My setup: I run Claude Code in the terminal, and it controls my real Chrome through the “Claude in Chrome” extension (the mcp claude-in-chrome tools). I use this for browser automation — form filling for my business outreach. It worked great for weeks. Since Aug 3 there is a strange split:
- If I use the extension directly IN the browser (its own panel/UI) — everything works.
- If Claude Code drives it FROM THE TERMINAL — clicks are dead. The tool call returns success, but the page never receives the click. isTrusted listeners never fire, focus never moves. Everything else from the terminal still works (JavaScript execution, reading pages, navigation, screenshots) — ONLY the click/input dispatch dies. Sometimes it recovers for a few minutes after toggling the extension off/on, then dies again — usually right after a form submit navigates to the next page. What I found in the extension’s service worker console (chrome://extensions -> Developer mode -> Inspect views: service worker), at the exact moment a terminal-driven click fails: Unchecked runtime.lastError: Debugger is not attached to the tab with id: 1034695608. Unchecked runtime.lastError: No tab with given id 1034695608. So the extension dispatches the terminal’s clicks through the Chrome debugger API to a tab ID that no longer exists, and never checks the error. That’s why Claude Code thinks the click worked. The extension’s own in-browser UI must use a different code path, which is why it still works there. Everything I tried (all failed identically for the terminal path):
- Extension toggle off/on (recovers for minutes only)
- Extension reload button
- Full uninstall + reinstall (pulled a newer version — old install had stuck auto-update — same bug in the new one)
- Full Chrome quit and restart
- Full macOS reboot
- macOS Accessibility permission
- Single Chrome profile only
- Disabling every other extension
- Fresh Claude Code sessions
- Even installed Brave and moved the extension there — passed the click test once, then died the same way Versions:extension v1.0.85, Chrome 150.0.7871.187, Claude Code CLI v2.1.22x, macOS (Apple Silicon). Timing matches a Chrome update — clicks were mostly recoverable before Chrome moved to 150.0.7871, nearly permanent after. I filed /bug twice from Claude Code and opened a support ticket with the console error. Posting because: anyone else running Claude Code + the Chrome extension seeing this? Any workaround that actually holds? And if someone from Anthropic reads this — the unchecked runtime.lastError after submit-navigation is probably the exact place to look: the debugger needs re-attaching after a tab navigates/process-swaps, and errors should surface instead of reporting success. Love this setup when it works. Right now half my automation runs on email fallback and me clicking forms by hand. submitted by /u/khakkoii
Originally posted by u/khakkoii on r/ClaudeCode
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