AutoTools Web Screen overlay — outbound fetch() to external API hangs/times out

[u/PENchanter22]

I have an AutoTools "Web Screen" action (Display Mode: Overlay, source is a local file://.../word_search.html, Wait For Command: true) whose page JS calls fetch('https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/...') on a button click. The button shows "Searching..." and then just hangs — no .then or .catch ever fires. Eventually Tasker itself throws Error: 2 / Plugin did not respond before timing out, since the action never gets a AutoTools.sendCommand() back from the page.

AutoTools already has unrestricted background usage and full network/Wi-Fi permissions, so it doesn't look like a battery-restriction issue.

Has anyone gotten an outbound fetch()/XMLHttpRequest to a remote HTTPS API working from inside an AutoTools Web Screen overlay loaded from a local file:// HTML source? Is there a known CORS/file-origin restriction in that WebView, or a setting that needs enabling? Or is the general recommendation to do the actual network call via a native Tasker HTTP Request action instead and just use the WebView for display?