diff --git a/modules/desktop/electron/libs/cli.ts b/modules/desktop/electron/libs/cli.ts
index 4cc3ebb..34193d0 100644
--- a/modules/desktop/electron/libs/cli.ts
+++ b/modules/desktop/electron/libs/cli.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
 import { spawn, exec } from "child_process";
-import { getGuiPath } from "./tea-dir";
+import { getGuiPath, getTeaPath } from "./tea-dir";
 import fs from "fs";
 import path from "path";
-import initializeTeaCli from "./initialize";
+import { initializeTeaCli } from "./initialize";
 
 import { app } from "electron";
 import log from "./logger";
 import { MainWindowNotifier } from "./types";
 
-const destinationDirectory = getGuiPath();
-
-export const cliBinPath = path.join(destinationDirectory, "tea");
+export const cliBinPath = path.join(getTeaPath(), "tea.xyz/v*/bin/tea");
 
 export async function installPackage(
   full_name: string,
@@ -34,7 +32,7 @@ export async function installPackage(
     const opts = { env: { HOME: app.getPath("home"), NO_COLOR: "1" } };
 
     const child = spawn(
-      `${destinationDirectory}/tea`,
+      cliBinPath,
       ["--env=false", "--sync", "--json", `+${qualifedPackage}`],
       opts
     );
@@ -200,6 +198,6 @@ export async function syncPantry() {
   const teaVersion = await initializeTeaCli();
 
   if (!teaVersion) throw new Error("no tea");
-  log.info("Syncing pantry");
-  await asyncExec(`cd '${destinationDirectory}' && ./tea -S`);
+  log.info("Syncing pantry", teaVersion);
+  await asyncExec(`DEBUG=1 "${cliBinPath}" --sync --env=false`);
 }
diff --git a/modules/desktop/electron/libs/initialize.ts b/modules/desktop/electron/libs/initialize.ts
index d9c70da..d784403 100644
--- a/modules/desktop/electron/libs/initialize.ts
+++ b/modules/desktop/electron/libs/initialize.ts
@@ -1,78 +1,162 @@
 import fs from "fs";
-import { getGuiPath } from "./tea-dir";
+import { getGuiPath, getTeaPath } from "./tea-dir";
 import log from "./logger";
-import { cliBinPath, asyncExec } from "./cli";
+// import { cliBinPath, asyncExec } from "./cli";
 import { createInitialSessionFile } from "./auth";
-import { SemVer, isValidSemVer } from "@tea/libtea";
+import * as https from "https";
+import { spawn } from "child_process";
+import path from "path";
+import { parse as semverParse } from "@tea/libtea";
 
-const MINIMUM_TEA_VERSION = "0.31.2";
+type InitState = "NOT_INITIALIZED" | "PENDING" | "INITIALIZED";
 
-const destinationDirectory = getGuiPath();
+class InitWatcher<T> {
+  private initState: InitState;
+  private initFunction: () => Promise<T>;
+  private initialValue: T | undefined;
+  private initializationPromise: Promise<T> | undefined;
 
-// TODO: move device_id generation here
-
-// Get the binary path from the current app directory
-const binaryUrl = "https://tea.xyz/$(uname)/$(uname -m)";
-
-let initializePromise: Promise<string> | null = null;
-
-export async function initializeTeaCli(): Promise<string> {
-  if (initializePromise) {
-    return initializePromise;
+  constructor(initFunction: () => Promise<T>) {
+    this.initState = "NOT_INITIALIZED";
+    this.initFunction = initFunction;
+    this.initialValue = undefined;
+    this.initializationPromise = undefined;
   }
 
