fix(windows): silence conhost flashes from core-side spawns (#731/#1338 follow-up)

[sanil-23]

Summary

• Adds CREATE_NO_WINDOW (creation_flags(0x0800_0000)) to every core-side child-process spawn on Windows.
• Without this flag Windows allocates a conhost for each child via CreateProcess, causing a continuous terminal-flash storm when polled RPCs fan out into native command probes (e.g. local_ai_device_profile → nvidia-smi).
• New helper src/openhuman/local_ai/process_util.rs exposes apply_no_window(&mut tokio::process::Command) so call sites don't repeat the cfg(windows) block.
• Shell-side spawns were fixed in fix(windows): hide conhost window spawned with core sidecar #731 and fix(windows): suppress console flash for netstat/taskkill spawns #1338; this patch covers the missed core-side sites.
• 9 files changed, 122 insertions, 45 deletions.

Problem

On a fresh Windows install, any frontend-polled RPC that fans out into a native command probe (e.g. local_ai_device_profile → nvidia-smi --query-gpu) caused a continuous conhost flash storm — visible before the auth screen had even rendered.

windows_subsystem = "windows" on the parent process (Tauri shell) prevents that process from inheriting a console, but each CreateProcess call for a child still allocates a new conhost unless CREATE_NO_WINDOW is explicitly passed in dwCreationFlags. #731 fixed the core sidecar spawn; #1338 fixed netstat/taskkill in the shell. The core-side spawns were missed in both passes.

Solution

• New helper local_ai/process_util::apply_no_window wraps the #[cfg(windows)] + creation_flags(0x0800_0000) detail; callers just call the helper on their Command.
• For std::process::Command sites and one-off cases, the cfg block is inlined directly.
• Sites patched:
  • local_ai/install.rs: PowerShell wrapper running OllamaSetup.exe
  • local_ai/service/ollama_admin.rs: ollama --version, ollama serve, command_works candidate probe, taskkill /F /IM ollama.exe
  • local_ai/device.rs: nvidia-smi --query-gpu — re-probed by handle_local_ai_device_profile on every poll (the main visible loop)
  • doctor/core.rs: PowerShell Get-PSDrive for disk space + <cmd> --version for git/curl/etc. in check_command_available
  • node_runtime/resolver.rs: <bin> --version in probe_subcommand_version
  • service/common.rs helpers (run_checked, run_capture, run_best_effort, run_check_silent) — silences every schtasks call at the helper boundary (covers status/start/stop/install/uninstall). Linux systemctl and macOS launchctl go through the same helpers; no_window is a cfg(not(windows)) no-op on those targets.
  • service/windows.rs:is_task_exists_windows: bypasses the common helpers; patched directly with creation_flags.

Submission Checklist

• Tests added or updated (happy path + at least one failure / edge case) per Testing Strategy
  process_util.rs carries a smoke test asserting apply_no_window is callable on every platform. Assertable behavior beyond that requires inspecting Windows process-creation flags at the OS level, which is not reachable from Rust unit tests.
• N/A: Diff coverage ≥ 80% — changes are Windows-only conditional-compilation glue around existing tested call sites; no new logic to cover with diff-cover on Linux CI runners.
• N/A: Coverage matrix updated — behaviour-only change; no feature rows added/removed/renamed.
• N/A: All affected feature IDs from the matrix are listed under ## Related — no feature-matrix entries touched.
• No new external network dependencies introduced (mock backend used per Testing Strategy)
• N/A: Manual smoke checklist updated — invisible-to-user fix; behavior matches the windows_subsystem="windows" linker attribute on the parent.
• N/A: Linked issue closed via Closes #NNN — the core-side conhost flash bug was not tracked under its own issue; see ## Related for prior-art references.

Impact

Windows-only fix. On Windows, every core-side child-process spawn now sets CREATE_NO_WINDOW; no conhost is allocated. No behavior change on macOS or Linux — the cfg(not(windows)) path is a no-op. No UI surface change, no new API, no migration needed.

Related

• Prior art: fix(windows): hide conhost window spawned with core sidecar #731 (conhost on core sidecar), fix(windows): suppress console flash for netstat/taskkill spawns #1338 (netstat/taskkill in shell)
• Surfaced during: Rebuild Windows MSI with the latest Sentry fix #1475 (Windows rebuild verification)
• No issues auto-closed by this PR.
• Follow-up PR(s)/TODOs: none

---

AI Authored PR Metadata (required for Codex/Linear PRs)

Linear Issue

• Key: N/A
• URL: N/A

Commit & Branch

• Branch: fix/windows-conhost-flashes
• Commit SHA: 61c724be51046ece40618811121c6b46791f4c60

Validation Run

• pnpm --filter openhuman-app format:check
• pnpm typecheck
• Focused tests: process_util.rs smoke test (callable on all platforms)
• Rust fmt/check (if changed): cargo check -p openhuman --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc clean (only pre-existing warnings in slack_backfill.rs); cargo fmt --check clean
• N/A: Tauri fmt/check (if changed): N/A — no Tauri shell changes

Validation Blocked

• command: N/A
• error: N/A
• impact: N/A

Behavior Changes

• Intended behavior change: All core-side child processes on Windows are spawned with CREATE_NO_WINDOW; no conhost window appears for any native probe.
• User-visible effect: Conhost flash storm gone — confirmed end-to-end on contributor's Windows machine, both with and without Ollama installed.

