diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts
index 3b45d80bbc6e2..085225c6e00f4 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { assert, describe, it } from "@effect/vitest";
-import { DESKTOP_UPDATE_RESTART_MARKER_FILE } from "@t3tools/contracts";
+import { DESKTOP_UPDATE_RESTART_MARKER_FILE, DesktopUpdateStateSchema } from "@t3tools/contracts";
 import * as Cause from "effect/Cause";
 import * as Deferred from "effect/Deferred";
 import * as Duration from "effect/Duration";
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import * as Logger from "effect/Logger";
 import * as Option from "effect/Option";
 import * as References from "effect/References";
 import * as Ref from "effect/Ref";
+import * as Schema from "effect/Schema";
 import * as Stream from "effect/Stream";
 import * as TestClock from "effect/testing/TestClock";
 
@@ -22,6 +23,8 @@ import * as DesktopUpdatePolicy from "./DesktopUpdatePolicy.ts";
 import * as DesktopUpdates from "./DesktopUpdates.ts";
 import { flushCallbacks, makeHarness } from "./updatesTestHarness.ts";
 
+const encodeUpdateState = Schema.encodeEffect(DesktopUpdateStateSchema);
+
 describe("DesktopUpdates", () => {
   it.effect("updates Linux .deb installs and leaves other non-AppImage installs off", () =>
     Effect.gen(function* () {
@@ -1064,6 +1067,7 @@ describe("DesktopUpdates under a managed policy", () => {
         assert.equal(held.status, "disabled");
         assert.include(held.message ?? "", message);
         assert.isTrue(held.channelBlockedByPolicy);
+        assert.isTrue((yield* encodeUpdateState(held)).channelBlockedByPolicy);
         assert.isFalse((yield* updates.check("menu")).checked);
         assert.equal(harness.checkCount(), 0);
 
diff --git a/packages/contracts/src/ipc.ts b/packages/contracts/src/ipc.ts
index afb87b14bc91f..75f600dfa7c3d 100644
--- a/packages/contracts/src/ipc.ts
+++ b/packages/contracts/src/ipc.ts
@@ -327,6 +327,7 @@ export const DesktopUpdateStateSchema = Schema.Struct({
   errorContext: Schema.NullOr(Schema.Literals(["check", "download", "install"])),
   canRetry: Schema.Boolean,
   notAppliedVersion: Schema.optionalKey(Schema.String),
+  channelBlockedByPolicy: Schema.optionalKey(Schema.Literal(true)),
 });
 
 export const DesktopCliCommandStateSchema = Schema.Struct({