fix(daemon): prefer Homebrew binary over curl-installer location

commands/daemon.install.go

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func commandDaemonInstall(c *cli.Context) error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Resolve daemon binary (curl-installer, Homebrew, or PATH)
+	// Resolve daemon binary (Homebrew/PATH preferred, curl-installer fallback)
 	daemonBinPath, err := model.ResolveDaemonBinaryPath()
 	if err != nil {
 		color.Yellow.Println("⚠️ shelltime-daemon not found.")
@@ -49,6 +49,20 @@ func commandDaemonInstall(c *cli.Context) error {
 	}
 	color.Green.Printf("✅ Found daemon binary at: %s\n", daemonBinPath)
 
+	// If we picked a system-managed binary but a stale curl-installer copy
+	// still lives under ~/.shelltime/bin, remove it so future resolution
+	// stays unambiguous.
+	curlDaemonPath := model.GetCurlInstallerDaemonPath()
+	if daemonBinPath != curlDaemonPath {
+		if info, statErr := os.Stat(curlDaemonPath); statErr == nil && !info.IsDir() {
+			if rmErr := os.Remove(curlDaemonPath); rmErr == nil {
+				color.Yellow.Printf("🧹 Removed stale curl-installer daemon at %s\n", curlDaemonPath)
+			} else {
+				color.Yellow.Printf("⚠️ Could not remove stale daemon at %s: %v\n", curlDaemonPath, rmErr)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	installer, err := model.NewDaemonInstaller(baseFolder, username, daemonBinPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err

model/path.go

@@ -114,34 +114,50 @@ func GetDaemonErrFilePath() string {
 	return GetStoragePath("logs", "shelltime-daemon.err")
 }
 
+// GetCurlInstallerDaemonPath returns the legacy curl-installer daemon location
+// (~/.shelltime/bin/shelltime-daemon).
+func GetCurlInstallerDaemonPath() string {
+	return filepath.Join(GetBaseStoragePath(), "bin", "shelltime-daemon")
+}
+
+// daemonHomebrewSearchPaths lists explicit Homebrew/Linuxbrew bin dirs to
+// probe when PATH is stripped (e.g. launchd-spawned shells). Exposed as a var
+// so tests can swap it out.
+var daemonHomebrewSearchPaths = []string{
+	"/opt/homebrew/bin",
+	"/usr/local/bin",
+	"/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin",
+}
+
 // ResolveDaemonBinaryPath finds the shelltime-daemon binary.
-// It checks the curl-installer location first, then PATH (Homebrew),
-// then known Homebrew prefix paths as fallback.
+// It prefers a system-managed binary (Homebrew or anything on PATH) over the
+// legacy curl-installer location, so that `brew upgrade shelltime` is what
+// actually drives the running daemon.
 func ResolveDaemonBinaryPath() (string, error) {
 	const binaryName = "shelltime-daemon"
+	curlPath := GetCurlInstallerDaemonPath()
 
-	// 1. Check curl-installer location
-	curlPath := filepath.Join(GetBaseStoragePath(), "bin", binaryName)
-	if info, err := os.Stat(curlPath); err == nil && !info.IsDir() {
-		return curlPath, nil
-	}
-
-	// 2. Check PATH (covers Homebrew and other package managers)
+	// 1. Check PATH (covers Homebrew and other package managers). Ignore the
+	// result if it happens to resolve to the curl-installer path — we want
+	// step 3 to be the only branch that returns that location.
 	if path, err := exec.LookPath(binaryName); err == nil {
-		return path, nil
+		if resolved, _ := filepath.Abs(path); resolved != curlPath {
+			return path, nil
+		}
 	}
 
-	// 3. Explicit Homebrew fallback paths
-	homebrewPaths := []string{
-		filepath.Join("/opt/homebrew/bin", binaryName),
-		filepath.Join("/usr/local/bin", binaryName),
-		filepath.Join("/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin", binaryName),
-	}
-	for _, p := range homebrewPaths {
+	// 2. Explicit Homebrew/Linuxbrew fallback paths, in case PATH was stripped.
+	for _, dir := range daemonHomebrewSearchPaths {
+		p := filepath.Join(dir, binaryName)
 		if info, err := os.Stat(p); err == nil && !info.IsDir() {
 			return p, nil
 		}
 	}
 
