can't launch kitty with --single-instance in macos-launch-services-cmdline

[ahmedelgabri]

Describe the bug
I can't launch kitty with --single-instance in macos-launch-services-cmdline I know this was supposed to be fixed in 0.36.1 but I'm on 0.36.2 and it doesn't work still.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. mkdir ~/.config/kitty
2. echo "--single-instance" > ~/.config/kitty/macos-launch-services-cmdline
3. Try to launch kitty from GUI using spotlight, alfred, raycast or finder
4. Nothing happens.

Alternative step:

Run the following from the terminal

open -a kitty.app --args --single-instance

Environment details

kitty 0.36.2 (15ac33a058) created by Kovid Goyal
Darwin pandoras-box 21.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 21.6.0: Mon Jun 24 00:56:10 PDT 2024; root:xnu-8020.240.18.709.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64
ProductName:	macOS ProductVersion:	12.7.6 BuildVersion:	21H1320
OpenGL: '4.1 INTEL-18.8.16' Detected version: 4.1
Frozen: True
Fonts:
  medium: PragmataProMonoLiga-Regular: /Library/Fonts/Nix Fonts/iigip63mgd66fy7y6w46pld2c1g8iywl-PragmataPro0.830/share/fonts/opentype/PragmataPro_Mono_R_liga_0830.otf
          Features: ()
    bold: PragmataProMonoLiga-Bold: /Library/Fonts/Nix Fonts/iigip63mgd66fy7y6w46pld2c1g8iywl-PragmataPro0.830/share/fonts/opentype/PragmataPro_Mono_B_liga_0830.otf
          Features: ()
  italic: PragmataProMonoLiga-Italic: /Library/Fonts/Nix Fonts/iigip63mgd66fy7y6w46pld2c1g8iywl-PragmataPro0.830/share/fonts/opentype/PragmataPro_Mono_I_liga_0830.otf
          Features: ()
      bi: PragmataProMonoLiga-BoldItalic: /Library/Fonts/Nix Fonts/iigip63mgd66fy7y6w46pld2c1g8iywl-PragmataPro0.830/share/fonts/opentype/PragmataPro_Mono_Z_liga_0830.otf
          Features: ()
Paths:
  kitty: /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS/kitty
  base dir: /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/Resources/kitty
  extensions dir: /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/Resources/Python/lib/kitty-extensions
  system shell: /run/current-system/sw/bin/zsh
Loaded config files:
  /Users/ahmed/.config/kitty/kitty.conf

