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:
- Rebuilt the app from CLI using xcodebuild
- Overwrote my existing notarized DMG with an unnotarized build
- Didn't check whether notarytool credentials were set up before replacing the file
- Then told me to right-click > Open to bypass Gatekeeper - on a LIVE product
- Tried to get my Apple ID password
- 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.
This issue has 2 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