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fix(desktop): reveal main window only after first React commit - #599
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The BrowserWindow showed immediately (show: true) while React mount waits on the onboarding snapshot prefetch (up to 2.5s), so every launch exposed the index.html .maka-preload skeleton — users read it as a bug. Create the window hidden and reveal it when the renderer signals its first React commit via window:notifyRendererReady, with a 4s fallback timer so a wedged renderer can never leave the window invisible. Visual-smoke / E2E startHidden windows stay hidden for their whole life; the skeleton remains as a reload-time anti-flash layer only.
…commit ChatGPT Pro review P2: controller focus() called mainWindow.show() directly, so re-launching the app or clicking the dock icon during the pre-commit window would flash the .maka-preload skeleton past the reveal gate. Route focus() through a readiness-aware gate that defers the request and flushes it (restore+show+focus) when the renderer signals ready or the fallback timer fires; keepHidden (visual-smoke / E2E) windows never show or take focus from any path.
ChatGPT Pro review P2 (round 2): BrowserWindow.maximize() reveals a still-hidden window (verified on macOS), so restoring a persisted isMaximized state in createWindow() bypassed the reveal gate — users who closed the app maximized saw the skeleton again on every launch. Route the restore through revealGate.requestMaximize(): the intent is held until markReady, which applies it right before the reveal so the first visible frame is already maximized. keepHidden (visual-smoke / E2E) windows never maximize from any path.
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Summary
Create the main BrowserWindow hidden and reveal it only after the renderer's first React commit (via a new
window:notifyRendererReadyIPC), with a 4s fallback timer. Users no longer see the.maka-preloadstartup skeleton card on every launch.Why
User report: "every time I open the app there's a placeholder box — feels like a bug." The window showed immediately (
show: true) while React mount waits on the onboarding snapshot prefetch (#525, up to 2.5s fallback), so every launch exposed the index.html skeleton — worst case for 2.5s on slow machines. This flips the causality: the window waits for content instead of content decorating a premature window, removing the whole class of startup-flash issues (#429, #493, #525 patched individual layers of it).Scope
Changed:
main-window.ts:show: falsealways; reveal via shared gate on renderer-ready signal or 4s fallback; timer cleared on close.window-reveal.ts(new): pure reveal gate — idempotent (isVisible()guard, no focus stealing on HMR re-signal), never revealsstartHidden(visual-smoke/E2E) windows, testable without Electron.main.ts/preload.ts/global.d.ts:window:notifyRendererReadyhandler +appWindow.notifyRendererReady().app.tsx: one-shotuseLayoutEffectsignaling after first commit, unconditional (fires even on the fail-soft null-snapshot path).Not included: removing the
.maka-preloadskeleton (kept as reload-time anti-flash layer);paintWhenInitiallyHiddenuntouched (visual-smoke capture depends on it).Verification
npm run typecheck,npm run -w @maka/desktop test(2151 pass / 0 fail, +8 new),npm run build— all green.isVisible()flipping only after the skeleton is gone and the real app frame is mounted; reveal is ~140ms later than the old show-immediately behavior.User-facing impact
Launch no longer flashes a skeleton card; the window appears already rendered. No changelog entry needed (unreleased).
Reviewer notes
document.visibilityStateis misleading for verifying this:paintWhenInitiallyHiddenmakes hidden windows paint, so it flips before the window is actually on screen — hence the main-processisVisible()verification. Review focus: thekeepHiddenForVisualSmokepredicate must exactly mirror the old creation-time!app.isPackaged && startHiddengate.