feat(macos): add attach-only launchd override

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,6 +4,23 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 
 ## 2026.1.22 (unreleased)
 
+### Changes
+- Highlight: Lobster optional plugin tool for typed workflows + approval gates. https://docs.clawd.bot/tools/lobster
+- Agents: add identity avatar config support and Control UI avatar rendering. (#1329, #1424) Thanks @dlauer.
+- Memory: prevent CLI hangs by deferring vector probes, adding sqlite-vec/embedding timeouts, and showing sync progress early.
+- Docs: add troubleshooting entry for gateway.mode blocking gateway start. https://docs.clawd.bot/gateway/troubleshooting
+- Docs: add /model allowlist troubleshooting note. (#1405)
+- Docs: add per-message Gmail search example for gog. (#1220) Thanks @mbelinky.
+- UI: show per-session assistant identity in the Control UI. (#1420) Thanks @robbyczgw-cla.
+- Onboarding: remove the run setup-token auth option (paste setup-token or reuse CLI creds instead).
+- Signal: add typing indicators and DM read receipts via signal-cli.
+- MSTeams: add file uploads, adaptive cards, and attachment handling improvements. (#1410) Thanks @Evizero.
+- CLI: add `clawdbot update wizard` for interactive channel selection and restart prompts. https://docs.clawd.bot/cli/update
+- macOS: add attach-only debug toggle + `--attach-only`/`--no-launchd` flag to skip launchd installs.
+
+### Breaking
+- **BREAKING:** Envelope and system event timestamps now default to host-local time (was UTC) so agents don’t have to constantly convert.
+
 ### Fixes
 - BlueBubbles: stop typing indicator on idle/no-reply. (#1439) Thanks @Nicell.
 - Auto-reply: only report a model switch when session state is available. (#1465) Thanks @robbyczgw-cla.

apps/macos/Sources/Clawdbot/DebugSettings.swift

@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ struct DebugSettings: View {
     @State private var modelsError: String?
     private let gatewayManager = GatewayProcessManager.shared
     private let healthStore = HealthStore.shared
+    @State private var launchAgentWriteDisabled = GatewayLaunchAgentManager.isLaunchAgentWriteDisabled()
+    @State private var launchAgentWriteError: String?
     @State private var gatewayRootInput: String = GatewayProcessManager.shared.projectRootPath()
     @State private var sessionStorePath: String = SessionLoader.defaultStorePath
     @State private var sessionStoreSaveError: String?
@@ -47,6 +49,7 @@ struct DebugSettings: View {
             VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 14) {
                 self.header
 
+                self.launchdSection
                 self.appInfoSection
                 self.gatewaySection
                 self.logsSection
@@ -79,6 +82,39 @@ struct DebugSettings: View {
         }
     }
 
+    private var launchdSection: some View {
+        GroupBox("Gateway startup") {
+            VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 8) {
+                Toggle("Attach only (skip launchd install)", isOn: self.$launchAgentWriteDisabled)
+                    .onChange(of: self.launchAgentWriteDisabled) { _, newValue in
+                        self.launchAgentWriteError = GatewayLaunchAgentManager.setLaunchAgentWriteDisabled(newValue)
+                        if self.launchAgentWriteError != nil {
+                            self.launchAgentWriteDisabled = GatewayLaunchAgentManager.isLaunchAgentWriteDisabled()
+                            return
+                        }
+                        if newValue {
+                            Task {
+                                _ = await GatewayLaunchAgentManager.set(
+                                    enabled: false,
+                                    bundlePath: Bundle.main.bundlePath,
+                                    port: GatewayEnvironment.gatewayPort())
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                Text("When enabled, Clawdbot won't install or manage \(gatewayLaunchdLabel). It will only attach to an existing Gateway.")
+                    .font(.caption)
+                    .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
+
+                if let launchAgentWriteError {
+                    Text(launchAgentWriteError)
+                        .font(.caption)
+                        .foregroundStyle(.red)
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     private var header: some View {
         VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 6) {
             Text("Debug")

apps/macos/Sources/Clawdbot/GatewayLaunchAgentManager.swift

@@ -4,11 +4,46 @@ enum GatewayLaunchAgentManager {
     private static let logger = Logger(subsystem: "com.clawdbot", category: "gateway.launchd")
     private static let disableLaunchAgentMarker = ".clawdbot/disable-launchagent"
 
+    private static var disableLaunchAgentMarkerURL: URL {
+        FileManager().homeDirectoryForCurrentUser
+            .appendingPathComponent(self.disableLaunchAgentMarker)
+    }
+
     private static var plistURL: URL {
         FileManager().homeDirectoryForCurrentUser
             .appendingPathComponent("Library/LaunchAgents/\(gatewayLaunchdLabel).plist")
     }
 
