v13.3.0 worker fails with `Cannot find module 'zod/v3'` on fresh install — zod missing from `package.json` dependencies

[luismichelcf]

Summary

After upgrading to claude-mem v13.3.0, the worker silently fails to capture any observations because worker-service.cjs requires zod/v3 but zod is not listed in the plugin's package.json dependencies. The hook pipeline appears to work (hooks fire, bun-runner.js launches), but the worker crashes immediately upon receiving the first observation event. The data directory (~/.claude-mem/) accumulates no new observations even though SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, and PostToolUse hooks are configured in hooks/hooks.json.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200 (Git Bash)
• Node: v25.5.0
• Bun: 1.3.11
• Plugin path: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/thedotmack/claude-mem/13.3.0/
• Plugin version: 13.3.0
• Host: Claude Code CLI (Opus 4.7)

Reproduction

1. Fresh install of v13.3.0 (via plugin marketplace).
2. Try to run the worker manually:

   node "$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/thedotmack/claude-mem/13.3.0/scripts/bun-runner.js" \
        "$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/thedotmack/claude-mem/13.3.0/scripts/worker-service.cjs" \
        status

3. Observe:

   error: Cannot find module 'zod/v3' from 'C:\Users\Luis\.claude\plugins\cache\thedotmack\claude-mem\13.3.0\scripts\worker-service.cjs'
   Bun v1.3.11 (Windows x64)
   

4. Also visible if you run with Node directly (fails earlier on bun:sqlite, expected — worker is Bun-only).
5. Hooks still fire (logs/claude-mem-YYYY-MM-DD.log shows INIT_COMPLETE, PostToolUse: Bash(...) entries) but no observation rows accumulate.

Root cause

scripts/worker-service.cjs contains:

require('zod/v3')

But package.json only lists tree-sitter packages:

"dependencies": {
  "@derekstride/tree-sitter-sql": "^0.3.11",
  ... (all tree-sitter-* deps) ...
  "shell-quote": "^1.8.3"
}

No zod entry. When the plugin installer (bun/npm) runs after extraction, it pulls only the tree-sitter deps, so node_modules/zod/ never exists.

Workaround (verified working)

Add zod locally to the plugin install:

cd ~/.claude/plugins/cache/thedotmack/claude-mem/13.3.0/
bun add zod

This installs zod@4.4.3 (which exposes zod/v3 as a compatibility subpath, satisfying the import). After this:

• Worker starts cleanly.
• Hooks fire and successfully capture observations.
• DB at ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db accumulates rows in real time.

Confirmed in our DB after the fix: 2391 total observations, with the most recent (#2389–2391) captured during the same session where the fix was applied.

Suggested fix

Add "zod": "^4.4.3" (or the version matching upstream's actual usage) to dependencies in the plugin's package.json so a fresh install ships with zod automatically.

Why this is hard to notice

• Hooks fire visibly in logs (bun-runner reports launching the worker).
• No error surfaces in the host UI — the worker crash happens in a separate process, and the hook returns control immediately.
• The data dir at ~/.claude/plugins/data/claude-mem-thedotmack/ is empty (a red herring — actual data lives at ~/.claude-mem/).
• Users only discover the silence when they try to use mem-search and get no results.

Additional notes

There's also a CAPTURE_BROKEN flag file that gets written when the worker receives an empty stdin payload (mentioned as "issue #2188"). Not sure if that's the same root cause being reported elsewhere, but on Windows + Bun 1.3.11 the zod/v3 import failure is the primary blocker — fixing it makes the worker fully functional even when the stdin issue surfaces.

[thedotmack]

Consolidating into #2379 (plan-04). The root cause and fix sequencing are tracked there alongside the rest of the cluster — please follow that issue for progress.