Config options different from defaults:
active_border_color             None
allow_remote_control            yes
confirm_os_window_close         0
cursor_stop_blinking_after      0
disable_ligatures               1
enable_audio_bell               False
font_family                     family="PragmataPro Mono Liga"
font_size                       12.0
hide_window_decorations         1
inactive_text_alpha             0.6
kitty_mod                       cmd
macos_custom_beam_cursor        True
macos_option_as_alt             3
macos_traditional_fullscreen    True
scrollback_fill_enlarged_window True
scrollback_lines                20000
scrollback_pager                ['nvim', '-c', 'set nonumber nolist showtabline=0 foldcolumn=0', '-c', 'autocmd VimEnter * cnoremap q q!|nnoremap q :q!<CR>|normal G', '-c', 'silent write /tmp/kitty_scrollback_buffer | te cat /tmp/kitty_scrollback_buffer - ']
select_by_word_characters       :@-./_~?&=%+#
strip_trailing_spaces           smart
symbol_map:
	U+e000 - U+e00a → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e0a0 - U+e0c8 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e0ca - U+e0ca → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e0cc - U+e0d7 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e200 - U+e2a9 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e300 - U+e3e3 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e5fa - U+e6b1 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+e700 - U+e7c5 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+ea60 - U+ebeb → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+ed00 - U+efc1 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+f000 - U+f2e0 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+f000 - U+f2ff → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+f300 - U+f372 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+f400 - U+f533 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
	U+f0001 - U+f1af0 → Symbols Nerd Font Mono
tab_activity_symbol             ▲
tab_bar_edge                    1
update_check_interval           0.0
window_alert_on_bell            False
window_padding_width            FloatEdges(left=10.0, top=10.0, right=10.0, bottom=10.0)
Added mouse actions:
	cmd+left press grabbed →  mouse_discard_event
	cmd+left release grabbed →  mouse_click_url
	cmd+left release ungrabbed →  mouse_click_url
	opt+cmd+left press ungrabbed →  mouse_selection rectangle
Added shortcuts:
	ctrl+i →  send_text application \x48
	kitty_mod+shift+h →  show_scrollback
Removed shortcuts:
	cmd++ →  change_font_size all +2.0
	cmd+, →  edit_config_file
	cmd+- →  change_font_size all -2.0
	cmd+0 →  change_font_size all 0
	cmd+1 →  first_window
	cmd+2 →  second_window
	cmd+3 →  third_window
	cmd+4 →  fourth_window
	cmd+5 →  fifth_window
	cmd+6 →  sixth_window
	cmd+7 →  seventh_window
	cmd+8 →  eighth_window
	cmd+9 →  ninth_window
	cmd+= →  change_font_size all +2.0
	cmd+c →  copy_to_clipboard
	cmd+down →  scroll_line_down
	cmd+end →  scroll_end
	cmd+enter →  new_window
	cmd+h →  hide_macos_app
	cmd+home →  scroll_home
	cmd+k →  clear_terminal to_cursor active
	cmd+m →  minimize_macos_window
	cmd+n →  new_os_window
	cmd+page_down →  scroll_page_down
	cmd+page_up →  scroll_page_up
	cmd+q →  quit
	cmd+r →  start_resizing_window
	cmd+t →  new_tab
	cmd+up →  scroll_line_up
	cmd+v →  paste_from_clipboard
	cmd+w →  close_tab
	ctrl+cmd+, →  load_config_file
	ctrl+cmd+f →  toggle_fullscreen
	kitty_mod+enter →  new_window
	kitty_mod+f2 →  edit_config_file
	kitty_mod+h →  show_scrollback
	kitty_mod+k →  scroll_line_up
	kitty_mod+n →  new_os_window
	kitty_mod+q →  close_tab
	kitty_mod+t →  new_tab
	kitty_mod+w →  close_window
	opt+cmd+h →  hide_macos_other_apps
	opt+cmd+r →  clear_terminal reset active
	opt+cmd+s →  toggle_macos_secure_keyboard_entry
	shift+cmd+/ →  open_url https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/
	shift+cmd+[ →  previous_tab
	shift+cmd+] →  next_tab
	shift+cmd+d →  close_window
	shift+cmd+w →  close_os_window
Changed shortcuts:
	kitty_mod+, →  edit_config_file
	kitty_mod+0 →  change_font_size all 0
Colors:
	background                      #111111   
	color0                          #1d1f21   
	color1                          #cc6666   
	color10                         #99cc99   
	color11                         #ffcc66   
	color12                         #6699cc   
	color13                         #cc99cc   
	color14                         #66cccc   
	color15                         #dddddd   
	color2                          #b5bd68   
	color3                          #f0c674   
	color4                          #81a2be   
	color5                          #b294bb   
	color6                          #8abeb7   
	color7                          #c5c8c6   
	color8                          #333333   
	color9                          #f2777a   
	cursor                          #20bbfc   
	foreground                      #c5c8c6   
	inactive_tab_background         #1d1f21   

Important environment variables seen by the kitty process:
	PATH                                /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
	LANG                                en_US.UTF-8
	SHELL                               /run/current-system/sw/bin/zsh
	USER                                ahmed

[kovidgoyal]

Does not reproduce for me steps I tried

1. echo "--single-instance" > ~/.config/kitty/macos-launch-services-cmdline
2. Run

open -a kitty.app

3. kitty opens as expected
4. Quit kitty
5. click kitty dock icon
6. kitty opens as expected
7. In another terminal run

kitty --single-instance

8. A new window in the kitty instance from 6 opens, as expected.

Make sure you have actually quit kitty before editing
macos-launch-services-cmdline, maybe try rebooting your machine.
And if it doesnt start look in console.app for logs.

