diff --git a/Taskfile.yml b/Taskfile.yml
index 45a43bae4..a7559c2f3 100644
--- a/Taskfile.yml
+++ b/Taskfile.yml
@@ -346,7 +346,8 @@ tasks:
         method: timestamp
         cmds:
             # Generates both .ico and .icns files
-            - wails3 generate icons -input appicon.png
+            # commented out for now
+            # - wails3 generate icons -input appicon.png
 
     install:frontend:deps:
         summary: Install frontend dependencies
diff --git a/build/appicon.png b/build/appicon.png
index c40e57904..e6852fb3e 100644
Binary files a/build/appicon.png and b/build/appicon.png differ
diff --git a/build/icon.ico b/build/icon.ico
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..523704eaa
Binary files /dev/null and b/build/icon.ico differ
diff --git a/build/icons.icns b/build/icons.icns
index 79cd56e67..be5c9df50 100644
Binary files a/build/icons.icns and b/build/icons.icns differ
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 44ac8e0c5..c3487f7a6 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/sawka/txwrap v0.2.0
 	github.com/wailsapp/wails/v3 v3.0.0-alpha.0
 	github.com/wavetermdev/waveterm/wavesrv v0.0.0-20240508181017-d07068c09d94
+	golang.org/x/sys v0.19.0
 )
 
 require (
@@ -55,7 +56,6 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230626212559-97b1e661b5df // indirect
 	golang.org/x/mod v0.12.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/net v0.21.0 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/sys v0.19.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/tools v0.13.0 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/warnings.v0 v0.1.2 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 18678152e..202d68bec 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"embed"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/wavetermdev/thenextwave/pkg/blockstore"
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ import (
 //go:embed dist
 var assets embed.FS
 
-//go:embed build/appicon.png
+//go:embed build/icons.icns
 var appIcon []byte
 
 func createAppMenu(app *application.App) *application.Menu {
@@ -91,6 +92,12 @@ func main() {
 		log.Printf("error ensuring wave home dir: %v\n", err)
 		return
 	}
+	waveLock, err := wavebase.AcquireWaveLock()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Printf("error acquiring wave lock (another instance of Wave is likely running): %v\n", err)
+		return
+	}
+
 	log.Printf("wave home dir: %s\n", wavebase.GetWaveHomeDir())
 	err = blockstore.InitBlockstore()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -129,4 +136,5 @@ func main() {
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Printf("run error: %v\n", err)
 	}
+	runtime.KeepAlive(waveLock)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/wavebase/wavebase.go b/pkg/wavebase/wavebase.go
index 4f5d74b62..5e5bcac25 100644
--- a/pkg/wavebase/wavebase.go
+++ b/pkg/wavebase/wavebase.go
@@ -12,10 +12,13 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
+
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
 
 const WaveVersion = "v0.1.0"
@@ -23,6 +26,7 @@ const DefaultWaveHome = "~/.w2"
 const WaveHomeVarName = "WAVETERM_HOME"
 const WaveDevVarName = "WAVETERM_DEV"
 const HomeVarName = "HOME"
+const WaveLockFile = "waveterm.lock"
 
 var baseLock = &sync.Mutex{}
 var ensureDirCache = map[string]bool{}
@@ -137,3 +141,19 @@ func DetermineLang() string {
 	})
 	return osLang
 }
+
+func AcquireWaveLock() (*os.File, error) {
+	homeDir := GetWaveHomeDir()
+	lockFileName := filepath.Join(homeDir, WaveLockFile)
+	log.Printf("[base] acquiring lock on %s\n", lockFileName)
+	fd, err := os.OpenFile(lockFileName, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, 0600)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	err = unix.Flock(int(fd.Fd()), unix.LOCK_EX|unix.LOCK_NB)
+	if err != nil {
+		fd.Close()
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return fd, nil
+}