diff --git a/screenpipe-app-tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs b/screenpipe-app-tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs
index 38f5bd4d7..0419b61f2 100755
--- a/screenpipe-app-tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs
+++ b/screenpipe-app-tauri/src-tauri/src/main.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ use tauri::{
 };
 use tauri_plugin_autostart::MacosLauncher;
 use tauri_plugin_autostart::ManagerExt;
-use tauri_plugin_deep_link::DeepLinkExt;
 #[allow(unused_imports)]
 use tauri_plugin_shell::process::CommandEvent;
 use tauri_plugin_store::StoreBuilder;
@@ -440,19 +439,29 @@ async fn main() {
             let sidecar_manager_clone = sidecar_manager.clone();
             app.manage(sidecar_manager.clone());
 
-            let sidecar_app_handle = app.handle().clone();
-            tauri::async_runtime::spawn(async move {
-                let mut manager = sidecar_manager_clone.lock().await;
-                if let Err(e) = manager.spawn(&sidecar_app_handle).await {
-                    error!("Failed to spawn initial sidecar: {}", e);
-                }
+            let app_handle = app.handle().clone();
 
-                // Spawn a background task to check and restart periodically
-                let mut manager = sidecar_manager_clone.lock().await;
-                if let Err(e) = manager.check_and_restart(&sidecar_app_handle).await {
-                    error!("Failed to restart sidecar: {}", e);
-                }
-            });
+            info!(
+                "will start sidecar: {}",
+                !use_dev_mode && !is_first_time_user
+            );
+
+            if !use_dev_mode && !is_first_time_user {
+                tauri::async_runtime::spawn(async move {
+                    let mut manager = sidecar_manager_clone.lock().await;
+                    if let Err(e) = manager.spawn(&app_handle).await {
+                        error!("Failed to spawn initial sidecar: {}", e);
+                    }
+
+                    // Spawn a background task to check and restart periodically
+                    let mut manager = sidecar_manager_clone.lock().await;
+                    if let Err(e) = manager.check_and_restart(&app_handle).await {
+                        error!("Failed to restart sidecar: {}", e);
+                    }
+                });
+            } else {
+                debug!("Dev mode enabled, skipping sidecar spawn and restart");
+            }
 
             // Inside the main function, after the `app.manage(port);` line, add:
             let server_shutdown_tx = spawn_server(app.handle().clone(), 11435);