From b4dd600b3756c91e79e819fdc9f4f2a99e7f68f2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Vincent Koc <vincentkoc@ieee.org>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:05:26 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(browser): reuse running loopback browser after probe miss

---
 CHANGELOG.md                                  |  1 +
 src/browser/server-context.availability.ts    | 11 ++++++++
 ...wser-available.waits-for-cdp-ready.test.ts | 28 +++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 40 insertions(+)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 19c1a8d3fed..12eacfa3c66 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Browser/Chrome MCP: wait for existing-session browser tabs to become usable after attach instead of treating the initial Chrome MCP handshake as ready, which reduces user-profile timeouts and repeated consent churn on macOS Chrome attach flows. Fixes #52930. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Gateway/probe: stop successful gateway handshakes from timing out as unreachable while post-connect detail RPCs are still loading, so slow devices report a reachable RPC failure instead of a false negative dead gateway. Fixes #52927. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Config/plugins: treat stale unknown `plugins.allow` ids as warnings instead of fatal config errors, so recovery commands like `plugins install`, `doctor --fix`, and `status` still run when a plugin is missing locally. Fixes #52992. Thanks @vincentkoc.
+- Browser/CDP: reuse an already-running loopback browser after a short initial reachability miss instead of immediately falling back to relaunch detection, which fixes second-run browser start/open regressions on slower headless Linux setups. Fixes #53004. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Plugins/message tool: make Discord `components` and Slack `blocks` optional again so pin/unpin/react flows stop failing schema validation and Slack media sends are no longer forced into an invalid blocks-plus-media payload. Fixes #52970 and #52962. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - Plugins/Feishu: route `message(..., media=...)` sends through the Feishu outbound media path so file and image attachments actually send instead of being silently dropped. Fixes #52962. Thanks @vincentkoc.
 - ClawHub/skills: resolve the local ClawHub auth token for gateway skill browsing and switch browse-all requests to search so ClawControl stops falling into unauthenticated 429s and empty authenticated skill lists. Fixes #52949. Thanks @vincentkoc.
diff --git a/src/browser/server-context.availability.ts b/src/browser/server-context.availability.ts
index e24d28a3a6e..783dbb9e782 100644
--- a/src/browser/server-context.availability.ts
+++ b/src/browser/server-context.availability.ts
@@ -197,6 +197,17 @@ export function createProfileAvailability({
           return;
         }
       }
+      // Browser control service can restart while a loopback OpenClaw browser is still
+      // alive. Give that pre-existing browser one longer probe window before falling
+      // back to local executable resolution.
+      if (!attachOnly && !remoteCdp && profile.cdpIsLoopback && !profileState.running) {
+        if (
+          (await isHttpReachable(PROFILE_ATTACH_RETRY_TIMEOUT_MS)) &&
+          (await isReachable(PROFILE_ATTACH_RETRY_TIMEOUT_MS))
+        ) {
+          return;
+        }
+      }
       if (attachOnly || remoteCdp) {
         throw new BrowserProfileUnavailableError(
           remoteCdp
diff --git a/src/browser/server-context.ensure-browser-available.waits-for-cdp-ready.test.ts b/src/browser/server-context.ensure-browser-available.waits-for-cdp-ready.test.ts
index 1c0081fcdbc..ac9d4d89a33 100644
--- a/src/browser/server-context.ensure-browser-available.waits-for-cdp-ready.test.ts
+++ b/src/browser/server-context.ensure-browser-available.waits-for-cdp-ready.test.ts
@@ -110,4 +110,32 @@ describe("browser server-context ensureBrowserAvailable", () => {
     expect(launchOpenClawChrome).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(stopOpenClawChrome).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
+
+  it("reuses a pre-existing loopback browser after an initial short probe miss", async () => {
+    const { launchOpenClawChrome, stopOpenClawChrome, isChromeCdpReady, profile } =
+      setupEnsureBrowserAvailableHarness();
+    const isChromeReachable = vi.mocked(chromeModule.isChromeReachable);
+
+    isChromeReachable
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(false)
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(true);
+    isChromeCdpReady.mockResolvedValueOnce(true);
+
+    await expect(profile.ensureBrowserAvailable()).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+
+    expect(isChromeReachable).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      1,
+      "http://127.0.0.1:18800",
+      undefined,
+      { allowPrivateNetwork: true },
+    );
+    expect(isChromeReachable).toHaveBeenNthCalledWith(
+      2,
+      "http://127.0.0.1:18800",
+      1000,
+      { allowPrivateNetwork: true },
+    );
+    expect(launchOpenClawChrome).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(stopOpenClawChrome).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
 });