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build(macos): ship the unsigned build without the App Sandbox (ReleaseUnsigned.entitlements)

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
dart, github-actions, macos, sqlite
Domain
build-system, databases, desktop, security

Research direction

Read release.yml, the Xcode project settings, and the existing macos/Runner/Release.entitlements and ReleaseSigned.entitlements files. First determine how the no-secrets build currently selects entitlements; the issue leaves the sandbox decision open. Done means adding and wiring the chosen unsigned entitlements for CI and local release builds, then verifying Keychain, SQLite reopen, extensions, MCP endpoint, and updater behavior on a Mac.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

enhancement P1 stability

Problem

When the MACOS_* signing secrets are absent (forks, local builds, unsigned releases) the macOS app is built with ad-hoc signing and Release.entitlements, i.e. App Sandbox on. That is a different program from the signed build (ReleaseSigned.entitlements, no sandbox). Inside the sandbox:

  • HOME is ~/Library/Containers/com.queryahub.queryaDesktop/Data; ~/.querya/extensions and themes land in the container, not the real home.
  • Saved SQLite paths are not reopenable after restart (no security-scoped bookmarks); ~/.ssh keys and known_hosts are unreachable.
  • sandbox-exec for extensions cannot be applied from an already sandboxed process.
  • The MCP endpoint file is written to the container's Library/Caches/Querya, while querya-mcp started by an MCP client reads the real ~/Library/Caches/Querya.
  • The in-app updater cannot write to /Applications (see #1587; the app quits and never comes back).
  • Keychain access fails (#1586).

Proposal (recommended)

Add macos/Runner/ReleaseUnsigned.entitlements without the App Sandbox (same hardened-runtime-free set as needed for ad-hoc signing) and use it for the no-secrets path in release.yml and in local release builds, so an unsigned build differs from the signed one only by Gatekeeper.

Alternative: support the sandbox properly (bookmarks, bundled querya-mcp, explicit capability errors). Much more work.

Tasks

  • Decide sandbox vs no sandbox for unsigned builds.
  • New entitlements file and wiring in release.yml / Xcode project (CI step without secrets passes it via CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS).
  • Verify on a Mac: Keychain, SQLite reopen, extensions, MCP endpoint, updater.

Depends on / relates to #1586, #1587, #1591.

Dominant language
Dart
Stars
23
Forks
1
Avg merge
49m
Merged PRs (30d)
496

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