+    static func isLaunchAgentWriteDisabled() -> Bool {
+        FileManager().fileExists(atPath: self.disableLaunchAgentMarkerURL.path)
+    }
+
+    static func setLaunchAgentWriteDisabled(_ disabled: Bool) -> String? {
+        let marker = self.disableLaunchAgentMarkerURL
+        if disabled {
+            do {
+                try FileManager().createDirectory(
+                    at: marker.deletingLastPathComponent(),
+                    withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+                if !FileManager().fileExists(atPath: marker.path) {
+                    FileManager().createFile(atPath: marker.path, contents: nil)
+                }
+            } catch {
+                return error.localizedDescription
+            }
+            return nil
+        }
+
+        if FileManager().fileExists(atPath: marker.path) {
+            do {
+                try FileManager().removeItem(at: marker)
+            } catch {
+                return error.localizedDescription
+            }
+        }
+        return nil
+    }
+
     static func isLoaded() async -> Bool {
         guard let loaded = await self.readDaemonLoaded() else { return false }
         return loaded
@@ -66,12 +101,6 @@ enum GatewayLaunchAgentManager {
 }
 
 extension GatewayLaunchAgentManager {
-    private static func isLaunchAgentWriteDisabled() -> Bool {
-        let marker = FileManager().homeDirectoryForCurrentUser
-            .appendingPathComponent(self.disableLaunchAgentMarker)
-        return FileManager().fileExists(atPath: marker.path)
-    }
-
     private static func readDaemonLoaded() async -> Bool? {
         let result = await self.runDaemonCommandResult(
             ["status", "--json", "--no-probe"],

apps/macos/Sources/Clawdbot/GatewayProcessManager.swift

@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ final class GatewayProcessManager {
 
     func ensureLaunchAgentEnabledIfNeeded() async {
         guard !CommandResolver.connectionModeIsRemote() else { return }
+        if GatewayLaunchAgentManager.isLaunchAgentWriteDisabled() {
+            self.appendLog("[gateway] launchd auto-enable skipped (attach-only)\n")
+            self.logger.info("gateway launchd auto-enable skipped (disable marker set)")
+            return
+        }
         let enabled = await GatewayLaunchAgentManager.isLoaded()
         guard !enabled else { return }
         let bundlePath = Bundle.main.bundleURL.path
@@ -308,6 +313,15 @@ final class GatewayProcessManager {
             return
         }
 
+        if GatewayLaunchAgentManager.isLaunchAgentWriteDisabled() {
+            let message = "Launchd disabled; start the Gateway manually or disable attach-only."
+            self.status = .failed(message)
+            self.lastFailureReason = "launchd disabled"
+            self.appendLog("[gateway] launchd disabled; skipping auto-start\n")
+            self.logger.info("gateway launchd enable skipped (disable marker set)")
+            return
+        }
+
         let bundlePath = Bundle.main.bundleURL.path
         let port = GatewayEnvironment.gatewayPort()
         self.appendLog("[gateway] enabling launchd job (\(gatewayLaunchdLabel)) on port \(port)\n")

apps/macos/Sources/Clawdbot/MenuBar.swift

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import Darwin
 import Foundation
 import MenuBarExtraAccess
 import Observation
+import OSLog
 import Security
 import SwiftUI
 
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ import SwiftUI
 struct ClawdbotApp: App {
     @NSApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) private var delegate
     @State private var state: AppState
+    private static let logger = Logger(subsystem: "com.clawdbot", category: "app")
     private let gatewayManager = GatewayProcessManager.shared
     private let controlChannel = ControlChannel.shared
     private let activityStore = WorkActivityStore.shared
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ struct ClawdbotApp: App {
 
     init() {
         ClawdbotLogging.bootstrapIfNeeded()
+        Self.applyAttachOnlyOverrideIfNeeded()
         _state = State(initialValue: AppStateStore.shared)
     }
 
@@ -91,6 +94,22 @@ struct ClawdbotApp: App {
         self.statusItem?.button?.appearsDisabled = paused || sleeping
     }
 
+    private static func applyAttachOnlyOverrideIfNeeded() {
+        let args = CommandLine.arguments
+        guard args.contains("--attach-only") || args.contains("--no-launchd") else { return }
+        if let error = GatewayLaunchAgentManager.setLaunchAgentWriteDisabled(true) {
+            Self.logger.error("attach-only flag failed: \(error, privacy: .public)")
+            return
+        }
+        Task {
+            _ = await GatewayLaunchAgentManager.set(
+                enabled: false,
+                bundlePath: Bundle.main.bundlePath,
+                port: GatewayEnvironment.gatewayPort())
+        }
+        Self.logger.info("attach-only flag enabled")
+    }
+
     private var isGatewaySleeping: Bool {
         if self.state.isPaused { return false }
         switch self.state.connectionMode {

docs/platforms/mac/child-process.md

@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ present. To reset manually:
 rm ~/.clawdbot/disable-launchagent
 ```
 
+## Attach-only mode
+
+To force the macOS app to **never install or manage launchd**, launch it with
+`--attach-only` (or `--no-launchd`). This sets `~/.clawdbot/disable-launchagent`,
+so the app only attaches to an already running Gateway. You can toggle the same
+behavior in Debug Settings.
+
 ## Remote mode
 
 Remote mode never starts a local Gateway. The app uses an SSH tunnel to the