diff --git a/packaging/fetch-clients.sh b/packaging/fetch-clients.sh
index 480cdb9..4b96266 100755
--- a/packaging/fetch-clients.sh
+++ b/packaging/fetch-clients.sh
@@ -69,7 +69,12 @@ digest() { sha256sum "$1" | cut -d' ' -f1; }
 # whole one.
 sidecar() {
   _file="$1"; _out="$2"; _name="$3"; _code="$4"
-  printf '{\n  "version_name": "%s",\n  "version_code": %s,\n  "size": %s,\n  "sha256": "%s"\n}\n' \
+  # `version_code` is QUOTED here, and that is not a slip. This function only ever
+  # writes DESKTOP sidecars, whose ordering key is Tauri's `1.0.<minutes>` — which
+  # unquoted is not valid JSON at all, so every sidecar this wrote would fail to
+  # parse and the server would advertise nothing. Android's sidecar is a different
+  # file, copied verbatim from its lane, and keeps its integer.
+  printf '{\n  "version_name": "%s",\n  "version_code": "%s",\n  "size": %s,\n  "sha256": "%s"\n}\n' \
     "$_name" "$_code" "$(bytes "$_file")" "$(digest "$_file")" > "$_out"
 }
 
diff --git a/src/thoughtsync/client_dist.py b/src/thoughtsync/client_dist.py
index a85c6c0..6cba4be 100644
--- a/src/thoughtsync/client_dist.py
+++ b/src/thoughtsync/client_dist.py
@@ -263,7 +263,10 @@ def _resolve(platform: Platform) -> tuple[Path, dict] | None:
     broken or half-copied pair does NOT shadow the image: it simply is not a
     client, so the search moves on.
     """
-    for root in (Path(Config.client_root()), BAKED_ROOT):
+    # Both wrapped in Path(), not just the first. The asymmetry was arbitrary and it
+    # fails quietly: `_read` catches the TypeError a str `/` str raises and reports
+    # "no client here", so a directory that is perfectly fine reads as empty.
+    for root in (Path(Config.client_root()), Path(BAKED_ROOT)):
         release = _read(root, platform)
         if release is not None:
             return root, release