bug: Installation assumes that ~/.local/bin exists when setting up the terminal

[pauljcoles]

Checks

• I have searched github.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/issues and there are no duplicates of my issue
• I have run q doctor in the affected terminal session
• I have run q restart and replicated the issue again

Operating system

Mac OS Sequoia 15.6

Expected behaviour

When installing from the GUI, installation should work and if there are any issue with the installation it should state the issues and give remedies for it.

Actual behaviour

When installing from the GUI it appears that it assumes ~/.local/bin exists when setting up the terminal. We had a few people that have never installed packages etc. on their macs.

So when running 'q chat' they would get a 'command not found' error.

Basically, because the folder didn't exist it couldn't create the symbolic link.

Q doctor would show that QTerm isn't running.

The following fixed it:

1. Verify Amazon Q app is installed:
   bashls -la "/Applications/Amazon Q.app/Contents/MacOS/q"
   (Should show the executable file)

2. Create the local bin directory:
   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

3. Create the symbolic link:
   ln -s "/Applications/Amazon Q.app/Contents/MacOS/q" ~/.local/bin/q

4. Add ~/.local/bin to your PATH:
   echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

5. Reload your shell configuration:
   source ~/.zshrc

6. Test that q command works:
   q --version

Then for some users that had Chat GPT'd it turning the Terminal integration off and on, then opening a new terminal fixed the issue.

Steps to reproduce

1. On a mac without a ~/.local/bin
2. Run the GUI installer
3. When complete
4. Run Q chat in a new terminal window

Environment

[q-details]
version = "1.15.0"
hash = "eb8db5c635fc469f3bd94ead16bb4bfb32d7443b"
date = "2025-09-02T17:57:24.662205Z (8d ago)"
variant = "full"

[system-info]
os = "macOS 15.6.0 (24G84)"
chip = "Apple M1 Pro"
total-cores = 10
memory = "16.00 GB"

[environment]
cwd = "/Volumes/git-workspace/code/ai-taf"
cli-path = "/Volumes/git-workspace/code/ai-taf"
os = "Mac"
shell-path = "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/zsh/5.9/bin/zsh"
shell-version = "5.9"
terminal = "VSCode"
install-method = "brew"

[env-vars]
PATH = "/Users/USER/.rd/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/node@18/bin:/Users/USER/.nvm/versions/node/v16.20.2/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/opt/homebrew/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/System/Cryptexes/App/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/local/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/bin:/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/codex.system/bootstrap/usr/appleinternal/bin:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:/opt/podman/bin:/Users/USER/.rd/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/node@18/bin:/Users/USER/.nvm/versions/node/v16.20.2/bin:/Users/USER/.local/bin:/Users/USER/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.debugpy-2025.10.0-darwin-arm64/bundled/scripts/noConfigScripts:/opt/homebrew/bin"
QTERM_SESSION_ID = "3e6b2eef5bd74705979821b4bac25425"
Q_SET_PARENT_CHECK = "1"
Q_TERM = "1.15.0"
SHELL = "/bin/zsh"
TERM = "xterm-256color"
ZDOTDIR = "/Users/USER"
__CFBundleIdentifier = "com.microsoft.VSCode"