-  log.info("Initializing tea cli");
-  initializePromise = initializeTeaCliInternal();
+  async initialize(): Promise<T> {
+    if (this.initState === "NOT_INITIALIZED") {
+      this.initState = "PENDING";
+      this.initializationPromise = this.retryFunction(this.initFunction, 3)
+        .then((value) => {
+          this.initialValue = value;
+          this.initState = "INITIALIZED";
+          return value;
+        })
+        .catch((error) => {
+          this.initState = "NOT_INITIALIZED";
+          this.initializationPromise = undefined;
+          throw error;
+        });
+    }
 
-  initializePromise.catch((error) => {
-    log.info("Error initializing tea cli, resetting promise:", error);
-    initializePromise = null;
-  });
-
-  return initializePromise;
-}
-
-async function initializeTeaCliInternal(): Promise<string> {
-  let binCheck = "";
-  let needsUpdate = false;
-
-  // Create the destination directory if it doesn't exist
-  if (!fs.existsSync(destinationDirectory)) {
-    fs.mkdirSync(destinationDirectory, { recursive: true });
+    return this.initializationPromise as Promise<T>;
   }
 
-  // replace this with max's pr
-  const curlCommand = `curl --insecure -L -o "${cliBinPath}" "${binaryUrl}"`;
-
-  const exists = fs.existsSync(cliBinPath);
-  if (exists) {
-    log.info("binary tea already exists at", cliBinPath);
+  async retryFunction(func: () => Promise<T>, retries: number, currentAttempt = 1): Promise<T> {
     try {
-      binCheck = await asyncExec(`cd ${destinationDirectory} && ./tea --version`);
-      const teaVersion = binCheck.toString().split(" ")[1].trim();
-      if (new SemVer(teaVersion).compare(new SemVer(MINIMUM_TEA_VERSION)) < 0) {
-        log.info("binary tea version is too old, updating");
-        needsUpdate = true;
-      }
+      const result = await func();
+      return result;
     } catch (error) {
-      // probably binary is not executable or no permission
-      log.error("Error checking tea binary version:", error);
-      needsUpdate = true;
-      await asyncExec(`cd ${destinationDirectory} && rm tea`);
+      if (currentAttempt < retries) {
+        return this.retryFunction(func, retries, currentAttempt + 1);
+      } else {
+        throw error;
+      }
     }
   }
 
-  if (!exists || needsUpdate) {
-    await asyncExec(curlCommand);
-    log.info("Binary downloaded and saved to", cliBinPath);
-    await asyncExec("chmod u+x " + cliBinPath);
-    log.info("Binary is now ready for use at", cliBinPath);
-    binCheck = await asyncExec(`cd ${destinationDirectory} && ./tea --version`);
+  reset(): void {
+    this.initState = "NOT_INITIALIZED";
+    this.initializationPromise = undefined;
   }
 
