diff --git a/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift b/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
index f8cf95de2..558658b89 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
@@ -259,8 +259,16 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject,
         // Setup signal handlers
         setupSignals()
 
-        // If we launched via zig run then we need to force foreground.
-        if Ghostty.launchSource == .zig_run {
+        switch Ghostty.launchSource {
+        case .app:
+            // Don't have to do anything.
+            break
+            
+        case .zig_run, .cli:
+            // Part of launch services (clicking an app, using `open`, etc.) activates
+            // the application and brings it to the front. When using the CLI we don't
+            // get this behavior, so we have to do it manually.
+            
             // This never gets called until we click the dock icon. This forces it
             // activate immediately.
             applicationDidBecomeActive(.init(name: NSApplication.didBecomeActiveNotification))
diff --git a/src/config/Config.zig b/src/config/Config.zig
index 221a7cf93..3ef39d87c 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.zig
+++ b/src/config/Config.zig
@@ -4535,6 +4535,13 @@ fn probableCliEnvironment() bool {
         // its not a real supported target and GTK via WSL2 assuming
         // single instance is probably fine.
         .windows => return false,
+
+        // On macOS, we don't want to detect `open` calls as CLI envs.
+        // Our desktop detection on macOS is very accurate due to how
+        // processes are launched on macOS, so if we detect we're launched
+        // from the app bundle then we're not in a CLI environment.
+        .macos => if (internal_os.launchedFromDesktop()) return false,
+
         else => {},
     }