Desktop launches can inherit a sparse GUI environment, while user runtimes such as nvm and Homebrew are often initialized from shell startup files. Capture a bounded login+interactive shell environment once and reuse it for desktop CLI sessions, scheduled tasks, and MCP stdio startup while keeping explicit MCP PATH and provider-managed env overrides authoritative.
Constraint: macOS app launches may omit user shell PATH and exported runtime variables
Rejected: Patch only MCP stdio | leaves normal desktop sessions and scheduled tasks inconsistent
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Directive: Keep provider/OAuth scrubbing after shell env merging when changing child env builders
Tested: bun test src/utils/terminalShellEnvironment.test.ts src/utils/mcpStdioEnvironment.test.ts src/server/services/mcpHostPreflight.test.ts src/server/__tests__/conversation-service.test.ts src/server/__tests__/cron-scheduler-launcher.test.ts src/server/__tests__/mcp.test.ts
Tested: bun run check:server
Tested: bun run check:coverage
Tested: bun run verify
Not-tested: Real desktop UI live-model smoke on an installed .app
The desktop Settings flow needed a real shell for bundled CLI setup, but the
restart path could hang behind old PTY teardown. Wire an xterm.js panel to a
portable-pty backend, inject the bundled CLI into the shell bootstrap, and
switch to the new session before cleaning up the previous one so restart work
stays off the frontend critical path.
Constraint: The desktop app must ship its own CLI entrypoint instead of depending on a global Claude install
Constraint: PTY teardown must not block the Tauri invoke path
Rejected: Reuse the install chat for arbitrary shell commands | it does not provide a real interactive PTY
Rejected: Close the old PTY before adopting the new session | it keeps restart vulnerable to hung child shutdown
Confidence: medium
Scope-risk: moderate
Reversibility: clean
Directive: Keep PTY teardown off the invoke path and preserve session handoff ordering when changing terminal lifecycle code
Tested: bunx vitest run src/__tests__/terminalPanel.test.tsx src/components/settings/TerminalPanel.restart.test.tsx; bun run lint; cargo check
Not-tested: End-to-end command echo inside the packaged desktop terminal still needs follow-up runtime verification
