Listen, I was tinkering last night with IslanDev (app) from OrchardKit on my M1 MacBook Pro (Sonoma 14.4), and I finally figured out why it kept crashing on startup. Figured I’d tell you in case you run into the same thing.
I installed it because I needed a lightweight local dev environment for a quick prototype. Nothing fancy — just spin up a small server, edit a couple of configs, test in the browser. The download went fine, I dragged it into Applications, did the usual right-click → Open to satisfy Gatekeeper (Apple’s breakdown of that behavior is here: https://support.apple.com/guide/security/gatekeeper-and-runtime-protection-sec5599b66df/web). It launched, showed the splash screen… and then disappeared.
No crash dialog. No error window. Just gone.
First thing I did — and this was a mistake — was assume the build was broken. Deleted it. Downloaded again. Rebooted the Mac (classic “maybe it’ll fix itself” move). Same behavior. Splash screen, vanish.
Then I thought maybe it was some weird notarization quirk. Sometimes macOS says “can’t be opened” or “damaged,” but this wasn’t even giving me that. So I opened Console and filtered logs by the process name while launching it. That’s when I saw a bunch of sandbox denials — specifically around network binding to a local port and writing into ~/Library/Application Support/.
That rang a bell. Sonoma has been stricter about background services and file access. Apple’s app sandbox documentation actually explains this pattern pretty clearly: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/app_sandbox
The app was trying to initialize its local server component and create its working directory. macOS blocked it before the UI finished loading. So from my perspective, it looked like a crash. In reality, it was the system pulling the plug.
Before fixing permissions properly, I went down another wrong path. I checked the Mac App Store to see if there was a sandboxed version that handled entitlements differently: https://apps.apple.com/us/search?term=IslanDev
Nothing official there, so clearly this tool is meant to run as a direct download.
Then I remembered quarantine flags can sometimes mess with runtime behavior after updates. I checked extended attributes with xattr -l. Sure enough, com.apple.quarantine was still attached.
So I did this:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/IslanDev.app
Launched again. Still crashed.
So quarantine wasn’t the core issue. That’s when I went into System Settings → Privacy & Security and looked more closely. Under “Full Disk Access,” the app wasn’t listed. Under “Files and Folders,” it had no permissions toggled. And there had been no prompt during launch.
I temporarily granted Full Disk Access just to test.
Launched again.
This time it stayed open. The local server spun up. I could see it binding to port 3000. Browser connected fine. So the app itself was fine — it just needed permission to write its environment files and initialize properly.
After confirming it worked, I removed Full Disk Access and relaunched. macOS finally showed a proper prompt asking for access to certain folders. I allowed only what it needed. From that point on, clean launches every time.
I found this page useful while confirming I had the right macOS-compatible build of the tool and not some outdated package: https://sznurkowo.com/office-and-productivity/98029-islandev.html
Once permissions were sorted, performance was completely normal. CPU hovered around 8–12% while running the local server, memory around 350 MB. No unexpected spikes. It was never a performance bug or architecture issue — just macOS security doing its thing a bit too quietly.
If I had to summarize what I learned (so I don’t repeat the same detour next time):
- If an app shows a splash screen and disappears, check Console before reinstalling.
- Remove quarantine flags early, but don’t assume that’s the only fix.
- Look at Privacy & Security permissions — especially file access and background network behavior.
- Use Full Disk Access only as a diagnostic step, then dial it back.
The funny part is I lost almost an hour chasing what looked like a crash, when it was really just missing permissions. Classic macOS moment: protective, but not always communicative about it.
Anyway, if IslanDev ever vanishes on you right after launch, don’t panic and don’t blame OrchardKit. Check sandbox denials first. It’s usually macOS guarding the gates, not the app falling apart.