Host bridges installed via 'aware sidecar install' are wiped on every npm CLI upgrade (stored in volatile package dir)

[pawellisowski]

Environment

• Windows 11, @aware-aeco/cli via npm, upgraded 0.41.0 → 0.42.0.

Repro

1. On 0.41.0: aware sidecar install tekla → aware-tekla.exe installed; aware sidecar list shows ✓ tekla.
2. npm install -g @aware-aeco/cli@latest (→ 0.42.0).
3. aware sidecar list → ✗ tekla not found. node_modules/@aware-aeco/cli/binaries/ now contains only aware.exe + aware-sidecar.exe again — the bridge is gone.

Root cause

aware sidecar install drops the bridge into the npm package's own binaries/ directory (<npm-root>/@aware-aeco/cli/binaries/). npm install -g replaces the package contents wholesale on upgrade, deleting every sidecar-installed bridge. So after each CLI update the user must re-run aware sidecar install <host> for every host.

Impact

Silent capability regression on upgrade: a working Tekla/Rhino/SketchUp/Revit setup stops running after a routine npm update — aware app run <host-app> fails with spawn aware-<host>: program not found (the #136 symptom returns) until bridges are manually reinstalled. Easy to miss because nothing prompts the user.

Suggested fix

Store bridges in a persistent, version-independent location outside the npm package — e.g. ~/.aware/bridges/<host>/ (or %LOCALAPPDATA%\aware\bridges\) — and resolve from there. That matches how ~/.aware already holds durable state and survives upgrades. (Alternative: re-fetch installed bridges from postinstall, but a persistent dir is cleaner.)

Related

• Production npm/release ships no host-execution bridges — clean install can't run any desktop-host agent (tekla/rhino/sketchup/revit) #136 (bridges now shipped + aware sidecar install); this is the persistence gap that follows it.