@@ -82,7 +82,14 @@ export function execPromise(command: string, args?: string[], options?: ExecOpti
 
     process.stderr.on('data', data => {
       stdErr += data;
-      options?.logger?.error(data);
+      if (
+        data.trim() &&
+        (!data.startsWith('level=') || data.startsWith('level=error') || data.startsWith('level=fatal'))
+      ) {
+        options?.logger?.error(data);
+      } else {
+        options?.logger?.log(data);
+      }
     });
 
     process.on('error', error => {
 
@@ -0,0 +1,260 @@
+/**********************************************************************
+ * Copyright (C) 2026 Red Hat, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ ***********************************************************************/
+
+import type * as extensionApi from '@podman-desktop/api';
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from 'vitest';
+
+import * as crcCli from './crc-cli.js';
+import * as daemon from './daemon-commander.js';
+import type { Status } from './types.js';
+
+// Mock node:child_process — keychainStore / keychainLoad use execFile
+const mockExecFile = vi.fn();
+vi.mock('node:child_process', () => ({
+  execFile: (...args: unknown[]) => mockExecFile(...args),
+}));
+
+vi.mock('node:util', () => ({
+  promisify: (fn: unknown) =>
+    vi.fn().mockImplementation((...args: unknown[]) => {
+      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-call
+        (fn as (...a: unknown[]) => void)(...args, (error: Error | null, stdout: string, stderr: string) => {
+          if (error) reject(error);
+          else resolve({ stdout: stdout ?? '', stderr: stderr ?? '' });
+        });
+      });
+    }),
+}));
+
+vi.mock('node:fs/promises', () => ({
+  mkdtemp: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue('/tmp/crc-ps-test'),
+  writeFile: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+  unlink: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+  rmdir: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined),
+}));
+
+vi.mock('node:os', () => ({
+  tmpdir: () => '/tmp',
+}));
+
+vi.mock('node:path', async importOriginal => {
+  return importOriginal();
+});
+
+vi.mock('./crc-cli.js', () => ({
+  execPromise: vi.fn(),
+  getCrcCli: vi.fn().mockReturnValue('/usr/local/bin/crc'),
+}));
+
+vi.mock('./daemon-commander.js', () => ({
+  commander: {
+    status: vi.fn(),
+  },
+}));
+
+vi.mock('./util.js', () => ({
+  productName: 'OpenShift Local',
+}));
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  vi.restoreAllMocks();
+});
+
+function mockKeychainLoadSuccess(pullSecret: string): void {
+  // execFileAsync calls execFile(path, args, callback)
+  mockExecFile.mockImplementation(
+    (cmd: string, args: string[], callback?: (err: Error | null, stdout: string, stderr: string) => void) => {
+      if (typeof callback === 'function') {
+        // This is the promisified execFile path (keychainLoad)
+        callback(null, pullSecret + '\n', '');
+      }
+      // Return a mock child process for the non-promisified path (keychainStore)
+      return {
+        stdin: { write: vi.fn(), end: vi.fn() },
+        stdout: null,
+        stderr: null,
+      };
+    },
+  );
+}
+
+function mockKeychainLoadFailure(exitCode = 44): void {
+  mockExecFile.mockImplementation(
+    (cmd: string, args: string[], callback?: (err: Error | null, stdout: string, stderr: string) => void) => {
+      if (typeof callback === 'function') {
+        const err: Error & { code?: number } = new Error('The specified item could not be found in the keychain.');
+        err.code = exitCode;
+        callback(err, '', '');
+        return;
+      }
+      return {
+        stdin: { write: vi.fn(), end: vi.fn() },
+        stdout: null,
+        stderr: null,
+      };
+    },
+  );
+}
+
+const mockLogger: extensionApi.Logger = {
+  log: vi.fn(),
+  warn: vi.fn(),
+  error: vi.fn(),
+} as unknown as extensionApi.Logger;
+
+describe('hasPullSecret', () => {
+  test('returns true when keychain has the pull secret', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadSuccess('{"auths":{}}');
+    const { hasPullSecret } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    expect(await hasPullSecret()).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test('returns false when keychain item does not exist (exit 44)', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadFailure(44);
+    const { hasPullSecret } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    expect(await hasPullSecret()).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test('re-throws when keychain fails for a reason other than missing item', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadFailure(1);
+    const { hasPullSecret } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    await expect(hasPullSecret()).rejects.toThrow();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('storePullSecret', () => {
