From 4c2803c994cc5278afe775f74ec2bfe5ac361417 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Andr=C3=A9=20Lima?= <me@limwa.pt>
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2026 12:29:33 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] feat(desktop): let distribution packages point at their own
 resources

Distribution packages run the app on a shared Electron, whose
process.resourcesPath is that Electron's own resources directory. The
desktop app then looks there for the GNOME extension, the KDE and Hyprland
capture helpers, the browser-secret helper and the resource monitor, and
finds none of them. T3CODE_DESKTOP_RESOURCES_PATH lets the package name its
own resources directory; unset, nothing changes.

Assisted-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopConfig.ts         |  1 +
 .../src/app/DesktopEnvironment.test.ts        | 21 +++++++++++++++++++
 apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.ts    | 11 +++++++---
 docs/operations/development.md                |  6 ++++++
 4 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopConfig.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopConfig.ts
index 773ea24509cf..16e5c7c1a207 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopConfig.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopConfig.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ export const DesktopConfig = Config.all({
   otlpProtocol: Config.schema(OtlpProtocol, "T3CODE_OTLP_PROTOCOL").pipe(
     Config.withDefault("http/json"),
   ),
+  resourcesPathOverride: trimmedString("T3CODE_DESKTOP_RESOURCES_PATH"),
   appImagePath: trimmedString("APPIMAGE"),
   disableAutoUpdate: optionalBoolean("T3CODE_DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE"),
   mockUpdates: optionalBoolean("T3CODE_DESKTOP_MOCK_UPDATES"),
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.test.ts
index b5aabf253d0f..8f50e397f295 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.test.ts
@@ -155,6 +155,27 @@ describe("DesktopEnvironment", () => {
     }),
   );
 
+  it.effect("reads resources from a distribution package instead of the shared Electron", () =>
+    Effect.gen(function* () {
+      const environment = yield* makeEnvironment(
+        {
+          platform: "linux",
+          isPackaged: true,
+          appPath: "/usr/lib/t3code/app.asar",
+          resourcesPath: "/usr/lib/electron44/resources",
+        },
+        { T3CODE_DESKTOP_RESOURCES_PATH: " /usr/lib/t3code/resources " },
+      );
+
+      assert.equal(environment.resourcesPath, "/usr/lib/t3code/resources");
+      assert.equal(environment.appUpdateYmlPath, "/usr/lib/t3code/resources/app-update.yml");
+      assert.include(
+        environment.resolveResourcePathCandidates("icon.png"),
+        "/usr/lib/t3code/resources/icon.png",
+      );
+    }),
+  );
+
   it.effect("keeps implicit development state separate from production state", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
       const development = yield* makeEnvironment(
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.ts
index beb09bd50a46..ad1d4e1ba4ad 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/DesktopEnvironment.ts
@@ -173,9 +173,16 @@ const make = Effect.fn("desktop.environment.make")(function* (
   });
   const rootDir = path.resolve(input.dirname, "../../..");
   const appRoot = input.isPackaged ? input.appPath : rootDir;
+  // Electron places the resources directory next to its own executable.
+  // Distribution packages that run the app on a shared Electron keep the
+  // app's resources elsewhere and point here instead.
+  const resourcesPath = Option.match(config.resourcesPathOverride, {
+    onNone: () => input.resourcesPath,
+    onSome: (override) => path.resolve(override),
+  });
   const serverRoot =
     input.isPackaged && input.platform === "win32"
-      ? path.join(input.resourcesPath, "server.asar")
+      ? path.join(resourcesPath, "server.asar")
       : appRoot;
   const branding = resolveDesktopAppBranding({
     isDevelopment,
@@ -194,8 +201,6 @@ const make = Effect.fn("desktop.environment.make")(function* (
     Option.getOrElse(config.xdgDataHome, () => path.join(homeDirectory, ".local", "share")),
     "applications",
   );
-  const resourcesPath = input.resourcesPath;
-
   return DesktopEnvironment.of({
     path,
     dirname: input.dirname,
diff --git a/docs/operations/development.md b/docs/operations/development.md
index b7e1b257d0b2..d1ef6c2aa3e0 100644
--- a/docs/operations/development.md
+++ b/docs/operations/development.md
@@ -143,6 +143,12 @@ DMGs default to the host architecture. Use `--arch` to choose another target and
 to retain packaging files for inspection. Run `vp run dist:desktop:artifact --help` for other
 options.
 
+### Distribution packages
+
+Packages that run the app on a shared Electron, such as `electron /usr/lib/t3code/app.asar`, set
+`T3CODE_DESKTOP_RESOURCES_PATH` to the directory holding the app's resources. Otherwise the app
+looks in Electron's own resources directory and finds none of its helpers.
+
 ### Linux AppImage prerequisites
 
 Build on Linux because the browser-secret helper links against the host's libsecret. Install