feat(client): create the system tray at launch, not on first minimise

ensureTray() was reachable only from the window:minimize-to-tray handler, so
the indicator did not exist until you had already hidden the window into it.
That is backwards on both desktops — most of what a tray is for is finding an
application that is not in front of you — and on Windows it read as the app
having no tray presence at all.

Created during app.whenReady(), after registerBridge() and before
createWindow(). The order matters: buildTrayMenu reads the nodeService that
registerBridge assigns, so the other way round puts the Start/Stop entry on
the menu one five-second poll late.

The menu's labels were the one thing that came *from* the minimise call, since
the main process has no i18n. A new tray:labels IPC (platform.setTrayLabels)
carries them instead, sent from the renderer's boot once initLocale() has a
catalogue; a language change reloads the page, so the same call covers it. The
window between launch and that first message shows TRAY_FALLBACK, in English.

§5.10's two platform gates become one — trayOS() in main.js, which every tray
path calls. test_desktop_shell.py's existing test is rewritten against it and
two are added: the launch ordering, and that no tray path tests
process.platform inline instead of calling the gate.

Windows still files a new tray icon under hidden icons until the person drags
it onto the taskbar. No API promotes it; documented in WINDOWS-PORT.md §5.11
rather than worked around.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01V8EDjk6pkYZrCbo63m2x87

1 files changed, 28 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js b/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js
index 27c81b8..0a5723b 100644
--- a/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js
+++ b/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js
@@ -330,6 +330,12 @@ let mainWindow = null;
 // ── System tray ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 // Linux and Windows.
 //
+// Created at launch, not on the first "minimise to tray". An indicator that
+// only appears once you have already hidden the window is one you cannot use
+// to find the application, which is most of what a tray is for -- and on
+// Windows it made the app look like it had no tray presence at all until you
+// went looking for one.
+//
 // The context menu is not optional. Under libappindicator -- which is how GNOME
 // shows a tray at all, via the AppIndicator extension -- `tray.on('click')`
 // never fires: the indicator only opens its menu. A tray whose only affordance
@@ -342,6 +348,11 @@ let mainWindow = null;
 let tray = null;
 let trayLabels = null;
 let trayTimer = null;
+
+// The same test preload.js publishes as `capabilities.tray`. macOS is excluded
+// deliberately: it has a menu bar rather than a tray, and the window controls
+// there already do what hiding to an indicator does elsewhere.
+const trayOS = () => process.platform === 'linux' || process.platform === 'win32';
 let nodeService = null;          // assigned by registerBridge()
 
 const TRAY_FALLBACK = {
@@ -649,13 +660,24 @@ function registerBridge() {
   // make "minimise to tray" mean "exit". A hidden window keeps the session, the
   // transfers and the node connection exactly as they were.
   ipcMain.handle('window:minimize-to-tray', (_e, labels) => {
-    const trayOS = process.platform === 'linux' || process.platform === 'win32';
-    if (!trayOS || !mainWindow) return false;
+    if (!trayOS() || !mainWindow) return false;
     ensureTray(labels);
     mainWindow.hide();
     return true;
   });
 
+  // The renderer sends these once it has a locale, and again after a language
+  // change (which reloads the page, so the same call covers both). Until then
+  // the tray created at launch shows TRAY_FALLBACK, in English, for the
+  // fraction of a second the catalogue takes to arrive -- the alternative,
+  // waiting for the renderer before creating it at all, is the behaviour this
+  // replaces.
+  ipcMain.handle('tray:labels', (_e, labels) => {
+    if (!trayOS()) return false;
+    ensureTray(labels);
+    return true;
+  });
+
   ipcMain.handle('device:ensure', () => ensureDeviceKey());
   ipcMain.handle('device:public', () => {
     const key = deviceKey();
@@ -1660,7 +1682,11 @@ if (!app.requestSingleInstanceLock()) {
 
   app.whenReady().then(() => {
     registerUiProtocol();
+    // Before ensureTray: buildTrayMenu reads `nodeService`, which registerBridge
+    // assigns, so creating the tray after it means the Start/Stop entry is on
+    // the very first menu rather than appearing one poll later.
     registerBridge();
+    if (trayOS()) ensureTray();
     createWindow();
     app.on('activate', () => {
       if (BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().length === 0) createWindow();