LanMountainDesktop/.trae/specs/launcher-managed-air-app-lifecycle/spec.md

Launcher Managed Air APP Lifecycle

Goal

Make Launcher the authoritative lifecycle manager for built-in Air APP processes. The desktop host requests Air APP operations through IPC, while Launcher creates, activates, tracks, and cleans up Air APP host processes.

Behavior

• Launcher exposes IAirAppLifecycleService on the dedicated LanMountainDesktop.Launcher.AirApp.v1 pipe.
• Desktop host calls Launcher IPC for world-clock and whiteboard; it does not directly start LanMountainDesktop.AirAppHost.
• If the dedicated pipe is unavailable, the desktop host starts Launcher with the hidden air-app-broker --requester-pid <pid> command and retries the Air APP request.
• air-app-broker starts only the Air APP lifecycle IPC broker. It bypasses OOBE, Splash, debug preview windows, and normal desktop launch orchestration.
• Launcher keeps one Air APP process per {appId}:{sourceComponentId}:{sourcePlacementId} key.
• AirAppHost receives Launcher pipe and instance key at startup, registers after the window opens, and unregisters on close.
• Launcher remains alive while the main desktop process or any Air APP process is alive.
• Broker mode remains alive while the requester desktop process or any Air APP process is alive; after both are gone, it exits.

Out of Scope

• Third-party plugin-declared Air APP metadata.
• Cross-machine IPC.
• Persisting the Air APP instance table across OS reboot.