[BUG] Claude in Chrome: character keystrokes silently dropped — clicks, modifier combos and paste all work

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Claude in Chrome computer actions type and single-character key return success but
never reach the page. Non-character keys and modifier combinations work normally.
Not site-specific and not iframe-specific.

Environment: Claude in Chrome extension v1.0.93 · Windows 10 Pro 19045 ·
extension site access "On all sites" · used from Claude desktop (Cowork)
(Note: this is the Chrome extension, not the Claude Code CLI.)

REPRODUCTION (plain same-origin page, no iframe):

1. Navigate to https://duckduckgo.com
2. left_click the search box — click lands; document.activeElement is TEXTAREA[name=q]
3. type with text "hello typing test" → returns "Typed hello typing test"
4. Read textarea.value via javascript_tool → "" (length 0)
5. key press "a" → returns success → value still ""

WORKS: left_click · navigate · javascript_tool · Ctrl+V · Ctrl+Z · Escape · arrow keys
FAILS SILENTLY: type (any text) · key with a character such as "a"

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Also reproduces in Google Sheets. Typing a multi-character string there opened the

cell editor but inserted no characters, consistent with the first keystroke being
consumed as focus and the remainder dropped.

• Persisted through page reload, Chrome restart, full PC restart, and extension

toggle off/on.

• Every call returned success. No error at any point.

IMPACT: any browser task requiring text entry fails silently while reporting success.
In my case this caused data loss in a Google Sheet — pastes appeared to apply, Ctrl+Z
appeared to undo, and neither actually took effect, which was only discoverable by
reading the document back through a separate channel.

What Should Happen?

Characters sent via type and via key should appear in the focused input, exactly as
they do when typed by a person. If they cannot be delivered, the call should return an
error rather than reporting success.

Error Messages/Logs

Troubleshooting already performed, none of which changed the behaviour:
- Page reload and hard navigation
- Closing and reopening the browser tab
- Full Chrome restart
- Full PC restart
- Extension toggled off and back on (service worker restart)
- Verified extension permissions were not downgraded

Ruled out: issue #85779 (keyboard input not reaching cross-origin iframes). That one is
specific to OOPIFs; this reproduces on a plain same-origin textarea with no iframe involved.

Impact note: because the calls report success, an agent cannot detect the failure from the
tool response. In my case this caused real data loss — spreadsheet pastes appeared to
apply and Ctrl+Z appeared to undo them, but neither took effect. The damage was only
visible by reading the document back through a separate channel (the sheet's CSV export)
rather than through the browser tools themselves.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a new tab and navigate to https://duckduckgo.com
2. Use computer left_click on the search box.

Confirm focus via javascript_tool: document.activeElement is TEXTAREA[name="q"]

1. Use computer type with text: hello typing test

The call returns successfully: 'Typed "hello typing test"'

1. Read the field back via javascript_tool:

document.querySelector('textarea[name="q"]').value
Result: "" (empty string, length 0)

1. Use computer key with text: a

The call returns successfully: 'Pressed 1 key: a'

1. Read the field again — still "" (empty)

Same result in Google Sheets: clicking a cell works, typing a cell reference into the
name box does nothing, and typing into a cell opens the editor but inserts no characters.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

N/A — this is the Claude in Chrome extension v1.0.93, used from the Claude desktop app in Cowork mode, not the Claude Code CLI.

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_