Windows: codegraph daemon spawns visible console windows on file edits

[yc-2503]

Environment

• OS: Windows
• codegraph version: 0.9.6 (installed via npm install -g @colbymchenry/codegraph)
• Trigger scenario: Running codegraph as MCP server (codegraph serve --mcp) alongside AI coding assistant (OpenCode)

Description

When codegraph MCP server is running, every file save triggers a black console window to flash briefly. This is particularly disruptive during typing — the flashing window steals keyboard focus and interrupts input.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure codegraph MCP server in project (codegraph serve --mcp)
2. Start the AI coding assistant (e.g. OpenCode)
3. Edit and save any file
4. Observe a black console window flashing momentarily

Investigation

1. Running processes

After codegraph serve --mcp, multiple related processes are visible:

ProcessId CommandLine
71136    "node" codegraph\npm-shim.js "serve" "--mcp"
31024    codegraph\node.exe  (daemon)
83384    codegraph\node.exe  (daemon)
38888    codegraph\node.exe  (daemon)

2. --no-watch does not help

Added --no-watch to disable the file watcher:

"command": ["codegraph", "serve", "--mcp", "--no-watch"]

The black console windows still appear. This confirms the issue is not caused by the file watcher, but by the daemon process itself spawning child processes without windowsHide.

3. Uninstalling eliminates the issue

After uninstalling codegraph, removing MCP config, and killing related processes, the flashing stops completely — confirming the issue originates from codegraph.

Root Cause

The shared daemon mode introduced in v0.9.5 creates background daemon processes (codegraph\node.exe) for file watching and indexing. On Windows, Node.js child_process.spawn() defaults to creating a new console window for child processes (CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE) unless windowsHide: true is explicitly set.

The daemon spawns child processes for:

• Incremental indexing on file changes
• Tree-sitter parser invocations
• Other background maintenance tasks

These child processes exist briefly, causing the console window to flash.

Suggested Fix

Add windowsHide: true to all child_process.spawn() calls on Windows:

// Before
spawn(process, args, { /* missing windowsHide */ });

// After
spawn(process, args, {
  windowsHide: true,
  // ...other options
});

If using execa or another wrapper library, ensure windowsHide is enabled on Windows.

References

• Node.js child_process.spawn docs: https://nodejs.org/api/child_process.html#child_process_child_process_spawn_command_args_options
• windowsHide option: https://nodejs.org/api/child_process.html#child_process_spawning_bat_and_cmd_files_on_windows

[colbymchenry]

Fixed on main in cea78ce (via #498 — thanks @csw-chen, @yushengruohui, @JirA44). Will ship in 0.9.7.

Your diagnosis was exactly right — the daemon's child processes were missing windowsHide: true. --no-watch didn't help because the issue wasn't the watcher itself; it was the daemon's git invocations during sync (and the WASM-runtime re-exec, the installer's npm shell-out, etc.) all firing from a detached parent that has no inherited console.

Empirical validation on Windows 11 ARM64 (Parallels): a detached parent's 15 git invocations produce 15 visible cmd.exe flash-windows without the fix, 0 with it.

Re-test once 0.9.7 ships and please reopen if the flashes persist.