diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx
index e35bb5ec..a9bb1cd9 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/App.tsx
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ import { extractExtensionName } from './components/settings/extensions/utils';
 
 import WelcomeView from './components/WelcomeView';
 import ChatView from './components/ChatView';
-import SettingsView from './components/settings/SettingsView';
+import SettingsView, { type SettingsViewOptions } from './components/settings/SettingsView';
 import MoreModelsView from './components/settings/models/MoreModelsView';
 import ConfigureProvidersView from './components/settings/providers/ConfigureProvidersView';
 
 import 'react-toastify/dist/ReactToastify.css';
 
+// Views and their options
 export type View =
   | 'welcome'
   | 'chat'
@@ -27,15 +28,27 @@ export type View =
   | 'configureProviders'
   | 'configPage';
 
+export type ViewConfig = {
+  view: View;
+  viewOptions?: SettingsViewOptions | Record<any, any>;
+};
+
 export default function App() {
   const [fatalError, setFatalError] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [modalVisible, setModalVisible] = useState(false);
   const [pendingLink, setPendingLink] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [modalMessage, setModalMessage] = useState<string>('');
   const [isInstalling, setIsInstalling] = useState(false);
-  const [view, setView] = useState<View>('welcome');
+  const [{ view, viewOptions }, setInternalView] = useState<ViewConfig>({
+    view: 'welcome',
+    viewOptions: {},
+  });
+
   const { switchModel } = useModel();
   const { addRecentModel } = useRecentModels();
+  const setView = (view: View, viewOptions: Record<any, any> = {}) => {
+    setInternalView({ view, viewOptions });
+  };
 
   // Utility function to extract the command from the link
   function extractCommand(link: string): string {
@@ -193,6 +206,7 @@ export default function App() {
                 setView('chat');
               }}
               setView={setView}
+              viewOptions={viewOptions as SettingsViewOptions}
             />
           )}
           {view === 'moreModels' && (
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx b/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx
index 8f16fe2e..52f10b72 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/components/settings/SettingsView.tsx
@@ -46,15 +46,20 @@ const DEFAULT_SETTINGS: SettingsType = {
   extensions: BUILT_IN_EXTENSIONS,
 };
 
+export type SettingsViewOptions = {
+  extensionId: string;
+  showEnvVars: boolean;
+};
+
 export default function SettingsView({
   onClose,
   setView,
+  viewOptions,
 }: {
   onClose: () => void;
   setView: (view: View) => void;
+  viewOptions: SettingsViewOptions;
 }) {
-  const [searchParams] = useState(() => new URLSearchParams(window.location.search));
-
   const [settings, setSettings] = React.useState<SettingsType>(() => {
     const saved = localStorage.getItem('user_settings');
     window.electron.logInfo('Settings: ' + saved);
@@ -101,10 +106,10 @@ export default function SettingsView({
 
   // Handle URL parameters for auto-opening extension configuration
   useEffect(() => {
-    const extensionId = searchParams.get('extensionId');
-    const showEnvVars = searchParams.get('showEnvVars');
+    const extensionId = viewOptions.extensionId;
+    const showEnvVars = viewOptions.showEnvVars;
 
-    if (extensionId && showEnvVars === 'true') {
+    if (extensionId && showEnvVars === true) {
       // Find the extension in settings
       const extension = settings.extensions.find((ext) => ext.id === extensionId);
       if (extension) {
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/extensions.ts b/ui/desktop/src/extensions.ts
index 0ef4134f..f1524463 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/extensions.ts
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/extensions.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { getApiUrl, getSecretKey } from './config';
 import { type View } from './App';
+import { type SettingsViewOptions } from './components/settings/SettingsView';
 import { toast } from 'react-toastify';
 
 // ExtensionConfig type matching the Rust version
@@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ function storeExtensionConfig(config: FullExtensionConfig) {
       localStorage.setItem('user_settings', JSON.stringify(userSettings));
       console.log('Extension config stored successfully in user_settings');
       // Notify settings update through electron IPC
-      window.electron.send('settings-updated');
+      window.electron.emit('settings-updated');
     } else {
       console.log('Extension config already exists in user_settings');
     }
@@ -258,7 +259,10 @@ function handleError(message: string, shouldThrow = false): void {
   }
 }
 
