Desktop Platform Smoke Checklist

Sentinel should not be treated as platform-ready unless Windows and Linux each pass the same baseline verification flow we expect on macOS.

Use this checklist after desktop-verify produces artifacts for a candidate branch, SHA, or tag.

Required Environments

• One real Windows machine.
• One real Linux desktop distro with xdg-open available.
• A real project workspace with Git enabled.
• At least one Codex runtime and one Claude runtime installation available for detection checks.

Core Smoke Checks

Run every check on both Windows and Linux:

1. Install, launch, and update eligibility

• Install the built artifact successfully.
• Launch the app without startup crashes.
• Confirm the updater/settings surface renders without broken state.

2. First run and settings

• Complete first-run onboarding.
• Open settings from the main shell.
• Navigate between core settings sections without header or chrome overlap.

3. Workspace selection and persistence

• Open a real project workspace.
• Restart the app and confirm the previously selected workspace persists.
• Verify the thread list and workspace navigation render cleanly after reopen.

4. Shell and terminal behavior

• Run at least one successful shell tool command in a repo.
• Run one failing command and confirm the error is understandable.
• Open the terminal panel and confirm it starts in the expected shell for the platform.
• Confirm the terminal respects the selected workspace directory.

5. Runtime discovery

• Verify Codex runtime detection works without manually editing app state.
• Verify Claude runtime detection works without manually editing app state.
• Confirm runtime-related errors are actionable when the runtime is missing.

6. Repo and file-manager flows

• Open the current workspace in an external editor target.
• Open a file in an external editor target at a specific line when supported.
• Reveal a file or folder in the platform file manager.
• Open the workspace in a platform terminal target.

7. Chat and approvals

• Create a new thread.
• Verify streaming output appears normally.
• Exercise at least one approval flow.
• Resume an existing thread and confirm state is restored.

8. Visual polish

• Inspect the main shell, sidebar, settings headers, and browser/sidebar surfaces.
• Confirm drag regions do not overlap interactive controls.
• Confirm custom window controls render and behave correctly on Windows/Linux.
• Check there is no clipped text, overlapping chrome, or unusable spacing in the title-bar area.

Release Gate

• A release candidate is blocked if any core smoke check fails on Windows.
• A release candidate is blocked if any core smoke check fails on Linux.
• New features that are knowingly platform-limited must be explicitly called out in the release notes or tracked follow-up issues before shipping.