bug: browser_screenshot has no painted frame in minimized or headless-ish Windows states

What's broken

On Paseo Desktop for Windows, browser_screenshot cannot capture a background Browser tab in some headless-ish or minimized desktop states, although the same tab remains available to DOM/accessibility automation.

Expected: an agent-created background Browser tab remains paintable for screenshots while the Paseo window is inactive or minimized.

Actual in the minimized A/B below:

• browser_wait, browser_snapshot, and browser_evaluate succeeded.
• Two viewport screenshots returned The tab has not painted yet. Retry the screenshot.
• A full-page screenshot timed out after about 15 seconds.
• Restoring and foregrounding only the Paseo window, then repeating with a fresh background tab, made both viewport screenshots and the full-page screenshot succeed immediately.

No display, power, driver, or remote-access setting was changed between the failed minimized run and the successful restored run.

Possibly relevant prior work: #2907 says inactive tabs use a permanent paintable surface and reports first-attempt minimized-window captures, but its real-Electron QA was performed on macOS. This report is from Windows.

Direct test matrix

Steps to reproduce

1. Run Paseo Desktop 0.5.2 on Windows with Browser tools enabled. The test machine used a local console session, not RDP.
2. Confirm the Windows display remains active, then minimize the Paseo window.
3. From an agent, create a background tab with browser_new_tab({ url: "https://example.com" }).
4. Wait for the URL, take a snapshot, and evaluate the page state.
5. Call browser_screenshot({ fullPage: false }) twice, then browser_screenshot({ fullPage: true }).
6. Restore and foreground the Paseo window without changing other system settings.
7. Create another background https://example.com tab and repeat step 4 and step 5.

Raw page state in both the failed and successful A/B runs:

{
  "readyState": "complete",
  "hidden": false,
  "visibilityState": "visible",
  "innerWidth": 1280,
  "innerHeight": 800,
  "devicePixelRatio": 1,
  "title": "Example Domain",
  "href": "https://example.com/"
}

Failed run, 2026-08-25 08:04 KST:

browser_new_tab: success
browser_wait: URL match succeeded
browser_snapshot: success, title "Example Domain", 9 nodes / 1 ref
browser_evaluate: returned the JSON above
browser_screenshot(fullPage: false): The tab has not painted yet. Retry the screenshot.
browser_screenshot(fullPage: false), retry: The tab has not painted yet. Retry the screenshot.
browser_screenshot(fullPage: true): browser host timeout after about 15 seconds

Successful run after restoring/foregrounding Paseo, 2026-08-25 08:09 KST:

browser_new_tab: success
browser_wait: URL match succeeded
browser_snapshot: success, title "Example Domain", 9 nodes / 1 ref
browser_evaluate: returned the JSON above
browser_screenshot(fullPage: false): success, 1280x800 PNG
browser_screenshot(fullPage: false), retry: success, 1280x800 PNG
browser_screenshot(fullPage: true): success, 1280x800 PNG

Where did this happen

Desktop (Electron)

Paseo version

0.5.2

OS version

Windows 11 Pro 64-bit, 10.0.26200 (build 26200)

Additional environment:

Session: local console session 1, Active; not RDP
DWM composition: Enabled
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
NVIDIA driver: 591.86 (32.0.15.9186)
Active desktop in the minimized/restored A/B: 2560x1440, 32 bpp
Monitor: Generic Monitor (HDP-V104 HDMI dummy), Present=True
Physical LG monitors: Present=False
ParsecVDA monitor: Present=False
NVIDIA Display Attached: Yes
NVIDIA Display Active: Enabled before and after both sides of the minimized/restored A/B

Agent provider

Codex

Provider configuration

Paseo-provided local browser_* tools. No custom browser host or provider configuration. The provider version was not recorded.

Logs

Windows Electron log: %APPDATA%\Paseo\logs\main.log

The complete log content emitted around the failed and successful A/B consisted of these registration records; no screenshot failure or new DOM-attachment error was logged in either interval:

[2026-08-25 08:04:41.220] [info]  [browser-webview] registered {
  browserId: '0ed4c1ee-e6b1-4f84-b138-58b93bae33cf',
  webContentsId: 7,
  registeredBrowserIds: [ '0ed4c1ee-e6b1-4f84-b138-58b93bae33cf' ]
}
[2026-08-25 08:09:31.948] [info]  [browser-webview] registered {
  browserId: '40444571-bff8-4272-9320-170c02ef633a',
  webContentsId: 8,
  registeredBrowserIds: [ '40444571-bff8-4272-9320-170c02ef633a' ]
}

Screenshots or video

Not attached. This is an agent tool failure rather than a visual rendering defect in the visible UI; the exact tool responses and raw Electron log output are included above.