diff --git a/bin/openclaude b/bin/openclaude
index a66e13659..9f3f66e7f 100755
--- a/bin/openclaude
+++ b/bin/openclaude
@@ -75,9 +75,19 @@ function relaunchWithLongSessionHeapIfNeeded() {
     arg => !arg.startsWith('--max-memory=') && arg !== '--max-memory',
   )
 
+  // Preserve the original argv[1] (which may be a symlink like
+  // /usr/local/bin/openclaude) instead of resolving it via import.meta.url.
+  // Resolving symlinks here defeats install-type detection downstream: a real
+  // npm global install (symlink → node_modules/@gitlawb/openclaude/bin) would
+  // resolve to the package's real path inside node_modules, which is fine, but
+  // a `npm install -g .` dev symlink resolves back to the repo and looks like
+  // a source-tree dev run. Using argv[1] keeps the invocation path stable so
+  // doctorDiagnostic's npm-global path markers can match correctly.
+  const launcherPath = process.argv[1] || fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)
+
   const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [
     ...execArgv,
-    fileURLToPath(import.meta.url),
+    launcherPath,
     ...childArgs,
   ], {
     stdio: 'inherit',
diff --git a/src/utils/doctorDiagnostic.ts b/src/utils/doctorDiagnostic.ts
index 34aabeeb8..122f6ad4c 100644
--- a/src/utils/doctorDiagnostic.ts
+++ b/src/utils/doctorDiagnostic.ts
@@ -99,10 +99,6 @@ function getNormalizedPaths(): [invokedPath: string, execPath: string] {
 }
 
 export async function getCurrentInstallationType(): Promise<InstallationType> {
-  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
-    return 'development'
-  }
-
   const [invokedPath] = getNormalizedPaths()
 
   // Check if running in bundled mode first
@@ -158,6 +154,15 @@ export async function getCurrentInstallationType(): Promise<InstallationType> {
     return 'npm-global'
   }
 
+  // Development build: running from a source tree (e.g. `bun run dev`) with
+  // NODE_ENV=development. Checked AFTER all real-install path markers so that
+  // a user shell exporting NODE_ENV=development can't downgrade a real npm
+  // install to 'development' (which would block /update). A source-tree run
+  // matches none of the path markers above, so it lands here.
+  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
+    return 'development'
+  }
+
   // If we can't determine, return unknown
   return 'unknown'
 }