[1/5] feat(desktop): bootstrap @kanban/desktop workspace + bundle CLI runtime deps

[johnwschoi]

Summary

First of a 5-PR stack that adds Electron desktop support. Pure bootstrap — no Electron code yet, just the workspace scaffolding and a build-infrastructure prerequisite.

Follow-up PRs (branches pushed, will open one at a time):

• pr/desktop-4-runtime-child — runtime child process manager
• pr/desktop-5-preflight — desktop preflight checks
• pr/desktop-6-electron-main — Electron main process
• pr/desktop-7-packaging — electron-builder packaging + CLI shims

Two commits, reviewable independently

1. 7e719213 — build: bundle all non-native runtime deps into dist/cli.js

The previous scripts/build.mjs externalized 11 packages at bundle time (zod, commander, @trpc/client, @trpc/server, @sentry/node, @modelcontextprotocol/sdk, ws, open, proper-lockfile, tree-kill, node-pty), so dist/cli.js contained literal import "zod" / require("ws") that Node resolved via an ancestor node_modules/ at runtime.

That worked for the two existing contexts:

1. npm i -g kanban — npm installs prod deps at lib/node_modules/kanban/node_modules/; resolver walks up from dist/cli.js and finds them.
2. Monorepo dev — root node_modules/ satisfies resolution.

But it fails for the packaged Electron app: Resources/cli/cli.js has no enclosing node_modules/ → ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND.

Fix: drop the externals list down to just node-pty (the one genuinely non-bundlable package — native addon with a compiled binding + spawn-helper binary on disk). esbuild inlines the other 10 directly into the bundle.

Result: dist/cli.js is a single self-contained 16 MB ESM bundle with one runtime-resolved external. In the packaging PR later in this stack, node-pty gets rebuilt for Electron's ABI by electron-builder install-app-deps and the CLI's ESM resolution walks up from its location in app.asar.unpacked/cli/ to find it in app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/.

Single source of truth: no dist/node_modules/ staging, no build-time npm install, no duplicate node-pty, no version drift between what esbuild saw and what the runtime resolves. scripts/build.mjs goes from ~190 lines (with an earlier --stage approach) to ~60 lines of pure esbuild config.

2. 5d6a0d8e — feat(desktop): bootstrap @kanban/desktop workspace

packages/desktop/:

• package.json — intentionally minimal: typecheck + test scripts, devDeps @types/node + typescript + vitest. No electron, no electron-builder, no runtime deps. Each downstream PR adds the specific deps its code actually uses (node-pty in PR5; electron / esbuild / shx in PR6; electron-builder / @electron/notarize / @electron/rebuild in PR7). Keeps each PR self-contained and the bootstrap diff tiny.
• tsconfig.json / tsconfig.build.json — strict TS with NodeNext, extends root tsconfig.base.json.
• vitest.config.ts — node env, test/**/*.test.ts pattern.
• src/index.ts — placeholder export {}. Required: tsc errors TS18003: No inputs were found without it. Replaced with real main.ts in the Electron main-process PR.

Root changes:

• vitest.config.ts — add packages/** to exclude. Root vitest's resolver aliases (@clinebot/agents → /node) shouldn't apply to desktop tests; that workspace has its own vitest invocation.
• .gitignore — ignore packages/desktop/out (electron-builder output) and *.tgz.
• .github/workflows/test.yml — add npm ci --prefix packages/desktop, then run the desktop workspace's typecheck and tests alongside the root + web-ui suites so the new workspace is actually covered by CI.

Verification

node scripts/build.mjs
# → esbuild: bundled dist/cli.js (16 MB) and dist/index.js (552 KB)

cd packages/desktop && npm test          # exits 0 (passWithNoTests on this PR; real tests land in PR4+)
cd packages/desktop && npm run typecheck # silent, exits 0

Root test suite unchanged: 536/536 passing.

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR bootstraps the @kanban/desktop workspace and refactors the CLI build to produce a fully self-contained ESM bundle by dropping all externals except node-pty. The change is a clean two-commit stack: the build change enables Electron packaging, and the workspace scaffold adds the minimal scaffolding needed for follow-up PRs to land incrementally.

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge — only finding is a P2 nit about vitest globals types that will need addressing before real tests land in PR4+.

All changes are well-reasoned and verified by the author. The single remaining finding (missing vitest/globals types in tsconfig) is a P2 style issue that causes no runtime or build failure at this stage since there are no test files yet.

packages/desktop/tsconfig.json — should add "vitest/globals" to types before first test file is added.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
scripts/build.mjs	Drops externals list to just node-pty, enabling a fully self-contained 16 MB ESM bundle; CJS shim banner and sourcemaps are correctly configured.
.github/workflows/test.yml	Adds packages/desktop install, typecheck, and test steps in the correct order after the root and web-ui installs.
packages/desktop/package.json	Intentionally minimal bootstrap: only typecheck/test scripts and the three required devDeps; private and module-typed.
packages/desktop/tsconfig.json	Extends root base, noEmit, includes src + test — missing "vitest/globals" in types array which will break test type-checking once tests land.
vitest.config.ts	Adds packages/** to root vitest exclude list so desktop tests run only under their own vitest config; comment documents the convention for future workspaces.
packages/desktop/tsconfig.build.json	Build-specific tsconfig with correct rootDir/outDir, excludes tests and dist; ready for when esbuild build scripts are added in later PRs.
package.json	install:all updated to include packages/desktop; all other root scripts unchanged.
.gitignore	Ignores electron-builder output directory and tarball artifacts for the desktop package.

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[npm run build] --> B[esbuild: src/cli.ts]
    A --> C[esbuild: src/index.ts]
    B --> D[dist/cli.js\n16 MB self-contained ESM]
    C --> E[dist/index.js\n552 KB]
    D --> F{Runtime context}
    F -->|npm i -g kanban| G[node_modules resolves node-pty]
    F -->|Monorepo dev| G
    F -->|Electron app.asar.unpacked| H[app.asar.unpacked/node_modules\nresolves node-pty via ESM walk]
    subgraph Externalized
        I[node-pty\nnative addon + spawn-helper]
    end
    D -.->|import| I

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