diff --git a/cli/src/checks/service-health-check.ts b/cli/src/checks/service-health-check.ts
index aa84ad6e6ae..b8fa905e9b7 100644
--- a/cli/src/checks/service-health-check.ts
+++ b/cli/src/checks/service-health-check.ts
@@ -100,7 +100,10 @@ export async function serviceHealthChecks(
         },
   );
 
-  const expectedVersion = readInstallManifest()?.version ?? null;
+  let expectedVersion: string | null = null;
+  try {
+    expectedVersion = readInstallManifest()?.version ?? null;
+  } catch {}
   results.push(
     !health.ok
       ? {
diff --git a/cli/src/onboard-service.ts b/cli/src/onboard-service.ts
index 476d599a946..50cc8e052f6 100644
--- a/cli/src/onboard-service.ts
+++ b/cli/src/onboard-service.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export type OnboardServiceOptions = {
 type OnboardServiceDependencies = {
   detect: (instanceId: string) => Promise<ServiceManagerDetection>;
   confirm: () => Promise<boolean>;
+  confirmLinger: () => Promise<boolean>;
   isInteractive: () => boolean;
   info: (message: string) => void;
   success: (message: string) => void;
@@ -29,6 +30,13 @@ const defaultDependencies: OnboardServiceDependencies = {
     });
     return !p.isCancel(answer) && answer === true;
   },
+  confirmLinger: async () => {
+    const answer = await p.confirm({
+      message: "Allow Paperclip to keep running after logout? This may request system authorization.",
+      initialValue: false,
+    });
+    return !p.isCancel(answer) && answer === true;
+  },
   isInteractive: () => process.stdin.isTTY === true && process.stdout.isTTY === true,
   info: (message) => p.log.message(pc.dim(message)),
   success: (message) => p.log.success(message),
@@ -61,6 +69,9 @@ export async function handleOnboardService(
   if (!explicitlyRequested && !(await deps.confirm())) return false;
 
   await detection.manager.install({ startNow: true, startOnLogin: true });
+  if (!explicitlyRequested && detection.manager.enableLinger && await deps.confirmLinger()) {
+    await detection.manager.enableLinger();
+  }
   deps.success(`Installed and started ${detection.manager.serviceName}.`);
   return true;
 }
diff --git a/doc/INSTALLING.md b/doc/INSTALLING.md
index ff24052ed7e..216940a8794 100644
--- a/doc/INSTALLING.md
+++ b/doc/INSTALLING.md
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ If the vanity installer endpoint is unavailable, fetch the same
 release-controlled source from GitHub raw content:
 
 ```sh
-curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/scripts/install.sh | bash
+raw_base=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip
+curl -fsSL "$raw_base/master/scripts/install.sh" | bash
 ```
 
 For audits or incident response, pin the raw URL to a release tag or commit
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ SHA instead of `master`, download it first, and compare it with the published
 checksum at `https://paperclip.ing/install.sh.sha256`.
 
 Each installer flag also has a `PAPERCLIP_INSTALL_*` environment-variable
-equivalent for environments where passing arguments through a pipe is awkward.
+equivalent. This helps where passing arguments through a pipe is awkward.
 
 ## Managed Install Layout
 
diff --git a/scripts/clean-install-npm.sh b/scripts/clean-install-npm.sh
index 831b5d1d378..73fa082c538 100755
--- a/scripts/clean-install-npm.sh
+++ b/scripts/clean-install-npm.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+PC_INSTALL_DRIVER="${PC_INSTALL_DRIVER:-source}"
+
 PC_TEST_ROOT="$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/paperclip-clean-install.XXXXXX")"
 PC_HOME="$PC_TEST_ROOT/home"
 PC_CACHE="$PC_TEST_ROOT/npm-cache"
@@ -13,8 +16,11 @@ export npm_config_cache="$PC_CACHE"
 export npm_config_userconfig="$PC_HOME/.npmrc"
 export PATH="$PC_HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
 
-cd "$PC_TEST_ROOT"
-npx --yes --registry https://registry.npmjs.org paperclipai install
+if [ "$PC_INSTALL_DRIVER" = "published" ]; then
+  (cd "$PC_TEST_ROOT" && npx --yes --registry https://registry.npmjs.org paperclipai install)
+else
+  (cd "$REPO_ROOT" && pnpm paperclipai install --yes)
+fi
 
 test -x "$PC_HOME/.local/bin/paperclipai"
 test -L "$PAPERCLIP_HOME/cli/current"
@@ -23,7 +29,7 @@ paperclipai --version
 
 mkdir -p "$PAPERCLIP_HOME/instances/default"
 touch "$PAPERCLIP_HOME/instances/default/user-data-marker"
-paperclipai uninstall
+(cd "$REPO_ROOT" && pnpm paperclipai uninstall)
 
 test ! -e "$PAPERCLIP_HOME/cli"
 test ! -e "$PC_HOME/.local/bin/paperclipai"