diff --git a/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro b/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro
index a840209b3..8ec043b22 100644
--- a/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro
+++ b/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro
@@ -6,18 +6,87 @@
 # and now treats unresolved references as fatal. The warnings below come from
 # third-party libraries that have always carried optional code paths; they
 # were silently tolerated on 1.10.3 and broke desktop packaging on 1.11.0.
+#
+# This file MUST keep rules for libraries that rely on reflection at runtime,
+# in addition to the dontwarn rules for compile-time noise. Otherwise the
+# release build will package classes whose reflectively-required methods
+# (`values()`/`valueOf()` on enums, JNA `Structure` field accessors, VLCj
+# discovery providers loaded via Class.forName) have been stripped or
+# renamed, and the app crashes at startup. See the v1.09.1 desktop-DMG
+# regression for an example: Jackson's `MapperConfig.collectFeatureDefaults`
+# called `SerializationFeature.values()` reflectively, got
+# `NoSuchMethodException` (because ProGuard had removed it as "unused"),
+# and the JVM failed to launch.
 
-# --- Jackson kotlin-module 2.21.x value-class converters ---------------------
-# Generated converters call `MethodHandle.invokeExact(...)` with polymorphic
-# signatures that ProGuard cannot resolve against the abstract MethodHandle
-# declaration. They are only used reflectively by Jackson when (de)serializing
-# Kotlin `value class` types — safe to suppress.
+# ============================================================================
+# Jackson — required to keep app launchable
+# ============================================================================
+# Jackson uses reflection extensively at construction time (ObjectMapper,
+# JsonMapper, SerializationConfig, DeserializationConfig). It enumerates
+# feature enums via `Class.getEnumConstants()` -> `values()`, scans for
+# `@JsonProperty`/`@JsonCreator`/etc. annotations on user types, and looks
+# up sub-classes by name through `Class.forName`. None of that survives an
+# optimize+shrink pass without explicit keep rules.
+-keep class com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.** { *; }
+-keep class com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.** { *; }
+-keep class com.fasterxml.jackson.core.** { *; }
+-keep class com.fasterxml.jackson.module.kotlin.** { *; }
+-keepclassmembers enum com.fasterxml.jackson.** {
+    public static **[] values();
+    public static ** valueOf(java.lang.String);
+}
+-keepattributes Signature,*Annotation*,EnclosingMethod,InnerClasses
+# Jackson kotlin-module 2.21.x value-class converters call
+# `MethodHandle.invokeExact(...)` with polymorphic signatures that ProGuard
+# cannot resolve against the abstract MethodHandle declaration. Safe to
+# suppress: only used reflectively when (de)serializing Kotlin `value class`
+# types.
 -dontwarn com.fasterxml.jackson.module.kotlin.**
 
-# --- okhttp optional runtime platforms --------------------------------------
+# ============================================================================
+# JNA + JNA platform — required by VLCj, kmp-tor, and any native binding
+# ============================================================================
+# JNA loads native libraries by reflecting on Structure subclasses (field
+# order discovered via `getDeclaredFields`), reads JNA callback interfaces by
+# name, and uses `Native.register` against class metadata. Without -keep,
+# `Native.<clinit>` and `Structure.getFields` both fail at runtime.
+-keep class com.sun.jna.** { *; }
+-keep class * implements com.sun.jna.** { *; }
+-keepclassmembers class * extends com.sun.jna.Structure {
+    <fields>;
+}
+# Suppress the inner-class accessor warnings from the new strict ruleset.
+# `com.sun.jna.internal.Cleaner$CleanerThread` references package-private
+# synthetic accessors (`access$100` …) that ProGuard's class member analysis
+# cannot follow through nested inner classes. The accessors exist at runtime.
+-dontwarn com.sun.jna.internal.Cleaner
+-dontwarn com.sun.jna.internal.Cleaner$*
+
+# ============================================================================
+# VLCj — discovery providers loaded reflectively via java.util.ServiceLoader
+# ============================================================================
+# VLCj enumerates implementations of
+# `uk.co.caprica.vlcj.factory.discovery.provider.DiscoveryDirectoryProvider`
+# via the ServiceLoader mechanism, which reads class names from
+# META-INF/services/* and resolves them with `Class.forName(...).newInstance()`.
+# ProGuard's default settings strip both the service files and the impl
+# classes (since nothing references them by name in user code). Keep
+# everything VLCj ships; VLCj is reflection-heavy throughout.
+-keep class uk.co.caprica.vlcj.** { *; }
+-keepclassmembers class * implements uk.co.caprica.vlcj.factory.discovery.provider.DiscoveryDirectoryProvider {
+    public <init>(...);
+}
+-keepclassmembers class * implements uk.co.caprica.vlcj.factory.discovery.provider.DiscoveryProvider {
+    public <init>(...);
+}
+
+# ============================================================================
+# OkHttp — optional TLS adapters discovered via Class.forName
+# ============================================================================
 # okhttp ships TLS adapters for GraalVM native-image, Conscrypt, BouncyCastle,
 # OpenJSSE, and Jetty boot. None of these are on the desktop classpath; okhttp
-# falls back to the JDK default. Suppress the warnings without keeping the
+# falls back to the JDK default via `Class.forName(...)`-style probes that
+# catch NoClassDefFoundError. Suppress the warnings without keeping the
 # unused classes.
 -dontwarn okhttp3.internal.graal.**
 -dontwarn okhttp3.internal.platform.BouncyCastlePlatform
@@ -32,9 +101,10 @@
 -dontwarn org.graalvm.**
 -dontwarn com.oracle.svm.**
 
-# --- JNA internal cleaner ---------------------------------------------------
-# `com.sun.jna.internal.Cleaner$CleanerThread` references package-private
-# synthetic accessors (`access$100` …) that ProGuard's class member analysis
-# cannot follow through nested inner classes. The accessors exist at runtime.
--dontwarn com.sun.jna.internal.Cleaner
--dontwarn com.sun.jna.internal.Cleaner$*
+# ============================================================================
+# SLF4J / logging — used reflectively by transitive deps
+# ============================================================================
+# jackson-databind and a few other deps `Class.forName("org.slf4j.LoggerFactory")`
+# to detect logging. We ship slf4j-nop; keep it intact so detection succeeds.
+-keep class org.slf4j.** { *; }
+-dontwarn org.slf4j.**