bug: Amazon Q Desktop fails during first launch with "Failed to update" (macOS Tahoe 26.4.1)

[Keshav423]

Checks

• I have searched github.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/issues and there are no duplicates of my issue
• I have run q doctor in the affected terminal session
• I have run q restart and replicated the issue again

Operating system

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

Expected behaviour

downloaded the official Amazon Q Desktop DMG from AWS and installed it on a clean macOS system.

On first launch, I expected Amazon Q Desktop to:

1. Start successfully.
2. Show the welcome/sign-in screen.
3. Complete the initial setup.
4. Allow shell integration installation.
5. Allow Accessibility permissions.
6. Start normally without attempting to update immediately.

The application should not fail during its first launch.

Actual behaviour

Immediately after launching Amazon Q Desktop, the application displays:

Amazon Q is updating

followed by:

failed to update

The application then exits.

Launching the application directly from Terminal provides additional information:

Failed to swap app bundle:
Directory not empty (os error 66)

failed to swap app bundle, trying to elevate permissions

Failed to update

The application never reaches the sign-in or onboarding screen.

## **Output of `q doctor`**

```markdown
Unable to run.

The desktop application exits during its first launch before the CLI is available.

Running:

q doctor

is not possible because the `q` command is never installed or exposed.

### Steps to reproduce

1. Download the latest Amazon Q Desktop installer from:

   https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/Amazon%20Q.dmg

2. Mount the DMG.

3. Drag "Amazon Q.app" into the /Applications folder.

4. Launch Amazon Q from Applications (or using `open -a "Amazon Q"`).

5. Instead of displaying the sign-in/onboarding screen, the application immediately starts its self-update process.

6. The updater displays:

   Amazon Q is updating

   followed by:

   failed to update

7. Launching the application directly from Terminal:

   ```bash
   "/Applications/Amazon Q.app/Contents/MacOS/q_desktop"

produces:

Failed to swap app bundle:
Directory not empty (os error 66)

failed to swap app bundle, trying to elevate permissions

Failed to update

8. The application exits before the onboarding or sign-in screen is displayed.

The issue is reproducible every time after a fresh installation.

Environment

Unable to run `q diagnostic` because the issue occurs before the Amazon Q CLI becomes available.

Environment:

- macOS Tahoe 26.4.1
- Apple Silicon (ARM64)
- GNU Bash 5.3.15
- iTerm2
- Fresh installation
- Official installer downloaded from AWS
- No previous Amazon Q installation
- No previous Fig installation

Additional observations:

- Amazon Q launches successfully.
- The application immediately starts its self-update process.
- The updater fails with:


Failed to swap app bundle:
Directory not empty (os error 66)


- The application exits immediately afterward.
- Because the application never completes its first launch, `q`, `q doctor`, `q restart`, and `q diagnostic` are unavailable.