`npm run dist:mac` failed at the signing step:
codesign --timestamp .../node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/pylib/gyp/generator/\
__pycache__/make.cpython-313.pyc
→ "A timestamp was expected but was not found."
node-gyp only COMPILES native modules. Nothing loads it at runtime — node-pty
resolves its prebuilt .node directly, and a grep over the packaged tree finds no
require of it outside the package itself. But it vendors a Python tree, and
`npmRebuild: true` runs it and leaves __pycache__/*.pyc behind. Those got copied
into Contents/Resources and codesign then tried to sign Python bytecode, which
takes the entire build down.
Excluding it removes both the dead weight (5 MB) and the failure surface. Also
excludes **/__pycache__ outright, so no Python bytecode can reach the bundle by
another route.
Verified on a real build: signature verifies --strict, node-gyp absent, zero .pyc
in the bundle, public/style.css and build/main.js byte-identical to the repo,
express/ws/web-push/qrcode/google-auth-library all still resolve from the
packaged tree, and node-pty's Electron-ABI pty.node is in place.
Note: the immediate failure was transient — a plain retry of the same config
succeeded (Apple's timestamp server). So this is the durable fix for a landmine
that would otherwise re-arm on every npmRebuild, not the cause of that one run.
Deviation from the one-worktree-per-session rule: the desktop build packages from
desktop/node_modules and its script does `cd .. && npm run build`, so it can only
be exercised in the main checkout. Committed on develop directly.