diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/application-menu.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/application-menu.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..723ee23ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/application-menu.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
+import { configureApplicationMenu } from './application-menu';
+
+describe('desktop application menu', () => {
+  it('removes Electron\'s stock menu from packaged Linux builds', () => {
+    const configuredMenus: null[] = [];
+
+    configureApplicationMenu({
+      setApplicationMenu(menu) {
+        configuredMenus.push(menu);
+      },
+    }, true, 'linux');
+
+    assert.deepEqual(configuredMenus, [null]);
+  });
+
+  it('retains the development menu and native menus on other platforms', () => {
+    for (const scenario of [
+      { isPackaged: false, platform: 'linux' as const },
+      { isPackaged: true, platform: 'darwin' as const },
+      { isPackaged: true, platform: 'win32' as const },
+    ]) {
+      let configured = false;
+      configureApplicationMenu({
+        setApplicationMenu() {
+          configured = true;
+        },
+      }, scenario.isPackaged, scenario.platform);
+      assert.equal(configured, false, JSON.stringify(scenario));
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/application-menu.ts b/apps/desktop/src/application-menu.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..66da24dd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/application-menu.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+type ApplicationMenuController = {
+  setApplicationMenu: (menu: null) => void;
+};
+
+export const configureApplicationMenu = (
+  menu: ApplicationMenuController,
+  isPackaged: boolean,
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform = process.platform,
+): void => {
+  if (isPackaged && platform === 'linux') {
+    menu.setApplicationMenu(null);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main.ts
index 2bdb7f961..4fd7de2b2 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import { lstatSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { isAbsolute, join, relative, resolve } from 'node:path';
 import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
-import { app, BrowserWindow, dialog, ipcMain, net, protocol, safeStorage, screen, session, shell } from 'electron';
+import { app, BrowserWindow, dialog, ipcMain, Menu, net, protocol, safeStorage, screen, session, shell } from 'electron';
 import type { Rectangle } from 'electron';
 import { DESKTOP_RENDERER_ORIGIN } from '@propr/shared';
 import type { SetupActions } from '@propr/local-setup';
+import { configureApplicationMenu } from './application-menu';
 import { DeepLinkDelivery } from './deep-link-delivery';
 import { DesktopCredentialService } from './credential-service';
 import { createDesktopLocalHost } from './desktop-host';
@@ -427,6 +428,7 @@ if (!hasSingleInstanceLock) {
 
   registerProtocolClient();
   void app.whenReady().then(async () => {
+    configureApplicationMenu(Menu, app.isPackaged);
     logger = createDesktopLogger(
       join(app.getPath('logs'), 'desktop.jsonl'),
       () => packagedSmokeEvidence?.write('desktop.log.write_failed'),