plat 494

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PLAT-494 — The launcher's npm install blocked every start when node_modules was half-installed

Coordination	Value
State	fixed on main; takes effect on the next launch
Date	2026-10-05
Owner	frontend-chat

Source

run_server_with_logging.sh ran npm install on every start (since 2026-06-01) and exited if it failed. On 2026-10-05 a half-finished install left a temp folder and a stray node_modules/node_modules in the main checkout, npm install failed with ENOENT/ENOTDIR, and the frontend could not start although the packages already there would have worked.

Done

• ensure_frontend_deps runs npm install only when package.json or package-lock.json changed since the last successful install (a stamp in node_modules). Otherwise it skips.
• If the install fails but node_modules/.bin/vite exists, it warns (with the rm -rf node_modules && npm ci repair command) and starts anyway. It still stops when there is nothing usable.
• Checked with a fake npm: first install, unchanged skip, changed + failing install with vite present (warn), failing with nothing usable (stop).

Left

• The damaged node_modules in the main checkout still needs rm -rf node_modules && npm ci once (the helper cannot repair it).
• The desktop (Electron) dependency install is unchanged: it only runs when the Electron binary is missing.