[BUG] Claude Desktop macOS: Silent update failure with code signature validation error (SQRLCodeSignatureErrorDomain -67061)

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Claude Desktop silently failed to install an update on May 15, 2026. No notification was shown to the user — the failure was only discoverable by manually inspecting ShipIt logs. The app continued running the older version (1.7196.0, installed May 12) with no indication that an update had been attempted and failed.

What Should Happen?

If an auto-update fails, the user should be notified with a clear message explaining what happened and what action to take (e.g. download the update manually). Silent failures leave the user unknowingly running an outdated version.

Error Messages/Logs

From ~/Library/Caches/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.ShipIt/ShipIt_stderr.log:

2026-05-15 14:15:11 ShipIt[28787] Detected this as an install request
2026-05-15 14:28:57 ShipIt[28787] Beginning installation
2026-05-15 14:28:59 ShipIt[28787] Could not release power assertion: -536870199
2026-05-15 14:28:59 ShipIt[28787] Installation error: Error Domain=SQRLCodeSignatureErrorDomain Code=-1 "Code signature at URL file:///var/folders/.../Claude.app did not pass validation" UserInfo={NSUnderlyingError=... {Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-67061 ... SecCSArchitecture=x86_64}, NSLocalizedFailureReason=invalid signature (code or signature have been modified)}
2026-05-15 14:28:59 ShipIt[28787] ShipIt quitting

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run Claude Desktop v1.7196.0 on macOS
2. Allow auto-update to run in background (May 15, 2026)
3. Observe: no notification of any kind is shown to the user
4. Inspect ~/Library/Caches/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.ShipIt/ShipIt_stderr.log to discover the silent failureUnknown - previous auto-updates succeeded (last confirmed successful: May 12, 2026)Unknown - previous auto-updates succeeded (last confirmed successful: May 12, 2026)

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Unknown - previous auto-updates succeeded (last confirmed successful: May 12, 2026)

Claude Code Version

N/A - Claude Desktop v1.7196.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

This is a Claude Desktop app bug, not a Claude Code CLI bug — filed here as it's the recommended reporting channel.

The full ShipIt log is at:
~/Library/Caches/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.ShipIt/ShipIt_stderr.log

Note: the signature failure recurs across multiple update attempts dating back to March 2026, suggesting this is an intermittent but ongoing issue with the update pipeline, not a one-off. A related bug report for the Privacy & Security startup notification has also been filed separately.