Desktop app: Claude in Chrome bridge unusable (navigation denied, approval card never appears) while CLI on same machine works

Environment

• macOS 15.3.1 (Apple Silicon)
• Claude desktop app 1.22209.0
• Claude Code CLI 2.1.217 (same machine, same Chrome, same extension)
• Chrome with the Claude in Chrome extension installed and working

Problem

In desktop app sessions, the claude-in-chrome MCP tools are effectively unusable:

• navigate calls are refused / fail
• The per-site approval card is never rendered, so no site can ever be approved
• The approved-sites list stays empty regardless of attempts
• Result: every browser action dead-ends

Meanwhile the terminal CLI (claude) on the exact same machine drives the same Chrome + extension flawlessly — site-approval prompts appear in the CLI, navigation, clicking, screenshots all work.

Impact

Browser automation from the desktop app is fully blocked. Our workaround is awkward: the desktop session spawns a "puppet" interactive CLI via AppleScript (osascript ... do script) and relays instructions to it, purely to regain Chrome access. This works but defeats the point of the desktop app's integration.

Repro

1. Open Claude desktop app, start a session, ask it to open any site with Claude in Chrome
2. Observe navigation refused; no approval card ever appears; approved-sites list stays empty
3. From Terminal on the same machine, run claude, give the same instruction — approval prompt appears and everything works

Happy to provide logs/diagnostics if you tell me what to capture.