From a49f4c617da3ddcb37a2f438b083b960090ad42a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ben <ben@nousresearch.com>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2026 16:29:46 +1000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: prevent tui rebuilding assets

---
 .dockerignore |  6 ++++++
 Dockerfile    | 26 ++++++++++++++++++--------
 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 542c96700e..41999f5ac6 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ node_modules
 .venv
 **/.venv
 
+# Built artifacts that are regenerated inside the image.  Excluded so local
+# rebuilds on the developer's machine don't invalidate the npm-install layer
+# that now depends on the full ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/ tree being present.
+ui-tui/dist/
+ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/dist/
+
 # CI/CD
 .github
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 18177cc1ac..08a5b6a275 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -28,10 +28,26 @@ WORKDIR /opt/hermes
 # ---------- Layer-cached dependency install ----------
 # Copy only package manifests first so npm install + Playwright are cached
 # unless the lockfiles themselves change.
+#
+# ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/ is copied IN FULL (not just its manifests)
+# because it is referenced as a `file:` workspace dependency from
+# ui-tui/package.json.  Copying the tree up front lets npm resolve the
+# workspace to real content instead of stopping at a bare package.json.
 COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
 COPY web/package.json web/package-lock.json web/
 COPY ui-tui/package.json ui-tui/package-lock.json ui-tui/
-COPY ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/package.json ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/package-lock.json ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/
+COPY ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/ ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/
+
+# `npm_config_install_links=false` forces npm to install `file:` deps as
+# symlinks (the npm 10+ default) even on Debian's older bundled npm 9.x,
+# which defaults to `install-links=true` and installs file deps as *copies*.
+# The host-side package-lock.json is generated with a newer npm that uses
+# symlinks, so an install-as-copy produces a hidden node_modules/.package-lock.json
+# that permanently disagrees with the root lock on the @hermes/ink entry.
+# That disagreement trips the TUI launcher's `_tui_need_npm_install()`
+# check on every startup and triggers a runtime `npm install` that then
+# fails with EACCES (node_modules/ is root-owned from build time).
+ENV npm_config_install_links=false
 
 RUN npm install --prefer-offline --no-audit && \
     npx playwright install --with-deps chromium --only-shell && \
@@ -45,13 +61,7 @@ COPY --chown=hermes:hermes . .
 
 # Build browser dashboard and terminal UI assets.
 RUN cd web && npm run build && \
-    cd ../ui-tui && npm run build && \
-    rm -rf node_modules/@hermes/ink && \
-    rm -rf packages/hermes-ink/node_modules && \
-    cp -R packages/hermes-ink node_modules/@hermes/ink && \
-    npm install --omit=dev --prefer-offline --no-audit --prefix node_modules/@hermes/ink && \
-    rm -rf node_modules/@hermes/ink/node_modules/react && \
-    node --input-type=module -e "await import('@hermes/ink')"
+    cd ../ui-tui && npm run build
 
 # ---------- Permissions ----------
 # Make install dir world-readable so any HERMES_UID can read it at runtime.