claude-in-chrome: extension disconnects mid-session (after file download) and never reconnects

Summary

The Claude in Chrome extension disconnects suddenly mid-session while automating a multi-step browser task, and does not reconnect automatically. Retrying tool calls (including tabs_context_mcp) keeps returning "Browser extension is not connected".

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro (10.0.26200)
• Claude Code CLI (win32), model: Fable 5
• Chrome with Claude in Chrome extension, logged into claude.ai

What happened

During an automation session against Google Cloud Console (OAuth client setup — heavy SPA pages):

1. Several computer screenshot calls intermittently failed with:

CDP sendCommand "Page.captureScreenshot" timed out after 30000ms on tab <id>. The renderer may be frozen or unresponsive. (retry succeeded)

1. Right after clicking a "Download JSON" link (file download started), the next tool call failed with:

The "computer" tool call failed because the Chrome extension disconnected mid-operation.

1. From that point on, every call — navigate, computer, and tabs_context_mcp with createIfEmpty: true — returned:

Browser extension is not connected. Please ensure the Claude browser extension is installed and running...

1. The extension did not recover on its own during the session (no Chrome restart, no logout).

Expected

The extension should survive a file download / service-worker restart and reconnect automatically, or tabs_context_mcp should be able to re-establish the connection.

Notes

• The disconnect correlated with a file download triggered by a click.
• Earlier in the same session there were repeated Page.captureScreenshot CDP timeouts on Google Cloud Console tabs, suggesting the tab/service worker was under stress before the drop.