Claude overwrote notarized DMG with unnotarized build, no awareness of distribution pipeline

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Apr 11, 2026 by BSKapps Closed Apr 14, 2026

What happened

I asked Claude to fix a small UI issue (license activation window not coming to front on first launch). Instead of making the code fix and telling me to re-archive in Xcode, Claude:

  1. Rebuilt the app from CLI using xcodebuild
  2. Overwrote my existing notarized DMG with an unnotarized build
  3. Didn't check whether notarytool credentials were set up before replacing the file
  4. Then told me to right-click > Open to bypass Gatekeeper - on a LIVE product
  5. Tried to get my Apple ID password
  6. Wasted 30+ minutes going in circles

This is a live product being distributed to real users. The app was blocked by Gatekeeper because Claude replaced a notarized build with an unnotarized one.

Expected behavior

  • Make the code fix
  • Tell me to archive and export in Xcode (which handles notarization automatically)
  • Done in 2 minutes

Actual behavior

  • Went down a CLI rabbit hole
  • Destroyed my working notarized DMG
  • Produced a broken build that Gatekeeper blocks
  • Asked for my passwords
  • No awareness of macOS distribution requirements

Impact

Live product was affected. Users would have been blocked by Gatekeeper if this had been distributed.

View original on GitHub ↗

This issue has 2 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