-export async function addExtensionFromDeepLink(url: string, setView: (view: View) => void) {
+export async function addExtensionFromDeepLink(
+  url: string,
+  setView: (view: View, options: SettingsViewOptions) => void
+) {
   if (!url.startsWith('goose://extension')) {
     handleError(
       'Failed to install extension: Invalid URL: URL must use the goose://extension scheme'
@@ -344,9 +348,7 @@ export async function addExtensionFromDeepLink(url: string, setView: (view: View
   // Check if extension requires env vars and go to settings if so
   if (envVarsRequired(config)) {
     console.log('Environment variables required, redirecting to settings');
-    setView('settings');
-    // TODO - add code which can auto-open the modal on the settings view
-    // navigate(`/settings?extensionId=${config.id}&showEnvVars=true`);
+    setView('settings', { extensionId: config.id, showEnvVars: true });
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/main.ts b/ui/desktop/src/main.ts
index 9e97579f..b4c9255d 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/main.ts
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/main.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import {
 } from 'electron';
 import started from 'electron-squirrel-startup';
 import path from 'node:path';
-import { handleSquirrelEvent } from './setup-events';
 import { startGoosed } from './goosed';
 import { getBinaryPath } from './utils/binaryPath';
 import { loadShellEnv } from './utils/loadEnv';
@@ -34,82 +33,13 @@ import { promisify } from 'util';
 
 const exec = promisify(execCallback);
 
-// Handle Squirrel events for Windows installer
-if (process.platform === 'win32') {
-  console.log('Windows detected, command line args:', process.argv);
-
-  if (handleSquirrelEvent()) {
-    // squirrel event handled and app will exit in 1000ms, so don't do anything else
-    process.exit(0);
-  }
-
-  // Handle the protocol on Windows during first launch
-  if (process.argv.length >= 2) {
-    const url = process.argv[1];
-    console.log('Checking URL from command line:', url);
-    if (url.startsWith('goose://')) {
-      console.log('Found goose:// URL in command line args');
-      app.emit('open-url', { preventDefault: () => {} }, url);
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-// Ensure single instance lock
-const gotTheLock = app.requestSingleInstanceLock();
-
-if (!gotTheLock) {
-  app.quit();
-} else {
-  app.on('second-instance', (event, commandLine, _workingDirectory) => {
-    // Someone tried to run a second instance
-    console.log('Second instance detected with args:', commandLine);
-
-    // Get existing window or create new one
-    const existingWindows = BrowserWindow.getAllWindows();
-    if (existingWindows.length > 0) {
-      const window = existingWindows[0];
-      if (window.isMinimized()) window.restore();
-      window.focus();
-
-      if (process.platform === 'win32') {
-        // Protocol handling for Windows
-        const url = commandLine[commandLine.length - 1];
-        console.log('Checking last arg for protocol:', url);
-        if (url.startsWith('goose://')) {
-          console.log('Found goose:// URL in second instance');
-          // Send the URL to the window
-          if (!window.webContents.isLoading()) {
-            window.webContents.send('add-extension', url);
-          } else {
-            window.webContents.once('did-finish-load', () => {
-              window.webContents.send('add-extension', url);
-            });
-          }
-        }
-      }
-    }
-  });
-}
-
-// Handle creating/removing shortcuts on Windows when installing/uninstalling.
 if (started) app.quit();
 
-// Register protocol handler
-if (process.platform === 'win32') {
-  const success = app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('goose', process.execPath, ['--']);
-  console.log('Registering protocol handler for Windows:', success ? 'success' : 'failed');
-} else {
-  const success = app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('goose');
-  console.log('Registering protocol handler:', success ? 'success' : 'failed');
-}
-
-// Log if we're the default protocol handler
-console.log('Is default protocol handler:', app.isDefaultProtocolClient('goose'));
+app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('goose');
 
 // Triggered when the user opens "goose://..." links
 app.on('open-url', async (event, url) => {
   event.preventDefault();
-  console.log('open-url:', url);
 
   // Get existing window or create new one
   let targetWindow: BrowserWindow;
diff --git a/ui/desktop/src/preload.ts b/ui/desktop/src/preload.ts
index 7a2c0281..943e27e6 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/src/preload.ts
+++ b/ui/desktop/src/preload.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ type ElectronAPI = {
     channel: string,
     callback: (event: Electron.IpcRendererEvent, ...args: any[]) => void
   ) => void;
+  emit: (channel: string, ...args: any[]) => void;
 };
 
 type AppConfigAPI = {
@@ -55,6 +56,9 @@ const electronAPI: ElectronAPI = {
   off: (channel: string, callback: (event: Electron.IpcRendererEvent, ...args: any[]) => void) => {
     ipcRenderer.off(channel, callback);
   },
+  emit: (channel: string, ...args: any[]) => {
+    ipcRenderer.emit(channel, ...args);
+  },
 };
 
 const appConfigAPI: AppConfigAPI = {