Parity Contract

• Legacy behavior preserved: All spawn logic is unchanged on macOS and Linux; apply_no_window and inline cfg blocks are no-ops on non-Windows targets.
• Guard/fallback/dispatch parity checks: service/common.rs helpers used by Linux systemctl and macOS launchctl are unaffected; creation_flags path is Windows-only.

Duplicate / Superseded PR Handling

• Duplicate PR(s): none
• Canonical PR: this PR
• Resolution (closed/superseded/updated): N/A

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Fixed unexpected console windows appearing on Windows during background operations, including system diagnostics, device detection, service management, and installation processes.
  • Enhanced user experience and system responsiveness by eliminating visual interruptions from background processes.
  • Improved overall visual polish for a cleaner, more professional user interface on Windows.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 600e47c4-ae81-49eb-8967-e9dddf61bb8c

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 3aa2654 and 84c24b7.

📒 Files selected for processing (9)

• src/openhuman/doctor/core.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/device.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/install.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/mod.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/process_util.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/service/ollama_admin.rs
• src/openhuman/node_runtime/resolver.rs
• src/openhuman/service/common.rs
• src/openhuman/service/windows.rs

✅ Files skipped from review due to trivial changes (1)

• src/openhuman/service/windows.rs

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (4)

• src/openhuman/local_ai/device.rs
• src/openhuman/doctor/core.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/process_util.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/service/ollama_admin.rs

---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Suppresses console windows on Windows for spawned subprocesses by adding a cross-platform helper and applying CREATE_NO_WINDOW across service runners, local-AI probes/installers, diagnostics, node runtime probes, and Windows task queries.

Changes

Windows Process No-Window Suppression

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Cross-Platform Process Helper Module src/openhuman/local_ai/process_util.rs, src/openhuman/local_ai/mod.rs	New module defines Windows CREATE_NO_WINDOW constant and apply_no_window(cmd); Windows implementation sets creation_flags on tokio::process::Command, non-Windows is a no-op. Includes a compile/callability test.
Service Command Execution Helper src/openhuman/service/common.rs	Adds platform-gated no_window(&mut Command) and calls it from run_checked, run_capture, run_best_effort, and run_check_silent.
Local AI Device and Service src/openhuman/local_ai/device.rs, src/openhuman/local_ai/service/ollama_admin.rs, src/openhuman/local_ai/install.rs	NVIDIA probe, Ollama --version checks, server spawn/kill, and installer PowerShell command now construct mutable Command instances and apply the no-window helper before executing/spawning.
Diagnostic and Runtime Probes src/openhuman/doctor/core.rs, src/openhuman/node_runtime/resolver.rs	Disk-space check, generic command-availability check, and node runtime --version probe refactored to build Command and set Windows creation_flags (CREATE_NO_WINDOW) before output/spawn.
Windows Task Existence Check src/openhuman/service/windows.rs	schtasks /Query now sets creation_flags(0x0800_0000) via CommandExt import to suppress window during task existence checks.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• tinyhumansai/openhuman#731: Also adds CREATE_NO_WINDOW helper and applies it to subprocess spawns to suppress console windows.
• tinyhumansai/openhuman#416: Related changes to Ollama admin spawn/error handling and Windows behaviors.

Suggested reviewers

• senamakel

Poem

🐰 Soft paws on keys, I whisper low,

No flashing consoles where processes go.
Flags set in silence, windows stay still,
Commands now tiptoe at my will.
— a rabbit, pleased and quiet 🥕

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 63.64% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically identifies the main change: preventing console window flashes on Windows by silencing conhost allocation during spawned processes, with a reference to related issues.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@src/openhuman/doctor/core.rs`:
- Around line 745-746: The match expression `match child_cmd.output()` in
core.rs is split across two lines causing cargo fmt failure; collapse it so the
opening brace sits on the same line as the match (i.e., `match
child_cmd.output() {`) and then run `cargo fmt` (or `cargo fmt --all` / your
editor formatter) to ensure the rest of the surrounding block (the arms handling
the Result) is properly formatted and passes `cargo fmt --check`.

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---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: e289d401-30ea-4c3f-bdad-8de5393a2e52

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between fc573b0 and 61c724b.

📒 Files selected for processing (9)

• src/openhuman/doctor/core.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/device.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/install.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/mod.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/process_util.rs
• src/openhuman/local_ai/service/ollama_admin.rs
• src/openhuman/node_runtime/resolver.rs
• src/openhuman/service/common.rs
• src/openhuman/service/windows.rs