fix(browser): wait for durable ChatGPT conversation URLs

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- Browser: ignore transient `/c/WEB:<request-id>` routes until ChatGPT exposes the durable conversation URL, preventing completed GPT-5.6 and Pro answers from hanging until timeout under a mismatched response scope. Fixes #333. Thanks @dbachko and @kesslerio!
 - Browser: recover completed answers after a recoverable DevTools disconnect by confirming target liveness and attempting bounded reattachment, while preserving fail-closed handling for unavailable targets. Fixes #326. Thanks @piyushbag!
 - CLI: avoid inheriting `browser.thinkingTime` from config when `--browser-model-strategy current` is explicit, while preserving an explicit `--browser-thinking-time` override. Thanks @jung0han!
 - Browser/Serve: keep the authenticated manual-login Chrome process alive while closing each successfully captured service-owned run tab, preventing renderer and memory accumulation across repeated remote consultations without changing explicit `--browser-keep-browser`, attached-tab, or incomplete-run recovery behavior. Thanks @rtl-ai!

src/browser/conversationUrl.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+const CONVERSATION_ID_PATH = /\/c\/([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)(?=[/?#]|$)/;
+
+/**
+ * Extract a durable ChatGPT conversation id from a URL.
+ *
+ * ChatGPT can briefly expose client-created routes such as `/c/WEB:<request-id>`
+ * before replacing them with the persisted conversation URL. Those transient
+ * routes must not be used to scope assistant-response capture or reattachment.
+ */
+export function extractStableConversationIdFromUrl(url: string): string | undefined {
+  if (!url) return undefined;
+  return url.match(CONVERSATION_ID_PATH)?.[1];
+}
+
+export function isStableConversationUrl(url: string): boolean {
+  return extractStableConversationIdFromUrl(url) !== undefined;
+}

src/browser/conversationUrlMonitor.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import type { BrowserLogger } from "./types.js";
 import { delay } from "./utils.js";
+import { isStableConversationUrl } from "./conversationUrl.js";
 
 export interface ConversationUrlMonitor {
   update: (label: string, timeoutMs?: number) => Promise<boolean>;
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ export function createConversationUrlMonitor(options: {
         if (stopped) {
           return false;
         }
-        if (url && isConversationUrl(url)) {
+        if (url && isStableConversationUrl(url)) {
           options.logger(`[browser] conversation url (${label}) = ${url}`);
           const persist = options.persistUrl(url);
           activePersists.add(persist);
@@ -76,7 +77,3 @@ export function createConversationUrlMonitor(options: {
     },
   };
 }
-
-function isConversationUrl(url: string): boolean {
-  return /\/c\/[a-z0-9-]+/i.test(url);
-}

src/browser/index.ts

@@ -113,6 +113,10 @@ import {
   createConversationUrlMonitor,
   type ConversationUrlMonitor,
 } from "./conversationUrlMonitor.js";
+import {
+  extractStableConversationIdFromUrl as extractConversationIdFromUrl,
+  isStableConversationUrl as isConversationUrl,
+} from "./conversationUrl.js";
 
 export type { BrowserAutomationConfig, BrowserRunOptions, BrowserRunResult } from "./types.js";
 export { CHATGPT_URL, DEFAULT_MODEL_STRATEGY, DEFAULT_MODEL_TARGET } from "./constants.js";
@@ -4147,10 +4151,6 @@ async function readConversationTurnCount(
   return null;
 }
 
-function isConversationUrl(url: string): boolean {
-  return /\/c\/[a-z0-9-]+/i.test(url);
-}
-
 function describeDevtoolsFirewallHint(host: string, port: number): string | null {
   if (!isWsl()) return null;
   return [
@@ -4170,11 +4170,6 @@ function isWsl(): boolean {
   return os.release().toLowerCase().includes("microsoft");
 }
 
-function extractConversationIdFromUrl(url: string): string | undefined {
-  const match = url.match(/\/c\/([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)/);
-  return match?.[1];
-}
-
 async function resolveUserDataBaseDir(): Promise<string> {
   // On WSL, Chrome launched via Windows can choke on UNC paths; prefer a Windows-backed temp folder.
   if (isWsl()) {

src/browser/liveTabs.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
 } from "./constants.js";
 import { captureAssistantMarkdown, readAssistantSnapshot } from "./actions/assistantResponse.js";
 import { buildConversationTurnListExpression } from "./conversationTurns.js";
+import { extractStableConversationIdFromUrl } from "./conversationUrl.js";
 import { delay } from "./utils.js";
 
 export const DEFAULT_REMOTE_CHROME_HOST = "127.0.0.1";
@@ -631,8 +632,7 @@ export async function harvestChatGptTab(
 }
 
 export function extractConversationIdFromUrl(url: string): string | undefined {
-  const match = normalizeUrl(url).match(/\/c\/([^/?#]+)/);
-  return match?.[1] ?? undefined;
+  return extractStableConversationIdFromUrl(normalizeUrl(url));
 }
 
 export function formatBrowserTabState(

src/browser/reattachHelpers.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import type { BrowserLogger, ChromeClient } from "./types.js";
 import { CONVERSATION_TURN_SELECTOR } from "./constants.js";
 import { buildConversationTurnCountExpression } from "./conversationTurns.js";
+import { extractStableConversationIdFromUrl } from "./conversationUrl.js";
 import { delay } from "./utils.js";
 import { readAssistantSnapshot } from "./pageActions.js";
 
