fix: open an approval window while another one has focus (closes #290)

The background centred each approval window on the last focused window,
which could be an earlier approval window still open; headless Chrome
reports one as 1280x720, the browser refused the resulting position, and
the request failed with no window. It now centres only on a browser
window, and when the browser refuses a position it asks again without one.

In the Chrome suite a test could raise its prompt while the previous
test's window was still closing. After a passed test the runner now gives
approval windows five seconds to close and fails the test if one is still
open; after a failed test it closes them.

Model: opus-5-5

README.md

@@ -381,11 +381,13 @@ handler on a reserved-TLD origin, gets `window.ethereum` from the shipped
 the runner and compared against the active address, the transaction assertions
 run against the raw signed transaction captured at `eth_sendRawTransaction`
 rather than against anything the extension reported, rejecting each prompt is
-required to return a rejection to the page rather than hang or resolve, and the
+required to return a rejection to the page rather than hang or resolve, a prompt
-password is required to be absent from every message the approval window sends
+raised while another approval window has focus is required to open a window of
-to the background — with the message that would carry it required to be present,
+its own, and the password is required to be absent from every message the
-so that check cannot pass by observing nothing. That last one is the standing
+approval window sends to the background — with the message that would carry it
-floor under [#157](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/157).
+required to be present, so that check cannot pass by observing nothing. That
+last one is the standing floor under
+[#157](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/157).
 
 Two limits of that coverage, neither of them papered over. The RPC is stubbed
 throughout, so this is **not** a real dApp against a real network with real
@@ -619,12 +621,9 @@ The jobs **report, they do not gate.** A failure is a red mark against the
 commit that a reviewer has to account for, not a hard block: whether a check
 blocks a merge is Gitea branch protection, which this repo does not configure.
 
-That is not only a statement about configuration. A report of the Chrome suite
+That is not only a statement about configuration. No report of the Chrome suite
-**failing under load** is still open:
+**failing under load** is open now, but it has failed that way before, so a red
-[#290](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/290), runs on a busy machine
+`e2e-chrome` is read before it is believed. Do not answer one with a retry
-failing with `the extension opened no approval window within 30000ms`. So a red
-`e2e-chrome` has to be read before it is believed, and those failures are the
-blocker to ever making this a required check. Do not answer them with a retry
 wrapper: a suite that reruns until it is green stops being evidence.
 
 Nothing in either job can pass vacuously. There is no `continue-on-error` and no
@@ -1958,7 +1957,9 @@ view would leave a wallet one click from deletion.
   `eth_sendTransaction` arriving while one is unanswered is refused with
   EIP-1193 code `-32002` rather than being populated at the same nonce. It opens
   no window and takes no nonce, and the site can send it again once the pending
-  one is answered.
+  one is answered. The window is centred on the browser window the user was last
+  in; if that was another approval window, or the browser refuses the centred
+  position, the browser picks the position.
 - **Elements**:
     - "Transaction Request" heading
     - Phishing warning banner (shown when the hostname is on the phishing

TODO.md

@@ -45,6 +45,20 @@ but the review is broader than any of them.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-10-05: A prompt raised while another approval window has focus opens a
+  window of its own ([#290](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/290)).
+  The background centred each approval window on the last focused window, which
+  could be an earlier approval window still open; headless Chrome reports one as
+  1280x720, so the new window came out where the browser refused to create it,
+  and the request failed with no window at all. It now centres only on a browser
+  window, and when the browser refuses the position it asks again without one
+  and lets the browser place the window. In the Chrome end-to-end suite a test
+  could raise its prompt while the previous test's window was still closing, and
+  then either hit that refusal or take the closing window for its own. After a
+  test that passed, the runner now waits a few seconds for approval windows to
+  close and fails the test if one is still open; after a test that failed, it
+  closes them.
+
 - 2026-10-05: The Send screen has a "Max" button
   ([#198](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/198)). Emptying an ETH
   address took guessing an amount and being refused by the confirmation screen's

src/background/index.js

@@ -437,7 +437,13 @@ async function openApprovalWindow(id) {
         width: popupWidth,
         height: popupHeight,
     };
-    if (currentWin) {
+    // Centred on a browser window only. The last focused window can be
+    // another approval window still open, and centring on one can give a
+    // position the browser refuses ("Bounds must be at least 50% within
+    // visible screen space"): headless Chrome reports this 360x600 popup as
+    // 1280x720. The request then failed with no window at all. Over a popup,
+    // the browser picks the position.
+    if (currentWin && currentWin.type === "normal") {
         opts.left = Math.round(
             currentWin.left + (currentWin.width - popupWidth) / 2,
         );
@@ -455,10 +461,23 @@ async function openApprovalWindow(id) {
         win = await windowsCreate(opts);
     } catch (e) {
         // The promise namespace reports the failure by rejecting where the
-        // callback namespace reported it by handing back no window; both land
+        // callback namespace reported it by handing back no window; both
-        // on the !win branch below, which settles the approval.
+        // leave win null.
         log.errorf("could not open the approval window:", e);
     }
+    // The browser also refuses a centred position that is too far off screen,
+    // as it is over a browser window near the screen edge. Asked again
+    // without a position, it places the window itself. If that fails too,
+    // the !win branch below settles the approval.
+    if (!win && opts.left !== undefined) {
+        delete opts.left;
+        delete opts.top;
+        try {
+            win = await windowsCreate(opts);
+        } catch (e) {
+            log.errorf("could not open the approval window:", e);
+        }
+    }
 
     const approval = pendingApprovals[id];
     if (!approval) {

tests/backgroundApproval.test.js

@@ -267,9 +267,22 @@ function loadBackground(options) {
             lastError: null,
         },
         windows: {
-            getLastFocused: (cb) => cb(null),
+            getLastFocused: (cb) => cb(opts.lastFocused || null),
             create: (options2, cb) => {
-                created.push(options2);
+                // A copy, as the browser takes it at the call: the background
+                // reuses the object when it asks a second time.
+                created.push({ ...options2 });
+                // A browser that refuses any position it is given, as Chrome
+                // does for one it judges too far off screen.
+                if (opts.refusePosition && options2.left !== undefined) {
+                    global.chrome.runtime.lastError = {
+                        message:
+                            "Invalid value for bounds. Bounds must be at least 50% within visible screen space.",
+                    };
+                    cb(undefined);
+                    global.chrome.runtime.lastError = null;
+                    return;
+                }
                 // A browser that answers with no window at all. The approval
                 // then has no window it can ever be answered in.
                 cb(opts.noWindow ? undefined : { id: created.length });
@@ -2716,3 +2729,77 @@ describe("removing a site in Settings disconnects it", () => {
         expect(await siteAccounts(bg)).toEqual({ result: [signer.address] });
     });
 });
+
+// An approval window still open is often the last focused window, and headless
+// Chrome reports one as 1280x720. Centred on that, the next approval window
+// lands where the browser refuses to create it, and its request failed with no
+// window at all (https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/290).
+describe("where an approval window opens", () => {
+    test("centred on the browser window the user was last in", async () => {
+        const bg = loadBackground({
+            lastFocused: {
+                type: "normal",
+                left: 0,
+                top: 0,
+                width: 1280,
+                height: 720,
+            },
+        });
+
+        bg.requestSign();
+        await settle();
+
+        expect(bg.created).toHaveLength(1);
+        expect(bg.created[0]).toMatchObject({ left: 460, top: 60 });
+    });
+
+    test("not centred on an approval window the user was last in", async () => {
+        const bg = loadBackground({
+            lastFocused: {
+                type: "popup",
+                left: 440,
+                top: 0,
+                width: 1280,
+                height: 720,
+            },
+        });
+
+        bg.requestSign();
+        await settle();
+
+        // Centred, it would be at left 900, the position the browser refused.
+        expect(bg.created).toHaveLength(1);
+        expect(bg.created[0].left).toBeUndefined();
+        expect(bg.created[0].top).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    test("placed by the browser when it refuses the centred position", async () => {
+        const bg = loadBackground({
+            refusePosition: true,
+            lastFocused: {
+                type: "normal",
+                left: 1500,
+                top: 900,
+                width: 400,
+                height: 300,
+            },
+        });
+
+        const sign = bg.requestSign();
+        await settle();
+
+        expect(bg.created).toHaveLength(2);
+        expect(bg.created[0]).toMatchObject({ left: 1520, top: 750 });
+        expect(bg.created[1].left).toBeUndefined();
+        expect(bg.created[1].top).toBeUndefined();
+
+        // The request waits on the second window rather than failing:
+        // closing that window is refusing the prompt.
+        expect(sign.result()).toBeNull();
+        bg.closeWindow(2);
+        await settle();
+        expect(sign.result()).toEqual({
+            error: { code: 4001, message: "User rejected the request." },
+        });
+    });
+});

tests/e2e/run.js

@@ -2676,7 +2676,9 @@ function dappMessages(page, type) {
 
 // The approval window the background opened. Approvals are raised from an
 // RPC call rather than from a user gesture, so the extension opens a real
-// popup window for them; it is an ordinary page in this context.
+// popup window for them; it is an ordinary page in this context. It is the
+// first one found: no test starts with an approval window open (see main()),
+// so within a test it can only be this test's.
 async function waitForApprovalWindow(ctx, timeout = 30000) {
     const deadline = Date.now() + timeout;
     for (;;) {
@@ -3633,6 +3635,55 @@ test("eth_sendTransaction rejected broadcasts nothing (#183)", async (env) => {
     );
 });
 
+// The extension used to centre every approval window on the last focused
+// window. Centred on another approval window, the new one landed where the
+// browser refused to create it, and the request failed with no window at all
+// (https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/290).
+test("a prompt raised while another approval window has focus opens its own (#290)", async (env) => {
+    await startRequest(env.dapp, "focus-sign", "personal_sign", [
+        SIGN_HEX,
+        env.expectedAddress,
+    ]);
+    const signWindow = await waitForApprovalWindow(env.ctx);
+    await visible(signWindow, "#view-approve-sign");
+    await signWindow.bringToFront();
+    const focused = await env.page.evaluate(
+        () =>
+            new Promise((resolve) => {
+                chrome.windows.getLastFocused((w) => resolve(w.type));
+            }),
+    );
+    assert(
+        focused === "popup",
+        "the sign window does not have focus, so this proves nothing: the " +
+            "last focused window is a " +
+            focused,
+    );
+
+    const opened = env.ctx.waitForEvent("page");
+    await startRequest(env.dapp, "focus-tx", "eth_sendTransaction", [
+        {
+            from: env.expectedAddress,
+            to: STUB_COUNTERPARTY,
+            value: toQuantity(TX_VALUE_WEI),
+            data: TX_DATA,
+        },
+    ]);
+    const txWindow = await opened.catch(async () => {
+        const outcome = await settleRequest(env.dapp, "focus-tx", 1000);
+        throw new Error(
+            "the extension opened no window for the transaction: " +
+                JSON.stringify(outcome),
+        );
+    });
+    await visible(txWindow, "#view-approve-tx");
+
+    // Closing a window is refusing its prompt, so both answer 4001.
+    await closeApprovalPages(env.ctx);
+    await assertUserRejection(env.dapp, "focus-tx", "the transaction prompt");
+    await assertUserRejection(env.dapp, "focus-sign", "the sign prompt");
+});
+
 // The closing pass over both boundaries at once. Every message the section
 // put on either channel is re-read here and required to be free of the
 // password — and required to be there at all, method by method, so the
@@ -4002,6 +4053,36 @@ async function main() {
             failure = e.message;
         }
 
+        // No test starts with an approval window open. One that closes itself,
+        // after a signature or on Reject, can still be closing when the next
+        // test raises its prompt, and waitForApprovalWindow() would take it
+        // for the new one. After a test that passed, its windows get five
+        // seconds to close, and one still open then fails the test: it should
+        // have closed itself, and closing it here unreported would hide that.
+        // After a test that already failed, they are closed unreported, so
+        // that a prompt it left unanswered does not refuse the next one from
+        // its site.
+        if (!failure) {
+            const deadline = Date.now() + 5000;
+            let open;
+            for (;;) {
+                open = env.ctx
+                    .pages()
+                    .filter(
+                        (p) => !p.isClosed() && p.url().includes("?approval="),
+                    );
+                if (open.length === 0 || Date.now() > deadline) break;
+                await sleep(50);
+            }
+            if (open.length > 0) {
+                failure =
+                    "an approval window was still open 5000ms after the " +
+                    "test: " +
+                    open.map((p) => p.url()).join(", ");
+            }
+        }
+        await closeApprovalPages(env.ctx);
+
         // Any uncaught page error, console.error or unstubbed request
         // fails the test that provoked it, whether or not its assertions
         // passed. This is the mechanism that caught #150.