Desktop build fails on Linux with electron error

[larroy]

🐛 Bug: Desktop build fails on Linux with electron error

🔍 Overview

• Issue: hermes desktop fails during build on Linux:

🧪 Reproduction Steps

1. On Linux (Ubuntu 24.04-based system), run:

   hermes desktop

📝 Environment Details

Component	Value
OS	Linux 6.17.0-29-generic
Node.js	v22.23.1
npm	10.9.8
Hermes version	0.15.1
Working directory	/home/piotr/.hermes/hermes-agent/apps/desktop

📚 Additional Notes

• The user's Node version (v22.23.1) is within the supported range (^20.19.0 || >=22.12.0)
• The cross-env package version is ^10.1.0, the latest stable release
• The error occurs during both initial installation and rebuild attempts
• The system has Python 3.12.3 available for node-gyp

---

Status: This issue should be treated as high priority as it blocks desktop app installation for Linux users

[liuhao1024]

This is the same class of bug as #48021 (macOS) and #48019 (Windows).

The root cause is that npm workspace hoisting is non-deterministic — electron may be hoisted to the repo root node_modules/ instead of staying at apps/desktop/node_modules/. When the Electron postinstall download fails or doesn't trigger, electron-builder can't find the binary at the expected electronDist path.

This is already fixed on main via commit c1f9eb0ec (PR #48091, merged 2026-06-17):

1. scripts/run-electron-builder.cjs resolves electronDist dynamically at runtime using require.resolve("electron/package.json") — finds electron wherever npm hoisted it. If the dist binary doesn't exist, it does not pass -c.electronDist and lets electron-builder fetch via @electron/get.

2. cmd_gui() in hermes_cli/main.py has a multi-layer retry:

   • Detects missing electron dist after npm ci → runs install.js directly to populate dist
   • Falls back to a public mirror (npmmirror.com) if GitHub downloads are blocked
   • Purges corrupt Electron download caches before retry

Your environment shows Hermes version 0.15.1. The fix shipped in desktop v0.17.0 (release v2026.6.19). Please update to the latest version:

hermes update

If the issue persists after updating, the build retry output should show exactly which step fails — please share that log.

[dakshagrawa]

📝 Environment Details

Component	Value
OS	Debian GNU/Linux 13.5 (trixie)
Node.js	v24.18.0
npm	v11.16.0
Python	v3.11.15
OpenAI SDK	v2.24.0
Hermes Agent	v0.18.0

I am also encountering a persistent failure on version 0.18.0, but it looks like a different root cause. The log shows a Timed out connecting to Hermes backend after 15000ms error rather than a missing Electron binary. I've also attached a screenshot of the error above.

Any thoughts on why the desktop client is timing out while connecting to the backend on Linux?

[teknium1]

Thanks for the report. This exact missing-electronDist build failure is already fixed on current main; this is an automated hermes-sweeper review.

• Commit c1f9eb0 (fix(desktop): resolve electronDist dynamically + self-heal blocked installs, PR fix(desktop): resolve electronDist dynamically + self-heal blocked installs (supersedes #48081/#48082) #48091) resolves Electron through require.resolve("electron/package.json") in apps/desktop/scripts/run-electron-builder.mjs:14, avoiding npm-workspace-hoisting assumptions.
• apps/desktop/package.json:25 routes all Electron Builder packaging through that resolver; if no local binary exists, the wrapper deliberately omits electronDist and lets electron-builder fetch it.
• hermes_cli/main.py:5711 also repairs staged-but-missing Electron downloads and retries through a mirror when appropriate.
• The fix is contained in release v2026.6.19.

The later v0.18.0 backend-connection timeout comment describes a different error from the missing-Electron-binary failure.