diff --git a/.github/workflows/packaging-lint.yml b/.github/workflows/packaging-lint.yml
index a12bbd91..37178444 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/packaging-lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/packaging-lint.yml
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           "$RUNNER_TEMP/actionlint" -color
       - name: shellcheck
-        run: shellcheck packaging/*.sh packaging/*/*.sh
+        run: shellcheck packaging/*.sh packaging/*/*.sh packaging/linux/AppRun
+      - name: AppImage AppRun desktop integration
+        run: bash packaging/linux/apprun-test.sh
       - name: PowerShell
         shell: pwsh
         run: |
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 510f7874..3beebb39 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -274,6 +274,8 @@ flatpak install --user photocraft-<version>-linux-x86_64.flatpak   # or -linux-a
 flatpak run ai.storyteller.photocraft
 ```
 
+The AppImage needs no install: the first run registers its launcher icon and menu entry in `~/.local/share` so the dock shows PhotoCraft's icon on Wayland. Set `PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION=1` to skip that, and see [`docs/releasing.md`](docs/releasing.md) › Linux to undo it.
+
 On macOS, the command-line tool comes as `photocraft-cli-<version>-macos-universal.zip`. The binary is signed with the same Developer ID as the app and notarized by Apple. A bare binary can't carry a stapled notarization ticket the way the DMG does, so the first time you run it macOS checks the notarization online. You can confirm it yourself:
 
 ```sh
diff --git a/docs/releasing.md b/docs/releasing.md
index da9c39f9..1d25c04c 100644
--- a/docs/releasing.md
+++ b/docs/releasing.md
@@ -156,12 +156,23 @@ plus a scalable SVG, AppStream metainfo, and a shared-mime-info file for `.pcraf
 
 Why these formats:
 
-- **AppImage** runs on any distribution without installing anything. It's the
+- **AppImage** runs on any distribution without installing anything. The
   download-and-go option and the fallback for distros the packages don't cover. It's built
   with the maintained `AppImage/appimagetool`, whose static runtime doesn't need libfuse2.
   Each AppImage embeds update information (`gh-releases-zsync|…|latest|…`, #349) and ships
   with a `.zsync` beside it, so AppImageUpdate, AppImageLauncher and similar tools can find
   the next release and download only the blocks that changed.
+  Its `AppRun` (`packaging/linux/AppRun`) also integrates with the desktop on launch: on
+  Wayland the dock icon comes from the compositor resolving the window's app_id against an
+  *installed* `.desktop` file, which an AppImage alone never provides — without this every
+  AppImage run shows the generic Wayland logo (#593). Best effort: it installs
+  `~/.local/share/applications/ai.storyteller.photocraft.desktop` with `Exec` rewritten to
+  the AppImage's path (`TryExec` dropped, the binary isn't on the host PATH) and the
+  hicolor icons beside it, rewriting only when the content changed, and any failure leaves
+  the launch untouched. `PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION=1` opts out; to uninstall, `rm
+  ~/.local/share/applications/ai.storyteller.photocraft.desktop` and `find
+  ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor -name 'ai.storyteller.photocraft*' -delete`. The script is
+  covered by `packaging/linux/apprun-test.sh` in the packaging-lint workflow.
 - **.deb** covers Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS and elementary. **.rpm** covers Fedora, RHEL
   and its clones, and openSUSE. Both integrate with the menu, MIME and icon caches (the
   `postinst.sh` hook) and uninstall cleanly. Both are built by
diff --git a/packaging/linux/AppRun b/packaging/linux/AppRun
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e8543ee2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packaging/linux/AppRun
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# PhotoCraft AppImage entry point (packaging/linux/AppRun; installed by package.sh).
+#
+# On Wayland the compositor resolves a window's dock icon by taking the window's
+# app_id (ai.storyteller.photocraft) and looking up an installed .desktop file.
+# An AppImage installs nothing, so every AppImage run would otherwise show the
+# generic "Wayland" icon (#593). Best-effort desktop integration: on first run
+# (and whenever the AppImage's path changes) install the .desktop entry and the
+# hicolor icons into $XDG_DATA_HOME, then launch. Every failure here must leave
+# the launch untouched. Opt out with PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION=1.
+
+set -u
+
+APPDIR="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
+DESK_ID=ai.storyteller.photocraft
+
+integrate() {
+  case "${PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION:-}" in
+    1 | true | yes) return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  # The AppImage runtime exports $APPIMAGE; without it (an extracted AppDir) there
+  # is no path to register and nothing to do.
+  appimage="${APPIMAGE:-}"
+  [ -n "$appimage" ] && [ -f "$appimage" ] || return 0
+  appimage="$(readlink -f "$appimage")" || return 0
+  # Exec= is parsed by the desktop: a path holding a quote, backquote, dollar, backslash,
+  # percent or a line break would need escaping (or could add lines), so skip integration.
