Packaging (macOS): Mac App Store build (sandboxed 'lite' app)

[jozef2svrcek]

Track a Mac App Store–distributable build of LPDO, for discoverability (the App Store is the one macOS storefront with real reach). This is a separate product from the Developer ID .pkg (#68) — it is not a repackage.

Why separate / why hard

MAS requires the App Sandbox, which is incompatible with LPDO's current architecture. A MAS build must:

• Run the server in-process (or as a sandboxed XPC/SMAppService agent) — cannot spawn the chess-db binary as a subprocess the way the desktop build does.
• Keep the database inside the app container (~/Library/Containers/com.specure.lpdo/Data/…) — not ~/.chess-db, /var/lib/lpdo, or /Library/Application Support/LPDO.
• Drop the CLI on PATH — no writing to /usr/local/bin; no installer scripts; no system daemon.
• Use different signing/distribution — Apple Distribution + Mac Installer Distribution via App Store Connect/Transporter, not Developer ID.

SMAppService.agent (per-user login helper) is MAS-permitted, but it does not lift the sandbox — the sandbox (container-only data, no subprocess, no CLI) is the real constraint.

Scope of work (when prioritized)

• Sandbox entitlements + an in-process/XPC server design (a meaningful rearchitecture of the desktop client/server split, macOS-only).
• DB relocated into the app container; migration story for users coming from the .pkg/.dmg.
• App Store Connect setup, review, and the commission/review-latency implications.
• Decide the feature line of the 'lite' build (GUI + in-context server; no CLI; remote-server management likely the only CLI-ish feature, via the existing --remote proxy).

Relationship to other macOS work

• Packaging (macOS): Developer ID .pkg installer + system launchd daemon #68 — the Developer ID .pkg (full-featured direct-download installer; system launchd daemon, CLI on PATH). Kept.
• Interim .dmg — the current notarized GUI download.
• This issue — the discoverability play; future, not started; needs its own scoping/spike. Distribution rationale (Developer ID vs MAS) recorded on Packaging (macOS): Developer ID .pkg installer + system launchd daemon #68's history.