+  test('calls security -i with the pull secret via stdin', async () => {
+    const stdinWrite = vi.fn();
+    const stdinEnd = vi.fn();
+
+    mockExecFile.mockImplementation((cmd: string, args: string[], callback?: (err: Error | null) => void) => {
+      if (Array.isArray(args) && args[0] === '-i') {
+        // security -i for keychainStore
+        if (typeof callback === 'function') {
+          // simulate success after stdin is piped
+          setTimeout(() => callback(null), 0);
+        }
+        return {
+          stdin: { write: stdinWrite, end: stdinEnd },
+        };
+      }
+      return { stdin: { write: vi.fn(), end: vi.fn() } };
+    });
+
+    const { storePullSecret } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    await storePullSecret('{"auths":{"reg.io":{"auth":"abc"}}}');
+
+    expect(stdinWrite).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    const writtenCommand = stdinWrite.mock.calls[0][0] as string;
+    expect(writtenCommand).toContain('add-generic-password');
+    expect(writtenCommand).toContain('com.redhat.crc-extension.pull-secret');
+    expect(writtenCommand).toContain('-U');
+    expect(stdinEnd).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+  });
+
+  test('escapes backslashes and quotes in pull secret', async () => {
+    const stdinWrite = vi.fn();
+
+    mockExecFile.mockImplementation((cmd: string, args: string[], callback?: (err: Error | null) => void) => {
+      if (typeof callback === 'function') {
+        setTimeout(() => callback(null), 0);
+      }
+      return { stdin: { write: stdinWrite, end: vi.fn() } };
+    });
+
+    const { storePullSecret } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    await storePullSecret('val\\"ue');
+
+    const writtenCommand = stdinWrite.mock.calls[0][0] as string;
+    expect(writtenCommand).toContain('val\\\\\\"ue');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('start', () => {
+  test('throws missing pull secret error when keychain is empty', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadFailure();
+    const { start } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+
+    await expect(start(mockLogger)).rejects.toThrow('Failed to ask for pull secret');
+  });
+
+  test('reads from keychain, writes temp file, calls crc start, and returns Running', async () => {
+    const pullSecret = '{"auths":{"registry.redhat.io":{"auth":"dXNlcjpwYXNz"}}}';
+    mockKeychainLoadSuccess(pullSecret);
+
+    const fs = await import('node:fs/promises');
+    vi.spyOn(crcCli, 'execPromise').mockResolvedValue('');
+    vi.spyOn(daemon.commander, 'status').mockResolvedValue({
+      CrcStatus: 'Running',
+    } as Status);
+
+    const { start } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    const result = await start(mockLogger);
+
+    expect(result.Status).toBe('Running');
+    expect(fs.writeFile).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining('pull-secret.json'), pullSecret, { mode: 0o600 });
+    expect(crcCli.execPromise).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      '/usr/local/bin/crc',
+      ['start', '--pull-secret-file', expect.stringContaining('pull-secret.json')],
+      expect.objectContaining({ logger: mockLogger }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('cleans up temp file even when crc start fails', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadSuccess('{"auths":{}}');
+
+    const fs = await import('node:fs/promises');
+    vi.spyOn(crcCli, 'execPromise').mockRejectedValue(new Error('start failed'));
+    vi.spyOn(daemon.commander, 'status').mockRejectedValue(new Error('daemon unreachable'));
+
+    const { start } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+
+    await expect(start(mockLogger)).rejects.toThrow('start failed');
+    expect(fs.unlink).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining('pull-secret.json'));
+    expect(fs.rmdir).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining('crc-ps-'));
+  });
+
+  test('returns Running if daemon reports Running despite CLI error', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadSuccess('{"auths":{}}');
+
+    vi.spyOn(crcCli, 'execPromise').mockRejectedValue(new Error('exit code 1'));
+    vi.spyOn(daemon.commander, 'status').mockResolvedValue({
+      CrcStatus: 'Running',
+    } as Status);
+
+    const { start } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    const result = await start(mockLogger);
+
+    expect(result.Status).toBe('Running');
+  });
+
+  test('returns non-Running status from daemon on success', async () => {
+    mockKeychainLoadSuccess('{"auths":{}}');
+
+    vi.spyOn(crcCli, 'execPromise').mockResolvedValue('');
+    vi.spyOn(daemon.commander, 'status').mockResolvedValue({
+      CrcStatus: 'Starting',
+    } as Status);
+
+    const { start } = await import('./crc-start-macos.js');
+    const result = await start(mockLogger);
+
+    expect(result.Status).toBe('Starting');
+  });
+});