The bootstrap-runner PowerShell spawn is formatted multiline (spawn(\n ps,\n fullArgs,...), so the literal substring 'spawn(ps, fullArgs' never matched and the assertion was failing on main independent of #54635. Convert it to a whitespace-tolerant regex like every other call-site assertion in this file.
The recurring Windows desktop console-flash bug (#54220) is governed by the
*parent's* console, not by each child spawn. The desktop backend was launched as
GUI-subsystem pythonw.exe, which has no console at all — so every
console-subsystem child it spawns (git, gh, cmd, wmic, powershell, ...) had to
allocate its own console, flashing a window. That is why the fix had become an
endless per-call-site sweep of CREATE_NO_WINDOW flags: each leaf spawn was
papering over a missing console on the root.
Launch the backend as the venv's console python.exe instead. Under the existing
hiddenWindowsChildOptions() wrapper (windowsHide: true -> CREATE_NO_WINDOW) the
backend owns a single *windowless* console, and every descendant spawn inherits
it instead of allocating a visible one. This makes "no flashing windows" a
property of the one backend launch rather than a flag that must be remembered at
every spawn site — including spawns inside third-party libraries that no
call-site sweep can reach.
Verified on Windows 11 25H2 (Windows Terminal default): with the per-site hide
flag forcibly neutered, the canonical culprits (git/gh/cmd/wmic/powershell)
spawned naively and none flashed, while the same naive spawn from the old
console-less pythonw parent did flash — isolating the parent console as the cause.
Two premises behind the old pythonw approach did not hold up on current Windows
and are dropped here:
- The venv Scripts\python.exe uv shim, under CREATE_NO_WINDOW, re-execs base
python *windowless* — it does not flash a conhost (the #52239 concern), so the
base-pythonw detour is unnecessary.
- Console python restores stdout, so the backend announces its port on the normal
HERMES_DASHBOARD_READY stdout line; the pythonw-only ready-file side channel is
no longer needed and the readyFile opt-in is removed.
Removes the now-dead pythonw machinery (getNoConsoleVenvPython, toNoConsolePython,
applyWindowsNoConsoleSpawnHints, readVenvHome) and updates the test to assert the
new invariant: backend command is never pythonw, both backend spawns still go
through hiddenWindowsChildOptions, and no backend opts into the ready-file path.
Scope: this fixes the high-frequency backend-descendant flash classes. The
updater/UAC handoff (#54543) and embedded-terminal PTY accumulation (#53555)
classes have separate root causes and are unaffected.
The desktop app spawned `hermes dashboard --no-open` as its backend, which
made the dashboard look like a desktop prerequisite. Add a dedicated headless
`hermes serve` command that boots the same gateway (shared cmd_dashboard /
start_server) but never opens a browser, and point the desktop backend spawn
exclusively at it. dashboard and serve are now independent surfaces — neither
launches the other.
- subcommands/dashboard.py: factor shared server args; add `serve` parser
(always headless; accepts legacy --no-open as a no-op)
- main.py: register serve in _BUILTIN_SUBCOMMANDS + coalesce set + gui-log
detection; extend stale-backend reaper patterns to match `serve`
- desktop electron: spawn `serve`, rename dashboardArgs -> backendArgs,
update comments + windows-child-process test assertions
- docs: desktop README, desktop.md (incl. remote-backend), AGENTS.md, and
cli-commands.md now describe `hermes serve` as the desktop/headless backend
main (cb982ad99) wired windows_hide_flags() into the auxiliary git/gh/wmic/
bash/powershell/taskkill legs but left two it didn't reach, plus the Electron
backend-launch leg it explicitly deferred. Cover them the same way:
- apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs: getNoConsoleVenvPython resolves the BASE
pythonw.exe instead of the venv Scripts\pythonw.exe shim, which re-execs a
console python.exe and flashes a conhost the desktop backend can't suppress.
Both backend creators put the venv site-packages on PYTHONPATH so imports
still resolve under the base interpreter. (main's commit said this Electron
leg "needs a Windows-tested change of its own".)
- tools/tts_tool.py, tools/transcription_tools.py, plugins/platforms/discord:
ffmpeg conversions (voice notes / TTS / STT) via windows_hide_flags().
- plugins/platforms/whatsapp: netstat + taskkill bridge-port cleanup via
windows_hide_flags().
All no-ops on POSIX. Tests assert the base-pythonw preference and the ffmpeg
legs pass CREATE_NO_WINDOW.
Bring apps/desktop and ui-tui to a clean state for typecheck, eslint,
and prettier:
- Run prettier across both trees (printWidth/wrap drift; prettier is not
CI-enforced for these JS projects, so main had accumulated drift).
- Apply eslint --fix for padding-line-between-statements and perfectionist
import/export sorting.
- Manual fixes for non-auto-fixable rules:
- remove unused node:net import in electron/main.cjs (uses Electron net)
- replace inline `typeof import(...)` annotations with top-level
`import type * as EnvModule` in two ui-tui test files
- scoped eslint-disable no-control-regex on intentional sentinel/ANSI
regexes (mathUnicode.ts, text.ts)
- resolve react-hooks/exhaustive-deps per-case: correct swapped/missing
deps, collapse redundant session.* members, and justified disables on
settings mount-only data-load effects to preserve run-once behavior
No behavior changes; test pass/fail counts are unchanged from the main
baseline.
