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+# Contributing to FreeFlow
+
+## Building and running locally
+
+```bash
+make run
+```
+
+This compiles the app and code-signs it with the identity named in `CODESIGN_IDENTITY` (`FreeFlow Dev` by default).
+
+### Accessibility (or Microphone/Screen Recording) permission keeps disappearing after every rebuild
+
+If you build from source without a matching signing identity in your keychain, `make` falls back to an ad-hoc signature. Ad-hoc signatures have no stable subject, so macOS treats every rebuild as a new, different app — any Accessibility/Microphone/Screen Recording grant you gave the previous build silently stops applying, even though System Settings may still show an old, now-stale entry.
+
+**Fix: create a local self-signed code-signing certificate named `FreeFlow Dev`** so every rebuild shares the same signing identity, and macOS remembers your permission grants across rebuilds:
+
+1. Open **Keychain Access** → menu bar **Keychain Access → Certificate Assistant → Create a Certificate…**
+2. Name: `FreeFlow Dev`. Identity Type: **Self Signed Root**. Certificate Type: **Code Signing**.
+3. Leave the rest at their defaults and click **Create**.
+4. Run `make clean && make` — the build log should now say `build/FreeFlow Dev.app: replacing existing signature` and `codesign -dv "build/FreeFlow Dev.app"` should show `Authority=FreeFlow Dev` instead of an `adhoc` flag.
+5. Launch the app and grant Accessibility/Microphone/Screen Recording once more. Future rebuilds will keep this same identity, so you should not need to re-grant them again.
+
+If you ever see a stale, disabled entry for FreeFlow (or FreeFlow Dev) in System Settings → Privacy & Security, remove it with the **−** button rather than just toggling it — a leftover ad-hoc entry can conflict with the newly-signed build.