-  const version = binCheck.toString().split(" ")[1];
-  log.info("binary tea version:", version);
-  return isValidSemVer(version.trim()) ? version : "";
+  async observe(): Promise<T> {
+    return await this.initialize();
+  }
+
+  getState(): InitState {
+    return this.initState;
+  }
+}
+
+const teaCliPrefix = path.join(getTeaPath(), "tea.xyz/v*");
+
+export const cliInitializationState = new InitWatcher<string>(async () => {
+  if (!fs.existsSync(path.join(teaCliPrefix, "bin/tea"))) {
+    return installTeaCli();
+  } else {
+    const dir = fs.readlinkSync(teaCliPrefix);
+    const v = semverParse(dir)?.toString();
+    if (!v) throw new Error(`couldn't parse to semver: ${dir}`);
+    return v;
+  }
+});
+
+cliInitializationState.initialize();
+
+export async function initializeTeaCli(): Promise<string> {
+  if (
+    cliInitializationState.getState() === "INITIALIZED" &&
+    !fs.existsSync(path.join(teaCliPrefix, "bin/tea"))
+  ) {
+    cliInitializationState.reset();
+  }
+  return cliInitializationState.observe();
+}
+
+//NOTE copy pasta from https://github.com/teaxyz/setup/blob/main/action.js
+//FIXME ideally we'd not copy pasta this
+//NOTE using `tar` is not ideal ∵ Windows and even though tar is POSIX it's still not guaranteed to be available
+async function installTeaCli() {
+  const PREFIX = `${process.env.HOME}/.tea`;
+
+  const midfix = (() => {
+    switch (process.arch) {
+      case "arm64":
+        return `${process.platform}/aarch64`;
+      case "x64":
+        return `${process.platform}/x86-64`;
+      default:
+        throw new Error(`unsupported platform: ${process.platform}/${process.arch}`);
+    }
+  })();
+
+  /// versions.txt is guaranteed semver-sorted
+  const v: string | undefined = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    https
+      .get(`https://dist.tea.xyz/tea.xyz/${midfix}/versions.txt`, (rsp) => {
+        if (rsp.statusCode != 200) return reject(rsp.statusCode);
+        rsp.setEncoding("utf8");
+        const chunks: string[] = [];
+        rsp.on("data", (x) => chunks.push(x));
+        rsp.on("end", () => {
+          resolve(chunks.join("").trim().split("\n").at(-1));
+        });
+      })
+      .on("error", reject);
+  });
+
+  if (!v) throw new Error(`invalid versions.txt for tea/cli`);
+
+  fs.mkdirSync(PREFIX, { recursive: true });
+
+  const exitcode = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    https
+      .get(`https://dist.tea.xyz/tea.xyz/${midfix}/v${v}.tar.gz`, (rsp) => {
+        if (rsp.statusCode != 200) return reject(rsp.statusCode);
+        const tar = spawn("tar", ["xzf", "-"], {
+          stdio: ["pipe", "inherit", "inherit"],
+          cwd: PREFIX
+        });
+        rsp.pipe(tar.stdin);
+        tar.on("close", resolve);
+      })
+      .on("error", reject);
+  });
+
+  if (exitcode != 0) {
+    throw new Error(`tar: ${exitcode}`);
+  }
+
+  const oldwd = process.cwd();
+  process.chdir(`${PREFIX}/tea.xyz`);
+  if (fs.existsSync(`v*`)) fs.unlinkSync(`v*`);
+  fs.symlinkSync(`v${v}`, `v*`, "dir");
+  if (fs.existsSync(`v0`)) fs.unlinkSync(`v0`);
+  fs.symlinkSync(`v${v}`, `v0`, "dir"); //FIXME
+  process.chdir(oldwd);
+
+  return v;
 }
 
 export default async function initialize(): Promise<string> {
diff --git a/modules/desktop/electron/libs/ipc.ts b/modules/desktop/electron/libs/ipc.ts
index 5d7ab2d..cdf7ebd 100644
--- a/modules/desktop/electron/libs/ipc.ts
+++ b/modules/desktop/electron/libs/ipc.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import log from "./logger";
 import { syncLogsAt } from "./v1-client";
 import { installPackage, openPackageEntrypointInTerminal, syncPantry } from "./cli";
 
-import initializeTeaCli from "./initialize";
+import { initializeTeaCli, cliInitializationState } from "./initialize";
 
 import { getAutoUpdateStatus, getUpdater } from "./auto-updater";
 
@@ -142,7 +142,10 @@ export default function initializeHandlers({ notifyMainWindow }: HandlerOptions)
         await deletePackageFolder(fullName, version);
       } catch (e) {
         log.error(e);
-        return e;
+      } finally {
+        if (fullName === "tea.xyz") {
+          cliInitializationState.reset();
+        }
       }
     }
   );
diff --git a/modules/libtea/src/index.ts b/modules/libtea/src/index.ts
index 09789d3..20d06fc 100644
--- a/modules/libtea/src/index.ts
+++ b/modules/libtea/src/index.ts
@@ -1 +1 @@
-export { default as SemVer, isValidSemVer } from "./semver";
+export { default as SemVer, isValidSemVer, parse } from "./semver";