diff --git a/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.mjs b/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.mjs
index c98947d4..8150c8fe 100644
--- a/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.mjs
+++ b/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.mjs
@@ -145,7 +145,11 @@ export const readLinuxDesktopEntries = async (options = {}) => {
 const desktopEntryMatchesApp = (entry, appName, appId = '') => {
   const needles = uniqueStrings([appName, appId]).flatMap((value) => [normalizeComparable(value), normalizeCompactComparable(value)]).filter(Boolean);
   const haystacks = [entry.name, entry.id, path.basename(entry.filePath || ''), entry.exec]
-    .flatMap((value) => [normalizeComparable(value), normalizeCompactComparable(value)]);
+    .flatMap((value) => [normalizeComparable(value), normalizeCompactComparable(value)])
+    // A value with no ASCII letters or digits (e.g. a CJK-only Name) normalizes to the empty
+    // string, and needle.includes('') is true for every app — drop it so such entries can
+    // only match through a field that still carries comparable text.
+    .filter(Boolean);
   return needles.some((needle) => haystacks.some((haystack) => haystack === needle || haystack.includes(needle) || needle.includes(haystack)));
 };
 
diff --git a/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.test.mjs b/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d318f77f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/electron/linux-app-discovery.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import test from 'node:test';
+
+import {
+  buildLinuxOpenSpecs,
+  filterLinuxInstalledApps,
+  parseDesktopEntry,
+} from './linux-app-discovery.mjs';
+
+const NON_ASCII_ONLY_ENTRY = `[Desktop Entry]
+Type=Application
+Name=抖音
+Exec=/usr/bin/example --app-url=https://www.douyin.com/
+Icon=example`;
+
+const TEST_ENV = { PATH: '/nonexistent-openchamber-test-bin' };
+
+const parseEntryAt = (content, id) => parseDesktopEntry(content, `/usr/share/applications/${id}.desktop`);
+
+test('still parses desktop entries whose Name has no ASCII letters or digits', () => {
+  const entry = parseEntryAt(NON_ASCII_ONLY_ENTRY, 'example');
+  assert.ok(entry);
+  assert.equal(entry.name, '抖音');
+  assert.equal(entry.exec, '/usr/bin/example --app-url=https://www.douyin.com/');
+});
+
+test('a non-ASCII-only desktop entry does not mark every app as installed', async () => {
+  const entry = parseEntryAt(NON_ASCII_ONLY_ENTRY, 'example');
+  const installed = await filterLinuxInstalledApps(
+    ['Visual Studio Code', 'Cursor', 'Sublime Text'],
+    { entries: [entry] },
+  );
+  assert.deepEqual(installed, []);
+});
+
+test('Open In specs never launch a non-ASCII-only entry for another app', () => {
+  const entry = parseEntryAt(NON_ASCII_ONLY_ENTRY, 'example');
+  const specs = buildLinuxOpenSpecs({
+    targetPath: '/tmp/project',
+    appId: 'vscode',
+    appName: 'Visual Studio Code',
+    entries: [entry],
+    env: TEST_ENV,
+  });
+  assert.deepEqual(specs, []);
+});
+
+test('ASCII desktop entries still match their own app and build their own launch spec', async () => {
+  const entry = parseEntryAt(`[Desktop Entry]
+Type=Application
+Name=Visual Studio Code
+Exec=/usr/bin/code %F
+Icon=code`, 'code');
+  const installed = await filterLinuxInstalledApps(
+    ['Visual Studio Code', 'Cursor'],
+    { entries: [entry] },
+  );
+  assert.deepEqual(installed, ['Visual Studio Code']);
+
+  const specs = buildLinuxOpenSpecs({
+    targetPath: '/tmp/project',
+    appId: 'vscode',
+    appName: 'Visual Studio Code',
+    entries: [entry],
+    env: TEST_ENV,
+  });
+  assert.equal(specs.length, 1);
+  assert.equal(specs[0].program, '/usr/bin/code');
+  assert.deepEqual(specs[0].args, ['/tmp/project']);
+});
+
+test('entries mixing ASCII and non-ASCII still match through their ASCII part', () => {
+  const entry = parseEntryAt(`[Desktop Entry]
+Type=Application
+Name=VSCode 抖音版
+Exec=/usr/local/bin/vscode-douyin %F
+Icon=vscode-douyin`, 'vscode-douyin');
+  const specs = buildLinuxOpenSpecs({
+    targetPath: '/tmp/project',
+    appId: 'vscode',
+    appName: 'Visual Studio Code',
+    entries: [entry],
+    env: TEST_ENV,
+  });
+  assert.equal(specs.length, 1);
+  assert.equal(specs[0].program, '/usr/local/bin/vscode-douyin');
+});
diff --git a/packages/electron/main.mjs b/packages/electron/main.mjs
index e972e614..fbec383b 100644
--- a/packages/electron/main.mjs
+++ b/packages/electron/main.mjs
@@ -246,6 +246,9 @@ const GITHUB_FEATURE_REQUEST_URL = 'https://github.com/openchamber/openchamber/i
 const DISCORD_INVITE_URL = 'https://discord.gg/ZYRSdnwwKA';
 const INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_TTL_SECS = 60 * 60 * 24;
 const INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_FILE = 'discovered-apps.json';
+// Bump when discovery results change shape or matching semantics change, so cached
+// entries written by an older build are treated as stale and refresh immediately.
+const INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_VERSION = 2;
 const LINUX_DESKTOP_ENTRIES_CACHE_TTL_MS = 30_000;
 const OPENCODE_SHUTDOWN_GRACE_MS = 100;
 const { autoUpdater } = updaterPkg;
@@ -4428,11 +4431,13 @@ const handleInvoke = async (browserWindow, command, args = {}) => {
       }
       const cachedApps = Array.isArray(cache?.apps) ? cache.apps : [];
       const hasCache = Boolean(cache);
-      const isCacheStale = !cache || (now - Number(cache.updatedAt || 0)) > INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_TTL_SECS;
+      const isCacheStale = !cache
+        || cache.version !== INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_VERSION
+        || (now - Number(cache.updatedAt || 0)) > INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_TTL_SECS;
       const refresh = async () => {
         const apps = await buildPlatformInstalledApps(Array.isArray(args.apps) ? args.apps : []);
         await fsp.mkdir(path.dirname(cachePath), { recursive: true });
-        await fsp.writeFile(cachePath, JSON.stringify({ updatedAt: now, apps }, null, 2));
+        await fsp.writeFile(cachePath, JSON.stringify({ version: INSTALLED_APPS_CACHE_VERSION, updatedAt: now, apps }, null, 2));
         emitToAllWindows('openchamber:installed-apps-updated', apps);
       };
       if (process.platform !== 'darwin' && process.platform !== 'win32' && process.platform !== 'linux') {