What version of the Codex App are you using?

Codex/ChatGPT desktop app 26.721.41059 (build 5848, bundle com.openai.codex)

What platform is your computer?

• macOS 26.5.2 (build 25F84)
• Apple Silicon / arm64

What issue are you seeing?

When Browser Use makes the Codex in-app Browser visible and applies a responsive viewport, the full Browser surface collapses into Computer Use → Picture in Picture as soon as the Browser Use call releases control.

The PiP preview still renders the live page at the requested portrait dimensions, which indicates that the browser tab and viewport content remain alive. However, the user cannot restore the full Browser:

• Selecting Show from the Picture in Picture control has no response.
• Clicking the floating PiP page thumbnail directly also has no response.
• Direct thumbnail clicks have shown the same zero-response behavior in other Codex sessions.

The user therefore loses access to the full Browser surface, responsive Dimensions toolbar, and normal interaction even though the underlying tab remains open.

Steps to reproduce

1. Start a completely fresh Codex task so there is no prior in-app Browser or viewport history.
2. Have Browser Use create a fresh in-app Browser tab.
3. Open https://crewbidpro-ohio.onrender.com/.
4. Make the Browser visible and set the responsive viewport to 440 × 998 CSS pixels.
5. Do not call viewport.reset() or tabs.finalize().
6. End the Browser Use tool call and return control to the user.
7. Observe that the full Browser collapses into a floating Picture-in-Picture preview.
8. In the Environment panel, open Computer Use → Picture in Picture and select Show.
9. Observe that nothing happens.
10. Click the floating page thumbnail directly.
11. Observe that nothing happens.

Observed result

• The test used a fresh Codex task, fresh in-app Browser, and fresh tab.
• The failure occurred on the first viewport activation, ruling out old-tab state, manual toolbar closure, and second-activation corruption.
• The full Browser was visible with the requested 440 × 998 viewport while Browser Use controlled it.
• Immediately after control was released, the Browser appeared only as a floating PiP preview.
• The PiP thumbnail visibly retained the portrait page content, so the tab and responsive rendering were not destroyed.
• The Environment panel showed Computer Use → Picture in Picture → Show.
• Selecting Show was unresponsive.
• Clicking the floating PiP thumbnail has also been unresponsive in other sessions.
• The underlying in-app Browser tab remained open on the same URL.
• No tabs.finalize() call was made before the failure.

Expected behavior

When Browser Use releases control of a Browser that was explicitly made visible, the user should retain access to the full Browser. If Codex intentionally hands it off through Picture in Picture, either Show or clicking the PiP thumbnail should reliably restore the full Browser with its responsive viewport and controls.

Actual behavior

The Browser is handed off as an inert PiP preview. The page remains visibly rendered, but neither supported restoration path returns the user to the full Browser.

Narrow component boundary

This report is specifically about PiP restoration after Browser Use handoff:

• Browser tab creation and navigation succeed.
• Responsive viewport application succeeds.
• PiP rendering succeeds.
• Restoration from PiP fails through both the Show command and direct thumbnail interaction.

This is related to #34335, which reports that the device-preview toolbar is no longer visibly pinned when Browser Use returns control. This report adds the narrower user-interface failure that the resulting PiP surface cannot be restored, even though it displays the still-running page.

Suggested regression case

1. Create an in-app Browser tab.
2. Set visibility to true and apply a responsive viewport.
3. Return Browser control without resetting the viewport or finalizing the tab.
4. Assert that the user can restore the full Browser through both the PiP Show command and the PiP thumbnail.
5. Assert that the responsive Dimensions toolbar and viewport remain accessible after restoration.