[Bug] prime-agent update still fails under npm 12 — self-update needs the policy overrides the installer got in #1992

[smwbev]

Summary

v0.9.2 fixed the installer under npm 12 (#1992, from #1988) — that path works now, thanks. The self-update path (prime-agent update) goes through different code and still fails with the same root cause: npm 12 defaults allow-remote to none, and the self-update command installs the release tarball by URL without any policy override.

Environment

• prime-agent 0.8.1, installed globally with npm; sources checked against v0.9.4
• npm 12.0.2, Node v26.8.1, macOS arm64
• npm config get allow-remote → none (npm 12 default)

Reproduce

1. Install prime-agent globally under npm ≥ 12 (npm install -g <release tarball URL>, or the stable installer).
2. Run prime-agent update.
3. npm refuses the remote tarball with EALLOWREMOTE and the update aborts.

Workaround that confirms the cause:

npm_config_allow_remote=all prime-agent update

Why #1992 does not cover this

#1992 patched install.sh: prime_agent_npm_install adds --allow-remote=all --allow-scripts="$tarball_path" when npm is ≥ 12. Self-update never runs that shell script — it builds its own command in TypeScript.

In packages/coding-agent/src/config.ts@v0.9.4, getSelfUpdateCommandForMethod (the "npm" case) assembles:

const installStep = makeSelfUpdateCommandStep(command, [...prefixArgs, "install", "-g", updateSpec]);

No env, no policy flags. When updateSpec is the release tarball URL, npm 12 rejects it exactly as it rejected the installer before #1992. packages/coding-agent/src/package-manager-cli.ts@v0.9.4 contains no allow-remote or npm_config reference either.

Suggested fix

The surrounding code already distinguishes the case that needs the override:

const uninstallAfterInstall = isDirectPackageArtifactSpec(updateSpec);

isDirectPackageArtifactSpec is true exactly when updateSpec is a direct artifact (the release tarball URL) rather than a registry spec. Scoping the policy to that predicate leaves registry installs untouched and mirrors how the installer scopes --allow-scripts to the verified tarball rather than applying it globally.

Concretely: give the self-update step an optional env, and populate it only for direct-artifact specs with npm_config_allow_remote=all — plus npm_config_allow_scripts=<tarball> if you want self-update to reach parity with what the installer now does, since npm 12 gates lifecycle scripts separately.

Patch

I have this implemented, with a regression suite covering the four spec shapes (direct artifact vs registry spec, with and without an explicit npm command): branch fix/npm12-self-update-allow-remote in my fork (smwbev/prime-agent). It was PR #1272, closed with the August backlog cleanup — the branch is still there for review or cherry-pick.

It predates the changelog-fragment process and the recent refactors, so it needs a rebase and a .changes/ fragment before it could land. Happy to redo it against current main if that is useful — or to leave it as reference if you would rather fix it your own way.