launch: build copilot in compile; wait for CDP in launch.sh

[roblourens]

Two related improvements to the agent dev-loop workflow (the launch skill used by Copilot CLI / agent host to drive a Code OSS dev build).

npm run compile now also builds the Copilot extension

The compile script used to run only gulp compile, which builds the client, built-in extensions, and extension but not the Copilot extension in extensions/copilot/. That extension has its own esbuild script and was only included in npm run watch. Result: a one-shot npm run compile left the Copilot extension stale, and there was no documented one-line equivalent of npm run watch.media

Now compile runs compile-client (the previous compile) and a new compile-copilot in parallel via npm-run-all2 -lp, mirroring the structure of watch.

launch.sh blocks until Code OSS is actually ready

The launcher used to & code.sh and return within ~1s. But code.sh first runs preLaunch.ts (electron download, compile-if-missing, built-in extensions), and Electron itself takes several more seconds to bootstrap and open the CDP port. That meant:nohup

• Agents driving the workbench via @playwright/cli had to implement a retry-attach loop.
• If code.sh died early (bad flag, broken build, etc.), the failure was the launcher returned a JSON blob with PID/ports that referred to a dead process.silent
• An early-killed Electron could die mid-bootstrap from SIGHUP without a clean error path.

The new flow:

1. Runs preLaunch.ts in the foreground so any error surfaces synchronously with a log tail and a non-zero exit code.
2. Launches code.sh with VSCODE_SKIP_PRELAUNCH=1 (skipping the duplicate work) and detaches with & disown.nohup
3. Polls http://127.0.0.1:$CDP/json/version for up to 90s before printing the JSON. If code.sh exits or CDP never opens, prints the log tail and exits non-zero.

End-to-end timing: launch.sh now returns in ~10s with CDP already open, so npx @playwright/cli attach works immediately with no retry loop.

SKILL.md updated to drop the retry loop and document the new error-surfacing behavior.

Notes for reviewers

• Scope is limited to .agents/skills/launch/ and package.json. No production source changes.
• compile-client / compile-copilot are new internal npm script names; nothing in CI/build calls these by those names today, but if any other process invokes npm run compile it will pick up the parallel build automatically.

(Written by Copilot)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR improves the agent dev-loop workflow by ensuring a one-shot npm run compile also builds the Copilot extension, and by making the launch.sh skill wait until Code OSS is actually ready for CDP-based automation before returning.

Changes:

• Update root compile to run client compilation and Copilot extension compilation in parallel.
• Run preLaunch.ts in the foreground in launch.sh, then start code.sh detached and poll the CDP endpoint before printing launch JSON.
• Update the launch skill documentation to reflect the new compile behavior and remove the Playwright retry-attach loop.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
package.json	Makes npm run compile also build extensions/copilot via a new parallel script setup.
.agents/skills/launch/SKILL.md	Documents the new one-shot compile behavior and the “CDP-ready” launch semantics (no retry loop).
.agents/skills/launch/scripts/launch.sh	Runs prelaunch synchronously, launches Code OSS detached, and blocks until the CDP endpoint responds (or fails with log tail).

Copilot's findings

• Files reviewed: 3/3 changed files
• Comments generated: 1