+  case "$appimage" in
+    *[\"\`\$\\%]* | *'
+'*) return 0 ;;
+  esac
+  home="${HOME:-}"
+  [ -n "$home" ] || return 0
+  data="${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$home/.local/share}"
+  src_desktop="$APPDIR/usr/share/applications/$DESK_ID.desktop"
+  [ -f "$src_desktop" ] || return 0
+
+  # Rewrite Exec to this AppImage (the binary is not on the host PATH) and drop
+  # TryExec, which would hide the entry; everything else is shipped as packaged.
+  apps="$data/applications"
+  mkdir -p "$apps" 2>/dev/null || return 0
+  tmp="$apps/.$DESK_ID.tmp.$$"
+  esc="$(printf '%s' "$appimage" | sed 's/[\\&|]/\\&/g')"
+  if sed -e "s|^Exec=.*|Exec=\"$esc\" %F|" -e '/^TryExec=/d' "$src_desktop" 2>/dev/null >"$tmp"; then
+    if cmp -s "$tmp" "$apps/$DESK_ID.desktop"; then
+      rm -f "$tmp"
+    else
+      if mv -f "$tmp" "$apps/$DESK_ID.desktop" 2>/dev/null; then
+        command -v update-desktop-database >/dev/null 2>&1 && update-desktop-database "$apps" >/dev/null 2>&1
+      else
+        rm -f "$tmp"
+      fi
+    fi
+  else
+    rm -f "$tmp"
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  # Icons: per-file compare so an unchanged install costs a handful of cmp calls.
+  src_icons="$APPDIR/usr/share/icons/hicolor"
+  [ -d "$src_icons" ] || return 0
+  icons="$data/icons/hicolor"
+  (cd "$src_icons" && find . -type f) | while IFS= read -r rel; do
+    mkdir -p "$icons/$(dirname "$rel")" 2>/dev/null || continue
+    if ! cmp -s "$src_icons/$rel" "$icons/$rel"; then
+      cp "$src_icons/$rel" "$icons/$rel" 2>/dev/null || true
+    fi
+  done
+}
+
+integrate
+exec "$APPDIR/usr/bin/photocraft" "$@"
diff --git a/packaging/linux/apprun-test.sh b/packaging/linux/apprun-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..0c81a040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packaging/linux/apprun-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Smoke test for packaging/linux/AppRun: the AppImage's desktop integration writes
+# and refreshes the host .desktop entry and icons, is idempotent, honours the opt-out
+# and an unwritable HOME, and always launches the app (#593).
+#
+# Runs in seconds with no build (CI: .github/workflows/packaging-lint.yml).
+set -euo pipefail
+
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+ROOT="$(cd "$HERE/../.." && pwd)"
+APP_ID=ai.storyteller.photocraft
+
+TMP="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$TMP"' EXIT
+
+# Fake AppDir with the real AppRun, .desktop template, icons, and a stub binary.
+APPDIR="$TMP/PhotoCraft.AppDir"
+mkdir -p "$APPDIR/usr/bin"
+install -Dm755 "$HERE/AppRun" "$APPDIR/AppRun"
+install -Dm644 "$HERE/$APP_ID.desktop" "$APPDIR/usr/share/applications/$APP_ID.desktop"
+mkdir -p "$APPDIR/usr/share/icons"
+cp -R "$ROOT/assets/app-icon/hicolor" "$APPDIR/usr/share/icons/"
+printf '#!/bin/sh\necho "stub: $*"\n' >"$APPDIR/usr/bin/photocraft"
+chmod +x "$APPDIR/usr/bin/photocraft"
+
+APPIMAGE="$TMP/photocraft test.AppImage" # spaces on purpose: Exec must stay quoted
+: >"$APPIMAGE"
+export APPIMAGE
+export HOME="$TMP/home"
+export XDG_DATA_HOME="$HOME/.local/share"
+mkdir -p "$HOME"
+
+fail() {
+  echo "FAIL: $*" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+# 1. Launch works and passes arguments through.
+out="$("$APPDIR/AppRun" open file.png)" || fail "AppRun exited non-zero"
+[ "$out" = "stub: open file.png" ] || fail "arguments not forwarded: $out"
+
+DESKTOP="$XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/$APP_ID.desktop"
+[ -f "$DESKTOP" ] || fail "desktop entry not installed"
+
+# 2. Exec rewritten to the AppImage (quoted, spaces intact), TryExec dropped,
+#    everything else preserved from the packaged entry.