-	return "", fmt.Errorf("%s not found at %s, on PATH, or in standard Homebrew locations", binaryName, curlPath)
+	// 3. Curl-installer fallback.
+	if info, err := os.Stat(curlPath); err == nil && !info.IsDir() {
+		return curlPath, nil
+	}
+
+	return "", fmt.Errorf("%s not found on PATH, in standard Homebrew locations, or at %s", binaryName, curlPath)
 }

model/path_test.go

@@ -289,3 +289,117 @@ func TestPathsAreClean(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// writeFakeDaemon creates an executable file at the given path so exec.LookPath
+// will accept it as resolvable. Returns the absolute path actually written.
+func writeFakeDaemon(t *testing.T, dir string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to mkdir %s: %v", dir, err)
+	}
+	p := filepath.Join(dir, "shelltime-daemon")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(p, []byte("#!/bin/sh\nexit 0\n"), 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to write fake daemon: %v", err)
+	}
+	return p
+}
+
+// withIsolatedDaemonResolution sets up a hermetic environment for
+// ResolveDaemonBinaryPath: a temp $HOME, an empty $PATH (caller can re-add
+// dirs), and an empty Homebrew search list so the host machine's installs
+// (e.g. real /opt/homebrew/bin/shelltime-daemon) don't leak into assertions.
+// Returns the temp home directory.
+func withIsolatedDaemonResolution(t *testing.T) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("HOME", home)
+	t.Setenv("PATH", "")
+
+	prev := daemonHomebrewSearchPaths
+	daemonHomebrewSearchPaths = nil
+	t.Cleanup(func() { daemonHomebrewSearchPaths = prev })
+
+	return home
+}
+
+func TestResolveDaemonBinaryPath(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("returns curl-installer path when nothing else is on PATH", func(t *testing.T) {
+		home := withIsolatedDaemonResolution(t)
+
+		curl := writeFakeDaemon(t, filepath.Join(home, COMMAND_BASE_STORAGE_FOLDER, "bin"))
+
+		got, err := ResolveDaemonBinaryPath()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got != curl {
+			t.Errorf("expected %s, got %s", curl, got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("prefers PATH-resolved binary over curl-installer path", func(t *testing.T) {
+		home := withIsolatedDaemonResolution(t)
+
+		brewDir := t.TempDir()
+		brewPath := writeFakeDaemon(t, brewDir)
+		t.Setenv("PATH", brewDir)
+
+		// stale curl-installer copy that should be ignored
+		writeFakeDaemon(t, filepath.Join(home, COMMAND_BASE_STORAGE_FOLDER, "bin"))
+
+		got, err := ResolveDaemonBinaryPath()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got != brewPath {
+			t.Errorf("expected PATH-resolved %s, got %s", brewPath, got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("uses explicit Homebrew search list when PATH is empty", func(t *testing.T) {
+		home := withIsolatedDaemonResolution(t)
+
+		brewDir := t.TempDir()
+		brewPath := writeFakeDaemon(t, brewDir)
+		daemonHomebrewSearchPaths = []string{brewDir}
+
+		// stale curl-installer copy that should be ignored
+		writeFakeDaemon(t, filepath.Join(home, COMMAND_BASE_STORAGE_FOLDER, "bin"))
+
+		got, err := ResolveDaemonBinaryPath()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got != brewPath {
+			t.Errorf("expected Homebrew search result %s, got %s", brewPath, got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("skips PATH result that points back at the curl-installer path", func(t *testing.T) {
+		home := withIsolatedDaemonResolution(t)
+
+		curlBin := filepath.Join(home, COMMAND_BASE_STORAGE_FOLDER, "bin")
+		curl := writeFakeDaemon(t, curlBin)
+		// Put only the curl-installer dir on PATH; LookPath would return curl,
+		// but the resolver must fall through and still return the curl path
+		// from step 3 (so the cleanup logic in daemon.install can detect it).
+		t.Setenv("PATH", curlBin)
+
+		got, err := ResolveDaemonBinaryPath()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if got != curl {
+			t.Errorf("expected curl-installer fallback %s, got %s", curl, got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("returns error when no daemon is found anywhere", func(t *testing.T) {
+		withIsolatedDaemonResolution(t)
+
+		_, err := ResolveDaemonBinaryPath()
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when no daemon binary exists, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+}