@@ -52,17 +53,15 @@ export function pickTarget(
 }
 
 export function extractConversationIdFromUrl(url: string): string | undefined {
-  if (!url) return undefined;
-  const match = url.match(/\/c\/([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)/);
-  return match?.[1];
+  return extractStableConversationIdFromUrl(url);
 }
 
 export function buildConversationUrl(
   runtime: { tabUrl?: string; conversationId?: string },
   baseUrl: string,
 ): string | null {
   if (runtime.tabUrl) {
-    if (runtime.tabUrl.includes("/c/")) {
+    if (extractConversationIdFromUrl(runtime.tabUrl)) {
       return runtime.tabUrl;
     }
     return null;

src/browser/reattachability.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { BrowserRuntimeMetadata } from "../sessionStore.js";
+import { isStableConversationUrl } from "./conversationUrl.js";
 
 /**
  * True when the URL points at a specific ChatGPT conversation (`/c/<id>`) on
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ export function isRecoverableChatGptConversationUrl(candidate: string | null | u
     if (url.hostname !== "chatgpt.com" && url.hostname !== "chat.openai.com") {
       return false;
     }
-    return /(?:^|\/)c\/[^/]+/.test(url.pathname);
+    return isStableConversationUrl(url.pathname);
   } catch {
     return false;
   }

tests/browser/conversationUrlMonitor.test.ts

@@ -29,6 +29,32 @@ describe("createConversationUrlMonitor", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  test("ignores transient WEB request routes until the durable conversation URL appears", async () => {
+    const readUrl = vi
+      .fn<() => Promise<string>>()
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce("https://chatgpt.com/c/WEB:32229414-5afa-4478-890c-9ca80aa82430")
+      .mockResolvedValue("https://chatgpt.com/c/6a61036f-4cc4-83e8-8415-efb820f52db9");
+    const persistUrl = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    let now = 0;
+    const monitor = createConversationUrlMonitor({
+      readUrl,
+      persistUrl,
+      logger: vi.fn() as BrowserLogger,
+      wait: async () => {
+        now += 250;
+      },
+      now: () => now,
+    });
+
+    await expect(monitor.update("assistant-wait", 1_000)).resolves.toBe(true);
+
+    expect(readUrl).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(persistUrl).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    expect(persistUrl).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "https://chatgpt.com/c/6a61036f-4cc4-83e8-8415-efb820f52db9",
+    );
+  });
+
   test("keeps polling through read errors until the URL appears", async () => {
     let reads = 0;
     const persistUrl = vi.fn(async () => {});

tests/browser/reattach.test.ts

@@ -346,6 +346,11 @@ describe("reattach helpers", () => {
 
   test("extracts conversation id from a chat URL", () => {
     expect(extractConversationIdFromUrl("https://chatgpt.com/c/abc-123")).toBe("abc-123");
+    expect(
+      extractConversationIdFromUrl(
+        "https://chatgpt.com/c/WEB:32229414-5afa-4478-890c-9ca80aa82430",
+      ),
+    ).toBeUndefined();
     expect(extractConversationIdFromUrl("")).toBeUndefined();
   });
 

tests/browser/reattachability.test.ts

@@ -27,10 +27,21 @@ describe("hasRecoverableChatGptConversation", () => {
         tabUrl: "https://chatgpt.com/g/g-p-demo/project",
       }),
     ).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      hasRecoverableChatGptConversation({
+        tabUrl: "https://chatgpt.com/c/WEB:32229414-5afa-4478-890c-9ca80aa82430",
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
   });
 
   test("rejects malformed or non-ChatGPT URLs", () => {
     expect(hasRecoverableChatGptConversation({ tabUrl: "not a url" })).toBe(false);
     expect(hasRecoverableChatGptConversation({ tabUrl: "https://example.com/c/abc" })).toBe(false);
+    expect(hasRecoverableChatGptConversation({ tabUrl: "https://chatgpt.com/?next=/c/abc" })).toBe(
+      false,
+    );
+    expect(hasRecoverableChatGptConversation({ tabUrl: "https://chatgpt.com/#/c/abc" })).toBe(
+      false,
+    );
   });
 });