feat(profile): refuse writes while Elgato app is running + restart_app path fix by jack-arturo · Pull Request #16 · verygoodplugins/streamdeck-mcp

jack-arturo · 2026-04-17T18:44:02Z

Summary

Follow-up to #15. Closes a silent data-loss hole and fixes a pre-existing bug in the app-restart helper — both surfaced by the Phase 1 on-device smoke test.

Data loss bug: the Elgato desktop app caches every profile in memory and rewrites the on-disk manifests from its snapshot on quit. Edits made via streamdeck_write_page while the app is running are silently wiped the next time it closes (observed live during Phase 1 testing). This PR makes `write_page` refuse to run while the app is up and exposes a single additive `auto_quit_app` opt-in field for callers that want the tool to quit it for them (AppleScript → killall fallback).
restart_app -600 bug: `open -a "Stream Deck"` / `open -a "Elgato Stream Deck"` both fail with `LSOpenURLsWithCompletionHandler -600` on some macOS installs. Launching by explicit `/Applications/Elgato Stream Deck.app` path bypasses LaunchServices entirely. `STREAMDECK_APP_PATH` env var overrides the default for non-standard installs.
Tool count unchanged (still 6 tools). The new behavior is a single `auto_quit_app: bool = false` field on the existing `streamdeck_write_page` tool — per Jack's "avoid tool bloat" direction.

Workflow (added to README)

`streamdeck_write_page(auto_quit_app: true, …)` — tool quits the app, writes, leaves app quit
Additional writes can follow without re-passing `auto_quit_app` (app stays quit)
`streamdeck_restart_app()` once done → device picks up the changes

Test plan

`uv run pytest tests/` — 44 passed (5 new)
`uv run ruff check .`
`uv run ruff format --check .`
Manual: reproduce the Phase 1 scenario end-to-end (app running → write fails with clear error → retry with auto_quit_app=true → write succeeds → restart_app shows the button on the deck)

Dependencies

Orthogonal to #15 — no merge-order requirement. Either can land first.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

The Elgato Stream Deck app keeps every profile in memory and rewrites the on-disk manifests from its snapshot when it quits. Any edit made while the app is running is silently discarded the next time the app closes, which is exactly what bit a live-hardware smoke test of the previous PR. - Raise a new StreamDeckAppRunningError from write_page when the app is running, with a remediation message pointing callers at the auto_quit_app opt-in and the follow-up restart_app call. - Add auto_quit_app=False param on write_page. When True and the app is running, quit it cleanly (AppleScript quit first, killall fallback) before writing; the report is surfaced in the write_page response. - Rework restart_app to launch by explicit bundle path. The old `open -a "Stream Deck"` / `open -a "Elgato Stream Deck"` name lookup returns LSOpen error -600 on some macOS installs; launching by path bypasses LaunchServices. STREAMDECK_APP_PATH env var overrides the default `/Applications/Elgato Stream Deck.app`. - Expose reusable is_stream_deck_app_running() and stop_stream_deck_app() helpers so other future entrypoints can share the same lifecycle logic. - Update the README workflow section to spell out the quit → write → relaunch cycle and the env-var escape hatch. - New tests (5) cover the refuse/auto-quit branches, the restart-by-path path, and the missing-bundle error. An autouse fixture stubs the process check so existing tests are unaffected regardless of whether the contributor has the app running locally. Scope: unchanged tool count (6). auto_quit_app is a single additive field on the existing write_page tool. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds safeguards to prevent Stream Deck profile writes from being silently lost while the Elgato desktop app is running, and fixes streamdeck_restart_app to relaunch via an explicit .app path (with an env-var override) to avoid macOS LaunchServices -600 failures.

Changes:

Refuse write_page when the Stream Deck app is running unless callers opt in via auto_quit_app=True (and surface a dedicated error type).
Add auto_quit_app to the MCP tool schema and server call path.
Rework restart_app to open an explicit app bundle path with STREAMDECK_APP_PATH override; document the new workflow in the README; add tests.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

File	Description
`profile_manager.py`	Adds app-running detection/stop helpers, blocks writes while app is running, and changes app restart logic to launch by path.
`profile_server.py`	Extends `streamdeck_write_page` schema with `auto_quit_app` and returns a dedicated warning message for the new running-app error.
`tests/test_profile_manager.py`	Adds tests for the running-app refusal, auto-quit path, and explicit restart-app path behavior.
`README.md`	Documents the required quit → write → restart workflow and the `STREAMDECK_APP_PATH` override.

