@microsoft/webui@0.0.7: webui cli unavailable after install

[timwehrle]

Environment:

• OS: macOS Darwin arm64
• Node: v24.14.1
• Package manager: pnpm v10.33.0
• Package: @microsoft/webui: ^0.0.7

What happens
After pnpm install, the webui command isn't available: pnpm build / pnpm dev fail with sh: webui: command not found. pnpm emits four ENOENT warnings trying to link bin/webui into node_modules/.bin/:

pnpm install
Packages: +4
++++
Progress: resolved 9, reused 4, downloaded 0, added 4, done
 WARN  Failed to create bin at /Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/node_modules/.bin/webui. ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/bin/webui'
 WARN  Failed to create bin at /Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/node_modules/.bin/webui. ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/bin/webui'
 WARN  Failed to create bin at /Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.bin/webui. ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/bin/webui'
 WARN  Failed to create bin at /Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.bin/webui. ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/bin/webui'

dependencies:
+ @microsoft/webui 0.0.7
+ @microsoft/webui-framework 0.0.7
+ @microsoft/webui-router 0.0.7

╭ Warning ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                                            │
│   Ignored build scripts: @microsoft/webui@0.0.7.                                           │
│   Run "pnpm approve-builds" to pick which dependencies should be allowed to run scripts.   │
│                                                                                            │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Done in 512ms using pnpm v10.33.0

This warning suggests running pnpm approve-builds, but this doesn't fix the issue.

pnpm approve-builds
✔ Choose which packages to build (Press <space> to select, <a> to toggle all, <i> to invert selection) · @microsoft/webui

✔ The next packages will now be built: @microsoft/webui.
Do you approve? (y/N) · true
node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui: Running postinstall script.node_modules/.pnpm/@microsoft+webui@0.0.7/node_modules/@microsoft/webui: Running postinstall script, done in 36ms
 WARN  Failed to create bin at /Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/.bin/webui. ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/tw/dev/example/node_modules/@microsoft/webui/bin/webui'

The binary (@microsoft+webui-darwin-arm64@0.0.7) is correctly installed but install.js might be not linking it correctly to the bin.

Also worth noting that the postinstall swallows all errors:

"postinstall": "node --input-type=module -e \"try{await import('./dist/install.js')}catch{}\"",

Because of the catch{}, any failure in dist/install.js is invisible.

Happy to provide logs or anything else.

An example: https://github.com/timwehrle/ms-webui-example

[mohamedmansour]

@timwehrle thanks for the detailed bug details. I have one solution, I am still coding this, so if you are still having any issues, please let me know!

[mohamedmansour]

@timwehrle I pushed 0.0.8 which has a lot of bug fixes and this fix, I verified it works on your branch! Thank you

[timwehrle]

No problem, happy to help and thanks for the fix!