Desktop Productization and CLI Reintegration

[ksamaschke]

Objective

Turn the completed desktop migration skeleton into a real installable desktop product while restoring a narrow headless CLI on the shared application-service layer.

Why A New Epic

• Keep Desktop App Migration #140 as the completed migration epic.
• Track the remaining productization work separately so completed migration stories stay historically true.
• Run desktop productization and CLI reintegration as follow-on work under the same architectural direction.

Scope

• Hard cut over desktop runtime from transitional transport fallback behavior to first-class host capabilities.
• Ship real desktop packaging outputs instead of packaging-plan placeholders.
• Wire updater, signing, and release promotion to actual desktop artifacts.
• Define cross-platform desktop certification gates.
• Restore a constrained headless CLI in parallel on the shared application-service layer.

Delivery Rules

• Use process workflow with create -> plan -> run evidence for each execution cycle.
• Use TDD by default for every implementation story.
• Every story must have explicit RED, GREEN, and REFACTOR child work-items.
• Keep git worktree behavior aligned with project policy (dedicated codex/* worktree branches).

Sequence

1. Desktop host capabilities and hard cutover
2. Installable desktop builds and local runtime packaging
3. Updater, signing, and release promotion
4. Desktop acceptance matrix and certification gates
5. Headless CLI on shared application service

Story Checklist

• [RED] Desktop host capabilities and hard cutover #175
• [RED] Installable desktop builds and local runtime packaging #179
• Updater, signing, and release promotion #182
• Desktop acceptance matrix and certification gates #186
• Headless CLI on shared application service #190

Success Criteria

• ICA ships as a proper installable desktop app.
• Desktop runtime no longer depends on browser-era fallback behavior in normal operation.
• Release pipeline publishes actual desktop artifacts.
• CLI automation returns without becoming the primary runtime again.

Tracking

• Type: epic
• Priority: p1

[ksamaschke]

Epic is complete on dev. Story checklist normalized to the delivered set: #175, #179, #182, #186, and #190. Merged evidence: PR #197 delivered updater/signing/release-promotion, PR #198 delivered desktop acceptance/certification gates, and PR #194 delivered the shared-service headless CLI restoration. Closing stale epic.