Desktop app — testing notes

Startup flow

The desktop app is a thin shell over a running ZeroClaw web gateway. There is no longer a macOS/Windows/Linux permission-setup wizard — the app goes straight to the gateway, and first-time setup happens in the web Quickstart.

On launch:

1. A small splash window (apps/tauri/splash/index.html) appears and polls the gateway's /health (via the get_health IPC command) every ~1.2s.
2. Once the gateway is healthy, the splash calls the open_dashboard command, which pairs with the gateway (when pairing is required), creates the main window pointed at the gateway root (http://127.0.0.1:42617/), seeds the bearer token via an initialization script, and closes the splash.
3. The web app's fresh-install redirect (FreshInstallRedirect in web/src/App.tsx) sends first-time users — no agents yet, Quickstart never completed — to /quickstart. Returning users land on the dashboard.

The app looks for a gateway on 127.0.0.1:42617: it reuses a running daemon, or spawns zeroclaw daemon itself (preferring a kernel bundled next to the app executable, then PATH and the common install dirs — see src/daemon.rs::find_zeroclaw_binary). The self-contained installer below bundles the kernel as a Tauri sidecar — the "full experience" distribution from architecture RFC fnd-001, D5.

Run zeroclaw daemon, not zeroclaw gateway start. Both serve the dashboard on 42617, but only the daemon attaches the supervisor that powers in-place reload. After the Quickstart applies config it calls /admin/reload; a standalone gateway start has no supervisor and returns 503 "no daemon supervisor — running as standalone gateway", so the new agent won't go live until the process is restarted. The daemon hot-reloads instead.

Self-contained build (bundled kernel)

The plain cargo tauri build produces an app that finds an installed zeroclaw. To produce the zero-install artifact — double-click on a machine with nothing pre-installed and get a running agent — bundle the kernel as a sidecar:

# 1. Build (or reuse) the kernel and stage it for the bundler.
scripts/desktop/prepare-kernel.sh                          # host triple
scripts/desktop/prepare-kernel.sh --target universal-apple-darwin  # mac universal
# Reuse an existing kernel instead of rebuilding (single-target only):
ZEROCLAW_KERNEL_PATH=~/.cargo/bin/zeroclaw scripts/desktop/prepare-kernel.sh

# 2. Bundle with the sidecar overlay (adds bundle.externalBin).
cd apps/tauri && cargo tauri build --config tauri.bundled.conf.json

The overlay keeps the default config untouched, so cargo tauri build without the staged kernel keeps working. Tauri places the sidecar next to the app executable as zeroclaw, which is the first place find_zeroclaw_binary() looks — so the bundled app starts its own daemon from its own kernel.

To verify self-containment, launch on a machine (or shell) where zeroclaw is not on PATH and not in ~/.cargo/bin, then check the daemon's process path points inside the app bundle:

pgrep -fl 'zeroclaw daemon'   # expect .../ZeroClaw.app/Contents/MacOS/zeroclaw

Size note: the kernel dominates the artifact. A stripped release kernel is ~146 MB per arch (~55–65 MB compressed dmg); a universal (two-slice) kernel roughly doubles that. The unstripped dev kernel is ~228 MB — always let prepare-kernel.sh strip it.

macOS (current target)

Reset to fresh-install state

pkill -f 'target/debug/zeroclaw-desktop'
rm "$HOME/Library/Application Support/ai.zeroclawlabs.desktop/settings.json"
killall Dock                                   # if dock icon looks stale
bash dev/run-tauri-dev.sh

To exercise the full first-run path, also reset the gateway's config so the Quickstart auto-launches (the gateway reports quickstart_completed=false and an empty agents list via GET /api/quickstart/state).

For a real installed-bundle test:

cd apps/tauri && cargo tauri build
cp -R target/release/bundle/macos/ZeroClaw.app /Applications/
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ZeroClaw.app
open /Applications/ZeroClaw.app

What to verify

• With no gateway running: splash shows "Connecting to your ZeroClaw gateway…" and, after a few seconds, the "make sure the gateway is running" hint. The tray icon shows Disconnected.
• Start the daemon (cargo run -p zeroclaw -- daemon, or zeroclaw daemon): within ~1–2s the splash hands off — the dashboard window opens, splash closes.
• First run (fresh gateway config): the dashboard opens straight onto the Quickstart; completing it configures an agent and the gateway becomes usable. After completion, relaunching the app lands on the dashboard.
• Returning run (agent already configured): the dashboard opens on the normal dashboard, not the Quickstart.
• Quit from the tray → relaunch → splash → dashboard again (tray icon persists in the menu bar).

Agent capabilities still present (not part of setup)

• take_screenshot (gated by the Screen Recording TCC check in apps/tauri/src/macos/permissions.rs::check_screen_recording)
• run_applescript (gated by the Automation TCC prompt)

These are invoked by the agent/dashboard at runtime; macOS shows its own native permission prompt the first time each is used. There is no in-app wizard for them anymore.

Linux / Windows

The app builds and runs the same splash → gateway → Quickstart flow. Bundle targets are unchanged (.deb/.AppImage on Linux, .exe/.msi on Windows). Screen capture and AppleScript capabilities remain macOS-only; the other platforms simply don't register them.

How to build

cd apps/tauri
cargo tauri build          # native build on each platform
# Or cross-compile with the appropriate target + toolchain:
#   cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
#   cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

CI matrix to add (separate issue)

# Suggested when #6501 lands — run all three at minimum on cargo check
matrix:
  os: [macos-14, ubuntu-22.04, windows-2022]