diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5840b66b74..4c990e2a1a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ _In development — bullets added per PR; finalized at release._
 
 ### 🔧 Bug Fixes
 
+- **cli (tray):** fix `omniroute server --tray` showing no tray on macOS/Linux with no error printed. The wired Unix tray path loaded `systray2` through an inline loader that called `require("module")` inside an ESM `.mjs` file (`"type":"module"`) → `ReferenceError: require is not defined`, silently swallowed (regressed in v3.8.34); even if it had loaded, `systray2` isn't in `node_modules` (it's lazily installed into `~/.omniroute/runtime`). The loader now delegates to the runtime loader, the icon path (`icon.png`) is corrected, `isTemplateIcon` is `false` (the full-color icon rendered as a white square under macOS template mode), and tray start failures are surfaced to stderr instead of being swallowed (#4605 — thanks @ProgMEM-CC)
 - **agent-bridge (antigravity):** unwrap the cloudcode-pa `.request` envelope when converting Antigravity IDE requests. The real IDE sends `cloudcode-pa.googleapis.com/v1internal:generateContent` with the Gemini request nested under `.request` (`{ project, model, request: { contents, systemInstruction, generationConfig } }`), but the bridge read those fields at the top level — yielding an empty conversation, so prompts hung mid-execution. The legacy `/v1beta/models/<model>:generateContent` top-level shape still works (#4294 — thanks @shabeer)
 - **dashboard:** add a GitHub releases fallback to the "Update Available" lookup. After the v3.8.28 fix added an npm-registry HTTP fallback, the banner could still stay hidden on networks that reach GitHub (where the news feed already loads) but not `registry.npmjs.org`. `resolveLatestVersion()` now tries npm CLI → npm registry → GitHub releases (`/repos/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute/releases/latest`) before giving up, and logs a warning only when all three fail (#4100)
 - **command-code:** omit `max_tokens` when the client omits it so the upstream applies the model's native default, fixing `400 "expected <=200000"` on `/alpha/generate` for high-cap models; an explicit oversized client value is clamped to the 200k endpoint ceiling (#5221 — thanks @adivekar-utexas)
diff --git a/bin/cli/commands/serve.mjs b/bin/cli/commands/serve.mjs
index 45c6a06a30..eed761c693 100644
--- a/bin/cli/commands/serve.mjs
+++ b/bin/cli/commands/serve.mjs
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ async function maybeStartTray(port, apiPort, supervisor) {
     if (!isTraySupported()) return;
     const { default: open } = await import("open").catch(() => ({ default: null }));
     const dashboardUrl = `http://localhost:${port}`;
-    const tray = initTray({
+    const tray = await initTray({
       port,
       onQuit: () => {
         killTrayIfActive();
@@ -329,8 +329,12 @@ async function maybeStartTray(port, apiPort, supervisor) {
       const { killTray } = await import("../tray/index.mjs");
       _killTray = killTray;
     }
-  } catch {
-    // tray is optional — do not fail the server
+  } catch (err) {
+    // tray is optional — do not fail the server, but surface why it failed so
+    // "--tray shows nothing" is diagnosable instead of silent (#4605).
+    process.stderr.write(
+      `[omniroute][tray] failed to start: ${err?.message ?? String(err)}\n`
+    );
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/bin/cli/tray/index.mjs b/bin/cli/tray/index.mjs
index ab68812591..5745062e66 100644
--- a/bin/cli/tray/index.mjs
+++ b/bin/cli/tray/index.mjs
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@ let active = null;
 
 export { isTraySupported };
 
-export function initTray({ port, onQuit, onOpenDashboard, onShowLogs }) {
+export async function initTray({ port, onQuit, onOpenDashboard, onShowLogs }) {
   if (!isTraySupported()) return null;
   const ctx = { port, onQuit, onOpenDashboard, onShowLogs };
-  active = process.platform === "win32" ? initWinTray(ctx) : initSystrayUnix(ctx);
+  // initSystrayUnix is async: it lazily installs/loads systray2 from the runtime
+  // dir (trayRuntime.ts) rather than from node_modules. (#4605)
+  active = process.platform === "win32" ? initWinTray(ctx) : await initSystrayUnix(ctx);
   return active;
 }
 
diff --git a/bin/cli/tray/traySystray.mjs b/bin/cli/tray/traySystray.mjs
index 4c5bcb3c5e..c7916a4108 100644
--- a/bin/cli/tray/traySystray.mjs
+++ b/bin/cli/tray/traySystray.mjs
@@ -14,30 +14,31 @@ export function isTraySupported() {
   return true;
 }
 
-function loadSystray2() {
-  const candidates = [
-    () => {
-      const { createRequire } = require("module");
-      const req = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-      return req("systray2").default;
-    },
-  ];
-  for (const attempt of candidates) {
-    try {
-      return attempt();
-    } catch {}
-  }
-  return null;
+// systray2 is NOT a static dependency — it is lazily installed into
+// ~/.omniroute/runtime by trayRuntime.ts (loadSystray). The previous inline
+// loader called `require("module")`, which throws `ReferenceError: require is
+// not defined` in this ESM file (package "type":"module"); the throw was
+// silently swallowed, so the tray never appeared on macOS/Linux with no error
+// printed (#4605, regressed in v3.8.34). Delegate to the runtime loader, which
+// resolves systray2 from the runtime dir and surfaces install/import failures.
+async function loadSystray2() {
+  const { loadSystray } = await import("../runtime/trayRuntime.ts");
+  return loadSystray();
 }
 
 function getIconBase64() {
-  const iconPath = join(__dirname, "icons", "icon.png");
+  // Icon ships at bin/cli/tray/icon.png — the previous "icons/icon.png" path
+  // never existed, so the tray was created with an empty icon (#4605).
+  const iconPath = join(__dirname, "icon.png");
   if (existsSync(iconPath)) return readFileSync(iconPath).toString("base64");
   return "";
 }
 
