Desktop portable mode depends on CLI-driven installs using the same filesystem root as the app. The installed terminal launcher now carries CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR into macOS/Linux shell invocations and uses a Windows cmd wrapper so plugin, skill, and MCP operations do not fall back to the native home config. Moved portable bundles also rebase cached plugin install paths when the cache exists under the current config root.
Constraint: Desktop portable bundles are file-system based and must survive zip/unzip relocation.
Rejected: Copy the sidecar binary directly into user bin | it cannot inject the selected portable config directory for future CLI installs.
Rejected: Rewrite plugin install paths unconditionally | missing cache directories should remain visible as broken state instead of being silently retargeted.
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Keep desktop launcher wrappers as env-carrying sh/cmd files; do not revert to raw sidecar copies without portable install verification.
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/desktop-cli-launcher.test.ts src/utils/plugins/installedPluginsManager.test.ts
Tested: cargo test portable --manifest-path desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: bun run check:native
Tested: macOS launcher fixture plus Computer Use Finder verification of portable marker output.
Not-tested: Windows physical desktop execution; Windows wrapper behavior is covered by unit test only.
The desktop app exposed the bundled sidecar directly as the user shell command, which could be suspended by macOS job control when the interactive TUI read from the controlling terminal. Unix installs now write a lightweight launcher wrapper, using a nested PTY on macOS interactive terminals while preserving direct exec behavior for non-interactive commands and Windows binaries.
Constraint: Bundled desktop sidecars must remain usable from user terminals without requiring a separate CLI installation
Rejected: Copy the Bun sidecar directly on macOS | interactive TUI startup can suspend with SIGTTIN
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Do not remove the macOS PTY wrapper without testing interactive TUI startup in a real terminal
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/desktop-cli-launcher.test.ts
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: claude-haha --version
Tested: Real TTY interactive launch no longer printed suspended tty input
The desktop app already shipped a bundled sidecar, but only desktop-managed
sessions could see it. This change installs a `claude-haha` launcher into the
user bin directory, wires PATH setup so new terminals can resolve it, and keeps
desktop installer sessions aligned on the same bundled sidecar resolution path.
The desktop install surface now also reports whether the launcher is ready or
still waiting on a terminal restart.
Constraint: The worktree already contains unrelated icon, docs, and UI changes, so this commit stages only the bundled CLI launcher slice
Rejected: Tell users to install the official Claude CLI separately | it breaks the desktop out-of-box install story
Rejected: Keep the bundled CLI reachable only inside desktop-managed shells | system terminals would still be unable to call the packaged runtime
Rejected: Symlink directly into the app bundle instead of copying to user bin | moving or replacing the app bundle would leave a stale launcher behind
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Reversibility: clean
Directive: Proxy-backed non-Anthropic providers still depend on the desktop server; do not assume this launcher makes every provider fully standalone
Tested: bun test src/server/__tests__/desktop-cli-launcher.test.ts src/server/__tests__/settings.test.ts; bun test src/server/__tests__/conversation-service.test.ts; bun test src/utils/shell/bashProvider.test.ts; cd desktop && bun x vitest run sidecars/launcherRouting.test.ts src/components/settings/InstallCenter.test.tsx; cd desktop && bun run lint; cd desktop && bun run build; cargo check --manifest-path desktop/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
Not-tested: Manual packaged desktop app install plus real Terminal/iTerm/PowerShell invocation on fresh macOS and Windows machines
