Apps SDK fullscreen footer overlay blocks widget buttons on narrow desktop windows

ChatGPT Apps SDK
1

I am seeing a hit-testing issue with an Apps SDK widget in ChatGPT fullscreen mode.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Open the widget in fullscreen mode on ChatGPT desktop web.
  2. Place an interactive button near the bottom-left of the widget.
  3. Make the browser window narrower while keeping the desktop layout.
  4. The ChatGPT footer appears with this message:

ChatGPT can make mistakes. Workspace data isn’t used to train models.

Actual behavior:

  • The footer or its transparent container overlaps the widget.
  • The widget button is still visible, but it cannot be clicked.
  • It appears that the ChatGPT host layer receives the pointer event before it reaches the widget iframe.
  • The problem depends on the window width. The button works again on wider windows.

I also tested window.openai.safeArea. The reported bottom inset does not appear to include the complete footer panel or its transparent hit area, so subscribing to changing safe-area values does not prevent the overlap.

Because the widget runs in a sandboxed iframe, it cannot inspect or measure the ChatGPT parent DOM. The only available workaround is to guess a fixed responsive offset or move all bottom controls elsewhere, which is fragile because the host footer size can change.

Expected behavior:

ChatGPT should either report the full blocked area through safeArea, resize the widget’s usable viewport, or avoid intercepting clicks outside the visible footer panel.

Questions:

  • Should window.openai.safeArea.insets.bottom include this footer?
  • Is there another supported API for getting the footer or host-overlay bounds?
  • Is the transparent footer container blocking pointer events outside its visible content a known issue?
2

Hi @CY-Anson,

Sorry for the delayed response, and thanks for the detailed report and reproduction steps. I can see how inconvenient it is when a button remains visible but becomes unclickable because the ChatGPT footer overlaps the widget.

If you're still experiencing this, could you please try a few quick checks?

  • Refresh ChatGPT and test the widget in a new conversation.
  • Try a different browser or an incognito/private window.
  • Check whether the issue occurs at different browser window widths or zoom levels.

If the issue persists, please email support@openai.com from your OpenAI-registered email address with your browser version, approximate window dimensions, and troubleshooting results. A short screen recording showing the footer overlapping the button would also be helpful.

These details will help us narrow down whether the issue is specific to the browser environment or how the ChatGPT host handles the widget's interactive area.

Thanks again for flagging this.

—AJ