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Public story · 2026-08-24 · high
Version 0.0.4 fixes a flaw where an unresolved element reference let a blocked click through by default.
Why now: The release notes are the only detailed account of the bug published so far, as of August 24.
OpenBot's v0.0.4 release notes describe a fail-open bug in the project's browser agent. Builders who rely on click-level policy rules to block specific actions couldn't count on those rules when the underlying element lookup failed.
The agent cites an element by a reference id taken from a page snapshot. The server resolves that reference back to a real element, and only then does the policy boundary decide whether the click is allowed. When that lookup failed, the click went through anyway, with the element half of the policy check left empty. A rule written to block a specific target, something like never click anything named submit, never got the element it needed to match against. The default for a missing element was permit, not deny.
A staleness check was supposed to catch expired references before they reached the policy boundary. It compared a reference's snapshot counter against the running process's own counter, rather than the deployment's real state. A process that restarts and reloads a stored snapshot sees its own counter as current even though the deployment underneath it has moved on. That's the exact condition the check was built to catch, and it missed it.
Version 0.0.4 closes both gaps. A failed element lookup now blocks the click instead of defaulting to allow.
Each link below shares sources, entities, or timing with this story.
OpenBot built by CopilotKit / Shared entities / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (OpenBot built by CopilotKit); both cover CopilotKit, GitHub, OpenBot; reported by the same outlet (github.com).
CopilotKit partners with Google / Shared entity: CopilotKit / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (CopilotKit partners with Google); both cover CopilotKit; overlapping topics (browser, click).
CopilotKit partners with Google / Shared entity: GitHub / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (CopilotKit partners with Google); both cover GitHub; earlier GitHub coverage from 2026-08-07.
Linked by a graph relationship (CopilotKit partners with Google); both cover GitHub; earlier GitHub coverage from 2026-07-27.
CopilotKit partners with Google / Shared entity: GitHub / Same source domain / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (CopilotKit partners with Google); both cover GitHub; reported by the same outlet (github.com).
CopilotKit partners with Google / Shared entities / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (CopilotKit partners with Google); both cover GitHub, When; earlier GitHub coverage from 2026-07-07.
OpenBot uses Docker / Shared entity: GitHub / Same source domain / Shared topic / What happened next / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (OpenBot uses Docker); both cover GitHub; reported by the same outlet (github.com).
CopilotKit partners with Google / Shared entity: GitHub / Same source domain / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (CopilotKit partners with Google); both cover GitHub; reported by the same outlet (github.com).