diff --git a/settings/quickshell.nix b/settings/quickshell.nix
index 4cb6da2..71d7ab3 100644
--- a/settings/quickshell.nix
+++ b/settings/quickshell.nix
@@ -1575,7 +1575,14 @@ in
                         if (item.kind === "app") item.app.execute();
                         else if (item.kind === "file") Quickshell.execDetached([Commands.xdgOpen, item.path]);
                         else if (item.kind === "web") Quickshell.execDetached([Commands.xdgOpen, item.url]);
-                        else return;
+                        else {
+                            // Shout rather than no-op. An unwrapped DesktopEntry
+                            // reaching here is a caller bug, and the silent
+                            // version of it cost an afternoon: the pin tiles
+                            // looked fine and simply never launched anything.
+                            console.warn("launcher: activate() got no usable kind:", JSON.stringify(item));
+                            return;
+                        }
                         open = false;
                     }
 
@@ -2083,8 +2090,12 @@ in
                         pinFile.writeAdapter();
                     }
 
+                    // Must go through appItem(): activate() dispatches on `kind`,
+                    // so handing it a bare DesktopEntry silently does nothing.
                     function launchPin(id) {
-                        activate(DesktopEntries.applications.values.find(a => a.id === id));
+                        const app = DesktopEntries.applications.values.find(a => a.id === id);
+                        if (app === undefined) return;
+                        activate(appItem(app));
                     }
 
                     // App matches for the current query, kept apart from