From 9872e9989f5826e47fa8c8ab2782b5cac1f8a8fa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Neil <4138956+nwparker@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 30 May 2026 01:05:13 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Log packaged single-instance lock exits (#3472)

---
 src/main/index.ts                             | 16 +++++++---------
 src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.test.ts | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
 src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.ts      |  7 +++++++
 3 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/main/index.ts b/src/main/index.ts
index 8ba2c81c749..d1d9c5ff7ad 100644
--- a/src/main/index.ts
+++ b/src/main/index.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,10 @@ import {
 import { startFirstWindowStartupServices } from './startup/first-window-startup-services'
 import { getDevInstanceIdentity } from './startup/dev-instance-identity'
 import { hydrateShellPath, mergePathSegments } from './startup/hydrate-shell-path'
-import { acquireSingleInstanceLock } from './startup/single-instance-lock'
+import {
+  acquireSingleInstanceLock,
+  logSingleInstanceLockFailure
+} from './startup/single-instance-lock'
 import { RateLimitService } from './rate-limits/service'
 import { getInitialClaudeRateLimitTarget } from './rate-limits/claude-rate-limit-target'
 import { getInitialCodexRateLimitTarget } from './rate-limits/codex-rate-limit-target'
@@ -273,14 +276,9 @@ function getExpectedTeardownScope(webContentsId?: number): ExpectedTeardownScope
 const hasSingleInstanceLock =
   is.dev && !isServeMode ? true : acquireSingleInstanceLock(app, focusExistingWindow)
 if (!hasSingleInstanceLock) {
-  if (is.dev) {
-    // Why: packaged runs have no attached console, but dev runs do. Emit a
-    // single line so a `pnpm dev` operator does not mistake a silent exit
-    // for a broken launcher.
-    console.log(
-      '[single-instance] Another Orca instance is already running against this userData path — focusing existing window.'
-    )
-  }
+  // Why: if Electron returns a false negative here, packaged macOS launches
+  // otherwise look like silent crashes. `open --stderr` can capture this line.
+  logSingleInstanceLockFailure()
   app.quit()
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.test.ts b/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.test.ts
index 4b1fe7a1c12..5b917f6ac4d 100644
--- a/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 import type { App } from 'electron'
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
-import { acquireSingleInstanceLock } from './single-instance-lock'
+import {
+  acquireSingleInstanceLock,
+  logSingleInstanceLockFailure,
+  SINGLE_INSTANCE_LOCK_FAILURE_MESSAGE
+} from './single-instance-lock'
 
 type Listener = (...args: unknown[]) => void
 
@@ -65,3 +69,14 @@ describe('acquireSingleInstanceLock', () => {
     expect(onSecondInstance).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
   })
 })
+
+describe('logSingleInstanceLockFailure', () => {
+  it('emits a production-visible diagnostic for the early quit path', () => {
+    const logger = { error: vi.fn() }
+
+    logSingleInstanceLockFailure(logger)
+
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(SINGLE_INSTANCE_LOCK_FAILURE_MESSAGE)
+    expect(logger.error.mock.calls[0]?.[0]).toContain('Electron/macOS single-instance lock failure')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.ts b/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.ts
index 0227d454cc0..67a32c54ae5 100644
--- a/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.ts
+++ b/src/main/startup/single-instance-lock.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import type { App } from 'electron'
 
+export const SINGLE_INSTANCE_LOCK_FAILURE_MESSAGE =
+  '[single-instance] Another Orca instance is already running for this userData profile; exiting this launch after requesting the existing window. If no Orca process is running, this may be an Electron/macOS single-instance lock failure.'
+
 /**
  * Why: Orca writes two canonical discovery files into `<userData>/`:
  * `orca-runtime.json` (RPC endpoint + authToken for the bundled CLI) and
@@ -25,3 +28,7 @@ export function acquireSingleInstanceLock(app: App, onSecondInstance: () => void
   app.on('second-instance', onSecondInstance)
   return true
 }
+
+export function logSingleInstanceLockFailure(logger: Pick<Console, 'error'> = console): void {
+  logger.error(SINGLE_INSTANCE_LOCK_FAILURE_MESSAGE)
+}