fix(onboard): clarify preflight messages reference local NIM

[zyang-dev]

Summary

Preflight currently says "will use cloud inference" whenever a NIM-capable GPU is missing, which overstates the constraint. Local Ollama on CPU and other CPU-friendly providers remain available, so the message misled CPU-only users into thinking cloud was their only option.

Changes

• src/lib/onboard.ts:2494,2500,2502: drop the "will use cloud inference" tail from the three preflight GPU notices
• Add a "local NIM" qualifier so all three messages consistently describe local NIM availability rather than implying all local inference is gated by GPU

Type of Change

• Code change (feature, bug fix, or refactor)
• Code change with doc updates
• Doc only (prose changes, no code sample modifications)
• Doc only (includes code sample changes)

Verification

• npx prek run --all-files passes
• npm test passes
• Tests added or updated for new or changed behavior
• No secrets, API keys, or credentials committed
• Docs updated for user-facing behavior changes
• make docs builds without warnings (doc changes only)
• Doc pages follow the style guide (doc changes only)
• New doc pages include SPDX header and frontmatter (new pages only)

AI Disclosure

• AI-assisted — tool: Claude Code

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Signed-off-by: zyang-dev 267119621+zyang-dev@users.noreply.github.com

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Corrected messaging when local NIM is unavailable due to GPU or no-GPU detection, removing inaccurate references to any cloud inference fallback and clarifying local availability.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Enterprise

Run ID: b902d190-5552-4abc-ab79-47738d4372f0

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 0e03abf and ac467d2.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• src/lib/onboard.ts

✅ Files skipped from review due to trivial changes (1)

• src/lib/onboard.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Console messages in the preflight GPU-detection flow were updated to remove claims about falling back to cloud inference; messages now only report that local NIM is unavailable for Apple GPUs, no-GPU detection, or insufficient NVIDIA VRAM.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Preflight Messaging Update src/lib/onboard.ts	Removed references to cloud inference fallback in GPU detection messages; messages now state only that local NIM is unavailable for Apple GPUs, no GPU, or insufficient NVIDIA VRAM.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~2 minutes

Poem

🐰 I hopped through logs with gentle care,

Cleared cloudy claims from the air,
If GPUs lack the needed grace,
I’ll speak only of the local case,
Honest and small — a rabbit’s trace.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the main change: updating preflight messages to clarify they reference local NIM constraints rather than implying all local inference is unavailable.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/preflight-nim-gpu-wording

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[coderabbitai]

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

src/lib/onboard.ts (1)

2489-2503: Unify and tighten “local NIM” preflight wording for consistency across GPU branches

The change direction is correct (no “cloud inference” implication), but the three messages aren’t phrased consistently:

• NVIDIA insufficient-VRAM says “GPU VRAM too small for local NIM” (not explicitly “Local NIM unavailable …” like the others).
• Apple and “no GPU” are close, but could be even clearer that this constraint is specifically for local NIM availability.

Suggested patch (wording-only, behavior unchanged) to make all three branches match the same pattern:

💡 Proposed wording diff

   if (gpu && gpu.type === "nvidia") {
     console.log(`  ✓ NVIDIA GPU detected: ${gpu.count} GPU(s), ${gpu.totalMemoryMB} MB VRAM`);
     if (!gpu.nimCapable) {
-      console.log("  ⓘ GPU VRAM too small for local NIM");
+      console.log("  ⓘ Local NIM unavailable — NVIDIA GPU VRAM too small");
     }
   } else if (gpu && gpu.type === "apple") {
     console.log(
       `  ✓ Apple GPU detected: ${gpu.name}${gpu.cores ? ` (${gpu.cores} cores)` : ""}, ${gpu.totalMemoryMB} MB unified memory`,
     );
-    console.log("  ⓘ Local NIM requires NVIDIA GPU");
+    console.log("  ⓘ Local NIM unavailable on Apple GPUs — NVIDIA GPU required");
   } else {
-    console.log("  ⓘ No GPU detected — local NIM unavailable");
+    console.log("  ⓘ Local NIM unavailable — NVIDIA GPU required");
   }

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

In `@src/lib/onboard.ts` around lines 2489 - 2503, The three GPU-branch console
messages for local NIM are inconsistent: update the messaging in the
nim.detectGpu() block so all branches explicitly state "Local NIM unavailable"
with the same phrasing; specifically change the NVIDIA low-VRAM branch (when gpu
exists, gpu.type === "nvidia" and !gpu.nimCapable) to log a message like "  ⓘ
Local NIM unavailable — GPU VRAM too small" and ensure the Apple branch
(gpu.type === "apple") and the no-GPU branch also use "Local NIM unavailable —
..." wording to match; locate these messages in the onboarding code around the
nim.detectGpu() call and update the console.log strings accordingly.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Nitpick comments:
In `@src/lib/onboard.ts`:
- Around line 2489-2503: The three GPU-branch console messages for local NIM are
inconsistent: update the messaging in the nim.detectGpu() block so all branches
explicitly state "Local NIM unavailable" with the same phrasing; specifically
change the NVIDIA low-VRAM branch (when gpu exists, gpu.type === "nvidia" and
!gpu.nimCapable) to log a message like "  ⓘ Local NIM unavailable — GPU VRAM too
small" and ensure the Apple branch (gpu.type === "apple") and the no-GPU branch
also use "Local NIM unavailable — ..." wording to match; locate these messages
in the onboarding code around the nim.detectGpu() call and update the
console.log strings accordingly.

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Enterprise

Run ID: 326d1a57-18e3-4732-b694-8c3054d91658

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between a323104 and 0e03abf.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• src/lib/onboard.ts