[Bug]: Brave automatic cookie import is blocked by App-Bound Encryption despite being documented as supported #455

Existing issues

• I searched existing issues and did not find a duplicate.

What happened?

Automatic browser cookie import for Codex fails when Brave is selected, even though I am signed in to chatgpt.com in Brave.

With Brave running, CodexBar initially reports:

"No cookies found for chatgpt.com in Brave. Make sure you are signed in to that site in the browser."

After fully closing Brave and retrying the import, CodexBar instead reports:

"Chrome/Edge App-Bound Encryption is blocking automatic browser import. Paste the Cookie header manually, or use Firefox if that browser has the same login."

CodexBar detects Brave and its profiles, so browser/profile discovery itself appears to be working.

The current COOKIES.md documents Brave as:

Brave | DPAPI + AES-256-GCM | ✅ Automatic

Expected behavior:

• Automatic Brave cookie import works when Brave is documented as supported; or
• if current Brave versions cannot be imported because of App-Bound Encryption, the documentation reflects that limitation and the error message refers to Brave/Chromium rather than only "Chrome/Edge".

Affected area

• Tray panel
• Settings UI
• Config file / settings persistence
• CLI
• Provider-specific behavior
• Installer / release packaging
• Startup / background behavior
• Other

Steps to reproduce

1. Sign in to chatgpt.com in Brave on Windows.
2. Open Win-CodexBar v0.55.0.
3. Go to Settings → Providers → Codex.
4. Set the browser cookie source to Automatic and select Brave.
5. Click "Import from browser".
6. Observe that the import fails.
7. Fully exit Brave so that no Brave processes remain.
8. Retry "Import from browser".
9. Observe the App-Bound Encryption error mentioning "Chrome/Edge" even though Brave is selected.

Logs, screenshots, or recordings

codexbar-cli diagnose --provider codex --pretty --no-color

provider: codex
source: null
source_mode: auto
auth.configured: false

fetch_attempts:
  - kind: auto
    was_available: false
    error_category: auth

error:
  category: auth
  message: Authentication required

settings:
  source_mode: auto
  cookie_source: auto

App version

v0.55.0

Windows version

Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (OS Build 26200.9168)

Additional context

Browser: Brave 1.94.121
Chromium: 152.0.7977.83

Brave is my primary browser and the same Brave profile has an active ChatGPT session.

CodexBar detects Brave as "Brave (2 profiles)".

Closing Brave completely changes the observed error from "No cookies found" to the App-Bound Encryption warning, but automatic import still does not succeed.

The v0.32.3 changelog mentions App-Bound Encryption detection for modern Chrome/Edge and a manual-cookie or Firefox fallback, but the displayed warning does not mention Brave.

Screenshot after fully exiting Brave and retrying automatic browser import: