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adk web: Links in chat responses should open in a new tab #4580
Description
Description
When the agent responds with a URL in adk web, clicking it navigates away
from the chat — the user loses their conversation. Links rendered in chat
messages should open in a new browser tab.
Steps to reproduce
adk web --reload_agents- Ask the agent a question that produces a response containing a URL
- Click the link in the rendered chat message
- The browser navigates away from the ADK web UI — the conversation is lost
Expected behavior
External links (http://… / https://…) in chat responses should open in a
new tab (target="_blank") with rel="noopener noreferrer".
Suggested fix
In the Angular web UI component that renders chat messages, add
target="_blank" and rel="noopener noreferrer" to auto-linked URLs.
For example, if links are rendered via Angular's markdown/HTML binding, a
directive or pipe could post-process <a> elements:
// Wherever chat message HTML is rendered:
// Add target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" to external <a> tags
Workaround
We're currently injecting a MutationObserver script into
google/adk/cli/browser/index.html post-install that patches links as they
appear in the DOM. This works but has to be re-applied after every
pip install.
Environment
- adk-python version: latest (pip)
- Browser: Chrome / Safari / Firefox (all affected)
- OS: macOS / Linux
Activity
Sravan1011 commentedon Feb 22, 2026
@Vidon212 Sir can you assign this task to me
surajksharma07 commentedon Feb 22, 2026
@Vidon212 The root cause is in the marked.js
link()renderer bundled atgoogle/adk/cli/browser/main-*.js— it builds<a href="URL">with notargetorrel, so every click navigates in the same tab.Until this lands in adk-web, patch the installed bundle by finding the string
let o='<a href="'+t+'"'in that file and replacing it withlet o='<a href="'+t+'" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"'— a backup copy first is recommended since you'll need to redo this after upgrades.The proper fix belongs in the adk-web Angular markdown component.
Sravan1011 commentedon Feb 23, 2026
so this is issue is solved, have you fixed the angular componenet?
surajksharma07 commentedon Feb 23, 2026
@Sravan1011 The Angular component hasn't been updated yet — the bundle patch is the working workaround for now and it does resolve the UX problem.
surajksharma07 commentedon Feb 23, 2026
@seanzhou1023 Please have a look into it.
Sravan1011 commentedon Feb 23, 2026
So shall we take up the angular problem or the maintainers are going to work on that patch ?
surajksharma07 commentedon Feb 23, 2026
@Sravan1011 If you want to contribute the fix, feel free to open a PR.
Sravan1011 commentedon Feb 23, 2026
hey have you submitted any pr ? if not can you assign me the issue
surajksharma07 commentedon Feb 25, 2026
@wyf7107 PTAL.
surajksharma07 commentedon Feb 25, 2026
@Sravan1011 No PR has been submitted yet.
The actual fix (adding
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"to the link renderer) needs to go into the adk-webrepository's Angular markdown component — not adk-python.
Feel free to open a PR ; the bundle workaround I described confirms exactly where the change needs to happen.
Team is looking more into it.
Vidon212 commentedon Oct 4, 2026
I’ve opened a fix in the adk-web Angular Markdown component: google/adk-web#541
HTTP/HTTPS links now open in a new tab with rel="noopener noreferrer", including links added during streaming. Relative, fragment, and email links retain their existing behavior.
Added regression tests; locally, 781 tests pass and the production build succeeds. The PR is ready for review. Feedback is welcome!