-export function initSystrayUnix({ port, onQuit, onOpenDashboard, onShowLogs }) {
-  const SysTray = loadSystray2();
+export async function initSystrayUnix(
+  { port, onQuit, onOpenDashboard, onShowLogs },
+  loadCtor = loadSystray2
+) {
+  const SysTray = await loadCtor();
   if (!SysTray) return null;
 
   const autostartEnabled = isAutostartEnabled();
@@ -57,7 +58,10 @@ export function initSystrayUnix({ port, onQuit, onOpenDashboard, onShowLogs }) {
     tray = new SysTray({
       menu: {
         icon: getIconBase64(),
-        isTemplateIcon: process.platform === "darwin",
+        // isTemplateIcon must be false: icon.png is a full-color RGBA logo, and
+        // macOS template mode uses only the alpha channel → a solid white square
+        // (the icon looked "missing" even when the tray loaded). (PR #1080)
+        isTemplateIcon: false,
         title: "",
         tooltip: `OmniRoute — port ${port}`,
         items,
diff --git a/tests/unit/tray-systray-loader-4605.test.ts b/tests/unit/tray-systray-loader-4605.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..adbf760308
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/tray-systray-loader-4605.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+// Regression coverage for #4605 — `omniroute server --tray` showed no tray on
+// macOS/Linux with no error printed.
+//
+// Root cause (regressed in v3.8.34): the wired Unix tray path
+// (serve.mjs → tray/index.mjs → traySystray.mjs) loaded systray2 via an inline
+// loader that called `require("module")` inside an ESM `.mjs` file (package
+// "type":"module"). `require` is undefined in ESM, so it threw
+// `ReferenceError: require is not defined`, which a bare `catch {}` swallowed →
+// `loadSystray2()` returned null → no tray, no diagnostic. Even had it loaded,
+// systray2 is not in node_modules (it is lazily installed into
+// ~/.omniroute/runtime by trayRuntime.ts), the icon was read from a
+// non-existent "icons/icon.png" path, and `isTemplateIcon` was true on darwin
+// (full-color icon → white square).
+//
+// The fix makes `initSystrayUnix` async and delegates loading to the runtime
+// loader. We can't spawn the real native Go binary in a unit test, so — like
+// cli-tray-systray2.test.ts — we drive the seam with an injected ctor loader
+// and assert the menu/icon/template invariants.
+
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { initSystrayUnix } from "../../bin/cli/tray/traySystray.mjs";
+
+class FakeSysTray {
+  static lastOpts: unknown = null;
+  onClickFn: unknown = null;
+  constructor(opts: unknown) {
+    FakeSysTray.lastOpts = opts;
+  }
+  onClick(fn: unknown) {
+    this.onClickFn = fn;
+  }
+  ready() {
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }
+  sendAction() {}
+  kill() {}
+}
+
+const opts = {
+  port: 20128,
+  onQuit: () => {},
+  onOpenDashboard: () => {},
+  onShowLogs: () => {},
+};
+
+test("initSystrayUnix loads the injected SysTray ctor and builds the menu (#4605)", async () => {
+  FakeSysTray.lastOpts = null;
+  // Async loader seam — proves initSystrayUnix awaits the runtime loader instead
+  // of the old broken inline `require("module")` path.
+  const tray = await initSystrayUnix(opts, async () => FakeSysTray as unknown as new () => unknown);
+
+  assert.ok(tray, "a tray instance must be created when a SysTray ctor is available");
+
+  const menu = (FakeSysTray.lastOpts as { menu: Record<string, unknown> }).menu;
+  // White-square fix: must not be a macOS template icon.
+  assert.equal(menu.isTemplateIcon, false, "isTemplateIcon must be false (full-color icon)");
+  // Icon-path fix: the bundled icon.png must resolve to a non-empty base64 blob.
+  assert.ok(
+    typeof menu.icon === "string" && (menu.icon as string).length > 0,
+    "menu.icon must be a non-empty base64 string (icon.png path fix)"
+  );
+
+  const items = menu.items as Array<{ title: string }>;
+  const titles = items.map((i) => i.title);
+  assert.equal(items.length, 5, "menu should keep its 5 items");
+  assert.ok(
+    titles.includes("Show Logs"),
+    `the "Show Logs" item must be preserved, got: ${titles.join(", ")}`
+  );
+  assert.ok(
+    titles.includes("Quit OmniRoute"),
+    `the Quit item must be present, got: ${titles.join(", ")}`
+  );
+});
+
+test("initSystrayUnix returns null without throwing when the loader yields null (#4605)", async () => {
+  const tray = await initSystrayUnix(opts, async () => null);
+  assert.equal(tray, null, "must degrade to null when systray2 cannot be loaded");
+});