+expected_exec="Exec=\"$(readlink -f "$APPIMAGE")\" %F"
+grep -Fxq "$expected_exec" "$DESKTOP" || fail "Exec not rewritten: $(grep '^Exec=' "$DESKTOP")"
+grep -q '^TryExec=' "$DESKTOP" && fail "TryExec kept, the entry would be hidden"
+grep -Fxq "Icon=$APP_ID" "$DESKTOP" || fail "Icon line lost"
+grep -Fxq 'Categories=Graphics;2DGraphics;RasterGraphics;Photography;' "$DESKTOP" || fail "metadata lines lost"
+if command -v desktop-file-validate >/dev/null; then
+  desktop-file-validate "$DESKTOP" || fail "generated desktop entry is invalid"
+fi
+
+# 3. Icons landed under the name the .desktop entry references.
+for f in "16x16/apps/$APP_ID.png" "256x256/apps/$APP_ID.png" "scalable/apps/$APP_ID.svg"; do
+  [ -f "$XDG_DATA_HOME/icons/hicolor/$f" ] || fail "icon missing: $f"
+done
+
+# 4. Idempotent: a second launch must not rewrite anything (inode unchanged).
+before="$(stat -c %i "$DESKTOP")"
+out="$("$APPDIR/AppRun")" || fail "second launch exited non-zero"
+[ "$out" = "stub: " ] || fail "second launch output: $out"
+after="$(stat -c %i "$DESKTOP")"
+[ "$before" = "$after" ] || fail "desktop entry rewritten although unchanged"
+
+# 5. Moving the AppImage refreshes Exec.
+mv "$APPIMAGE" "$TMP/moved.AppImage"
+export APPIMAGE="$TMP/moved.AppImage"
+"$APPDIR/AppRun" >/dev/null || fail "launch after move exited non-zero"
+grep -Fxq "Exec=\"$(readlink -f "$APPIMAGE")\" %F" "$DESKTOP" || fail "Exec not refreshed after move"
+
+# 6. Opt-out installs nothing.
+rm -rf "$XDG_DATA_HOME"
+PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION=1 "$APPDIR/AppRun" >/dev/null || fail "opt-out launch exited non-zero"
+[ ! -e "$XDG_DATA_HOME" ] || fail "opt-out still integrated"
+
+# 7. An unwritable data dir never blocks the launch.
+mkdir -p "$TMP/ro" && chmod a-w "$TMP/ro"
+out="$(XDG_DATA_HOME="$TMP/ro/data" "$APPDIR/AppRun" out.txt)" || fail "launch blocked by unwritable data dir"
+[ "$out" = "stub: out.txt" ] || fail "stub not run against unwritable data dir: $out"
+chmod u+w "$TMP/ro"
+
+# 8. No $APPIMAGE (extracted AppDir): launch only, nothing installed.
+rm -rf "$XDG_DATA_HOME"
+env -u APPIMAGE "$APPDIR/AppRun" >/dev/null || fail "extracted-AppDir launch exited non-zero"
+[ ! -e "$XDG_DATA_HOME" ] || fail "integrated without $APPIMAGE"
+
+# 9. A path that would need Exec escaping (here a `$`): launch only, nothing installed.
+rm -rf "$XDG_DATA_HOME"
+odd="$TMP/odd\$(id).AppImage"
+: >"$odd"
+out="$(APPIMAGE="$odd" "$APPDIR/AppRun" x)" || fail "launch with an odd path exited non-zero"
+[ "$out" = "stub: x" ] || fail "odd path: $out"
+[ ! -e "$XDG_DATA_HOME" ] || fail "integrated an AppImage path that needs escaping"
+
+echo "AppRun desktop integration ok"
diff --git a/packaging/linux/package.sh b/packaging/linux/package.sh
index abc236a3..2cd7044b 100755
--- a/packaging/linux/package.sh
+++ b/packaging/linux/package.sh
@@ -97,7 +97,11 @@ if has appimage; then
   APPDIR="$WORK/PhotoCraft.AppDir"
   cp -R "$STAGE" "$APPDIR"
   mv "$APPDIR/usr/share/doc" "$WORK/doc-unused"
-  ln -s usr/bin/photocraft "$APPDIR/AppRun"
+  # AppRun is a script, not a symlink: it installs the .desktop entry and icons into
+  # $XDG_DATA_HOME before launching, so Wayland compositors can resolve the window's
+  # app_id to our icon instead of the generic Wayland logo (#593; opt-out env in the
+  # script header). Logic is covered by packaging/linux/apprun-test.sh.
+  install -Dm755 "$HERE/AppRun" "$APPDIR/AppRun"
   cp "$HERE/$APP_ID.desktop" "$APPDIR/$APP_ID.desktop"
   cp "$ROOT/assets/app-icon/hicolor/256x256/apps/$APP_ID.png" "$APPDIR/$APP_ID.png"
   ln -s "$APP_ID.png" "$APPDIR/.DirIcon"