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jack-arturo · 2026-04-17T18:52:26Z

@copilot apply changes based on the comments in this thread

…fore write, validate path before stop Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/verygoodplugins/streamdeck-mcp/sessions/bf3b8260-ea35-455c-99cf-579444999ff4 Co-authored-by: jack-arturo <13076544+jack-arturo@users.noreply.github.com>

Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/verygoodplugins/streamdeck-mcp/sessions/bf3b8260-ea35-455c-99cf-579444999ff4 Co-authored-by: jack-arturo <13076544+jack-arturo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-04-17T18:57:55Z

@copilot apply changes based on the comments in this thread

Applied all four review changes in commit 3bbc9e8 (with a follow-up in 1fce5e8):

Consistent stop_stream_deck_app() schema — early returns (non-darwin, not running) now always include graceful: [], forced: [], and reason.
Verify app actually stopped before writing — write_page() now checks both app_stop_report["stopped"] and a fresh is_stream_deck_app_running() call after stopping; raises StreamDeckAppRunningError with the report's reason if either indicates the app is still up.
Validate app path before stopping in restart_app() — path resolution and existence check now happen before stop_stream_deck_app(), so a misconfigured path raises without orphaning the user.
New test for stop-failure path — test_write_page_auto_quit_app_raises_when_stop_fails covers stopped=False; the existing happy-path test updated to use side_effect=[True, False] so the post-stop is_stream_deck_app_running() call returns False.

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jack-arturo · 2026-04-17T19:23:20Z

@copilot resolve the merge conflicts in this pull request

Co-authored-by: jack-arturo <13076544+jack-arturo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-04-17T19:27:46Z

@copilot resolve the merge conflicts in this pull request

Resolved in commit d3b831e. The conflict was in tests/test_profile_manager.py — main had added the sample_profiles_plus_xl fixture and encoder controller tests from #15 in the same region where this branch added the app-lifecycle tests. The merge keeps all tests from both branches (51 total, all passing).

🤖 I have created a release *beep* *boop* --- ## [0.3.0](v0.2.0...v0.3.0) (2026-04-28) ### Features * **icons:** bundle Material Design Icons for offline glyph rendering ([#19](#19)) ([459d410](459d410)) * **profile:** preserve encoder controller + Stream Deck + XL layout ([#15](#15)) ([f4a8402](f4a8402)) * **profile:** refuse writes while Elgato app is running + restart_app path fix ([#16](#16)) ([e1cb4e3](e1cb4e3)) * **skill:** streamdeck-designer Agent Skill + MCP transport hardening ([#22](#22)) ([fd3ec6f](fd3ec6f)) * **touchstrip:** expose $X1/$A0/$A1/$B1/$B2/$C1 encoder layouts ([#21](#21)) ([efa66e4](efa66e4)) * **touchstrip:** per-segment icon and background on Stream Deck + / + XL ([#20](#20)) ([a41a31c](a41a31c)) ### Bug Fixes * add Stream Deck XL and missing device layouts ([#10](#10)) ([c89435b](c89435b)) * **profile:** correct Stream Deck + XL keypad layout to 9x4 ([#18](#18)) ([d6da4b2](d6da4b2)) * **profile:** map 20GBD9901 to Stream Deck + (4 dials + 4x2 keypad) ([#25](#25)) ([da0ada5](da0ada5)) --- This PR was generated with [Release Please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please). See [documentation](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please#release-please). --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 17, 2026 18:44

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Copilot started work on behalf of jack-arturo April 17, 2026 18:52 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits April 17, 2026 18:56

fix: include stop reason in error message when app stop fails

1fce5e8

Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/verygoodplugins/streamdeck-mcp/sessions/bf3b8260-ea35-455c-99cf-579444999ff4 Co-authored-by: jack-arturo <13076544+jack-arturo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 17, 2026 18:57

jack-arturo review requested due to automatic review settings April 17, 2026 18:57

Copilot finished work on behalf of jack-arturo April 17, 2026 18:58

Copilot started work on behalf of jack-arturo April 17, 2026 19:23 View session

merge: resolve conflicts with main (encoder controller tests from #15)

d3b831e

Co-authored-by: jack-arturo <13076544+jack-arturo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 17, 2026 19:27

jack-arturo review requested due to automatic review settings April 17, 2026 19:27

Copilot finished work on behalf of jack-arturo April 17, 2026 19:29

jack-arturo merged commit e1cb4e3 into main Apr 17, 2026

jack-arturo mentioned this pull request Apr 21, 2026

chore(main): release 0.3.0 #17

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feat(profile): refuse writes while Elgato app is running + restart_app path fix#16

feat(profile): refuse writes while Elgato app is running + restart_app path fix#16
jack-arturo merged 4 commits into
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feat/app-lifecycle-guard

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jack-arturo commented Apr 17, 2026

Summary

Workflow (added to README)

Test plan

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