Initialize agent capture and input before publishing its socket, and request Screen Recording in direct macOS mode

client/cmd/vnc_agent.go

@@ -65,6 +65,17 @@ var vncAgentCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			return fmt.Errorf("drop privileges to uid %d: %w", vncAgentTargetUID, err)
 		}
 
+		// Before the socket exists, not after: the daemon treats the socket
+		// appearing as "this agent is ready to serve". Building the capturer
+		// and injector can take a while and can fail — on macOS it raises the
+		// Screen Recording prompt and waits on the user — so binding first
+		// publishes an agent that is not serving yet, and the first connection
+		// stalls or fails against it.
+		capturer, injector, err := newAgentResources()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		if err := os.Remove(vncAgentSocket); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			log.Debugf("remove stale socket %s: %v", vncAgentSocket, err)
 		}
@@ -78,11 +89,6 @@ var vncAgentCmd = &cobra.Command{
 
 		ctx := cmd.Context()
 
-		capturer, injector, err := newAgentResources()
-		if err != nil {
-			_ = ln.Close()
-			return err
-		}
 		srv := vncserver.New(vncserver.Config{
 			Capturer:      capturer,
 			Injector:      injector,

client/internal/engine_vnc_darwin.go

@@ -12,10 +12,20 @@ import (
 
 func newPlatformVNC() (vncserver.ScreenCapturer, vncserver.InputInjector, bool) {
 	capturer := vncserver.NewMacPoller()
-	// No permission request here. Screen Recording is a user-scope TCC service,
-	// so a request from this process is dropped when it runs as a LaunchDaemon:
-	// no prompt appears and NetBird never even shows up in the Screen Recording
-	// list. The per-user agent asks instead, see newAgentResources.
+
+	// Ask only when this process is the one that will capture. Screen Recording
+	// is a user-scope TCC service, so the request is dropped from a
+	// LaunchDaemon: no prompt appears and NetBird never even reaches the Screen
+	// Recording list. In that case the per-user agent asks instead, see
+	// newAgentResources.
+	//
+	// Without service mode there is no agent, so this process captures and
+	// nothing else will ever raise the prompt — the client would serve a
+	// windowless desktop with no indication why.
+	if !vncNeedsServiceMode() {
+		vncserver.RequestScreenRecording()
+	}
+
 	injector, err := vncserver.NewMacInputInjector()
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Debugf("VNC: macOS input injector: %v", err)