fix(update): make Camofox lazy-installed instead of eager (#27055)

Browse source

The `@askjo/camofox-browser` npm package was a top-level entry in
the root `package.json` `dependencies` block, so `hermes update`
ran its postinstall on every user, every update. That postinstall
calls `npx camoufox-js fetch`, which silently downloads a ~300MB
Firefox-fork browser binary from GitHub Releases — multi-minute on
fast connections, and a hard block for users on slow / restricted
networks (notably users in China running through a VPN).

Camofox is an explicit opt-in browser backend. The runtime check
in `tools/browser_tool.py` only routes through Camofox when the
user has set `CAMOFOX_URL` (selected via `hermes tools` →
Browser Automation → Camofox). Users who never opted in never
touched the package at runtime, yet every `hermes update` paid
for the binary fetch anyway.

This change:

* Removes `@askjo/camofox-browser` from root `package.json`
  dependencies (and the regenerated `package-lock.json` drops
  Camofox's entire transitive tree, ~2.6k lines).
* Updates the Camofox `post_setup` handler in
  `hermes_cli/tools_config.py` to install
  `@askjo/camofox-browser@^1.5.2` explicitly when the user
  selects Camofox, and streams npm output (no `--silent`, no
  `capture_output`) so the ~300MB download is visible rather
  than appearing frozen.
* Adds `tests/test_package_json_lazy_deps.py` as a regression
  guard so future PRs can't silently re-add Camofox (or any
  binary-postinstall package) to eager root dependencies.

`agent-browser` stays eager — it is the default Chromium-driving
backend used by every session that does not have a cloud browser
provider configured, and its postinstall is small.

Validation:

| | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| `hermes update` time on slow network | multi-minute hang at `→ Updating Node.js dependencies...` | seconds (no binary fetch) |
| Camofox opt-in install visibility | silent, looked frozen | streamed npm output |
| Regression guard against re-adding | none | `test_package_json_lazy_deps.py` |

Tests:
- `tests/test_package_json_lazy_deps.py`: 3/3 pass
- `tests/tools/test_browser_camofox*`: 92/92 pass
- `tests/hermes_cli/test_tools_config.py`: 66/66 pass
- `tests/hermes_cli/test_cmd_update.py` + adjacent: green

Reported by lulu (Discord, May 2026) — `hermes update` hangs at
`→ Updating Node.js dependencies...` in China.
Related: #18840, #18869.

...

This commit is contained in:

Teknium 2026-05-16 12:15:45 -07:00 • committed by GitHub

parent 8a2b2b9f6f

commit 05af78c53d

No known key found for this signature in database

GPG key ID: B5690EEEBB952194

4 changed files with 110 additions and 2642 deletions

Show all changes Ignore whitespace when comparing lines Ignore changes in amount of whitespace Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL

Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

2630

package-lock.json generated

View file

File diff suppressed because it is too large Load diff