[ahmedelgabri]

I did reboot multiple times, I will have a look at the logs from console.app

[igorepst]

@kovidgoyal Hi. I can confirm the bug report. I am on 0.36.2, installed via Homebrew, on Sonoma 14.6.1. As I update regularly, I am sure it worked in previous versions. open -a kitty.app doesn't show Kitty's window.

cat ~/.config/kitty/macos-launch-services-cmdline
--single-instance
--listen-on unix:/tmp/kitty-main

I almost never open Kitty from dock actually, so let me share the results running from Terminal.app:

 /opt/homebrew/bin/kitty --single-instance --listen-on unix:/tmp/kitty-main
 Failed to connect to single instance socket: Connection refused

ls -al /tmp/ | grep kitty returns no results as well.
However, /opt/homebrew/bin/kitty & works, and then, as I have listen_on unix:/tmp/kitty-main in kitty.conf

ls -al /tmp/ | grep kitty
srwxr-xr-x  1 igor.epstein wheel   0 12-09-2024 11:54 kitty-main-3203

Console.app doesn't show anything that is related to Kitty, as far as I can tell. How can I help to debug this? Thank you

[kovidgoyal]

All options in macos-launch-services-cmdline need to be on a single
line.

[igorepst]

I fixed macos-launch-services-cmdline, however it changed nothing. Removing single-instance from there enables Kitty to be opened. Single instance doesn't work from command line as well, as I wrote above

[kovidgoyal]

Dont put listen_on in both kitty.conf and the CLI. Pick one.

[igorepst]

Moved all the config to "bak", open -a kitty.app works, single instance with or without listen-on does not - I tried from command line. I will check on Linux and will try to build Kitty on Mac later today

[igorepst]

Just found your answer, @kovidgoyal, here. That exactly what happened to me, and probably to @ahmedelgabri

find /private -name 'kitty-ipc*' 2>/dev/null
/private/var/folders/45/v2yv8_9n6hxdrw8kyblfhy100000gn/C/kitty-ipc-501
/private/var/folders/45/v2yv8_9n6hxdrw8kyblfhy100000gn/C/kitty-ipc-501.lock

ll /private/var/folders/45/v2yv8_9n6hxdrw8kyblfhy100000gn/C/kitty-ipc-501
srwxr-xr-x 1 igor.epstein staff 0 12-09-2024 10:47 /private/var/folders/45/v2yv8_9n6hxdrw8kyblfhy100000gn/C/kitty-ipc-501=

And system.log in Console.app has the following, which I understand as time of reboot: Sep 12 10:48:45 XXX reboot[34432]: SHUTDOWN_TIME: 1726127325 642601
So, probably, stale lock files were left for some reason, that survived reboot. And the reason of reboot was misbehavior of Mac, so maybe it crashed Kitty, preventing lock deletion

[kovidgoyal]

Lock files are auto cleaned on reboot, they are in /tmp so it cant be
that unless for some reason your mac is not cleaning /tmp and friends on
reboot.

[igorepst]

As far as I understood from googling, they are not in /tmp
https://superuser.com/questions/892647/it-is-safe-delete-osxs-private-var-folders-at-reboot and https://www.swiftforensics.com/2017/04/the-mystery-of-varfolders-on-osx.html

ll /tmp
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 11 04-08-2024 13:31 /tmp -> private/tmp/
find /private -name 'kitty-ipc*' 2>/dev/null
/private/var/folders/45/v2yv8_9n6hxdrw8kyblfhy100000gn/C/kitty-ipc-501

And this folder with lock files has a lot of things from two month ago, even this

ll /private/var/folders/45/v2yv8_9n6hxdrw8kyblfhy100000gn/C/net.kovidgoyal.kitty/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 4 igor.epstein staff 128 24-07-2024 21:15 com.apple.metal/
drwxr-xr-x 2 igor.epstein staff  64 24-07-2024 19:55 com.apple.metalfe/

[kovidgoyal]

Regardless, locks are in kernel objects that dont survive reboots.
Whether the file exists or not it wont be locked.

[kovidgoyal]

also IIRC those lock files arent created by up-to-date versions of kitty, only the socket files. So where are they coming from on your system?

kitty --single-instance
find /private -name '*kitty*'

output no .lock files for me

[igorepst]

Indeed, the lock files are not there now, only the socket. Were they created up to 0.36.1?
Anyway, hopefully the issue of original poster will be resolved this way as well. Thank you for Kitty and for your time