coder / coder/coder-desktop-windows

Show sign-in window on first launch when user is not authenticated

Open
#164 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
C#
Stars
27
Forks
12
Avg merge
6h 50m
Merged PRs (30d)
1

Description

**Summary**

When Coder Desktop is launched for the first time (or when the user is not signed in), the app should show the sign-in window instead of silently minimizing to the system tray. Currently, new users see no visible UI after launching the app, which makes it appear broken.

**Problem**

After a fresh install, launching Coder Desktop produces no visible window or taskbar entry. The app goes straight to the system tray as a background process. For a new user who has never used the app before:

1. There is no indication the app launched successfully
2. The user must discover the system tray icon (which Windows often hides behind the ^ overflow arrow)
3. The user must click the tray icon to find the sign-in prompt
4. The app cannot be used at all without signing in, so the silent tray behavior adds unnecessary friction

This leads users to believe the application failed to start — especially since Task Manager shows minimal CPU/memory activity, reinforcing the impression that nothing is happening.

**Proposed Behavior**

• First launch / not signed in: Show the sign-in window automatically. This gives the user a clear next step and confirms the app is running.
• Already authenticated: Continue the current behavior of going silently to the system tray.

Other system tray applications (such as Tailscale, 1Password) all show an onboarding or sign-in window on first launch before settling into tray-only mode.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named in the issue. Start by tracing the Windows app's launch path and how authentication state is checked; done means an unauthenticated first launch visibly opens the sign-in window, while an authenticated launch continues directly to the system tray.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
authentication, desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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