feat: launch the backend silently at startup, drop the visible startup tab

AGENTS.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ src/agentmemory-launcher.ts   # Plugin entry (V2 module)
 
 Flow: on plugin load (`setup()`) → `GET /agentmemory/livez` (2s timeout) → spawns `npx @agentmemory/agentmemory` if down → 60s supervision loop → cleanup function stops the loop on unload.
 
-Windows launch path (two-mode): a launch triggered by the startup health check opens a visible Windows Terminal tab (`wt -w 0 nt --title agentmemory --suppressApplicationTitle node <cli>` — WT launches `node` itself, no cmd/pwsh shell hop) — focus is taken once at startup, which is acceptable. Every launch from the 60s supervision loop is silent: plain `windowsHide` is not enough there (it hides only the direct child, and every cmd.exe hop — `shell: true`, npx's `.cmd` shim — lets a grandchild allocate a NEW console, which Windows Terminal shows as a focus-stealing tab), so recovery resolves `dist/cli.mjs` from the **newest** agentmemory it can find — the npm/npx cache (cache dir discovered via `npm_config_cache` → `~/.npmrc` `cache=` → `%LOCALAPPDATA%/npm-cache`, plus a `../cache/_npx` probe beside each PATH entry for portable installs like scoop) or a global install on `PATH` (`<dir>/node_modules/@agentmemory/agentmemory` and `<prefix>/lib/node_modules/@agentmemory/agentmemory`), highest version wins — and spawns `node` directly on it: the tree (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) contains no cmd.exe and never allocates a console (the CLI spawns iii-engine with `windowsHide` itself). Falls back to the legacy npx spawn when no candidate is found or the direct spawn errors. Relaunches are gated by a 90s boot grace window plus a cross-instance self-expiring lock (`%TEMP%/agentmemory-launcher.lock`) because every OpenCode server runs its own plugin instance against the same backend.
+Windows launch path (always silent): every launch — startup and 60s-supervision recovery alike — bypasses npx/cmd and spawns `node` directly on `dist/cli.mjs` resolved from the **newest** agentmemory it can find (the npm/npx cache discovered via `npm_config_cache` → `~/.npmrc` `cache=` → `%LOCALAPPDATA%/npm-cache`, plus a `../cache/_npx` probe beside each PATH entry for portable installs like scoop, or a global install on `PATH` at `<dir>/node_modules/@agentmemory/agentmemory` / `<prefix>/lib/node_modules/@agentmemory/agentmemory`, highest version wins). The tree (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) contains no cmd.exe and never allocates a console (the CLI spawns iii-engine with `windowsHide` itself; live process-tree audits show no cmd.exe/conhost under the spawned backend). Falls back to the legacy npx spawn only when no candidate is found or the direct spawn errors. Plain `windowsHide` is not enough for the npx path: it hides only the direct child, and every cmd.exe hop — `shell: true`, npx's `.cmd` shim — lets a grandchild allocate a NEW console, which Windows Terminal shows as a focus-stealing window. Relaunches are gated by a 90s boot grace window plus a cross-instance self-expiring lock (`%TEMP%/agentmemory-launcher.lock`) because every OpenCode server runs its own plugin instance against the same backend.
 
 ## Agentmemory Backend (Critical Knowledge)
 

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ All notable changes to opencode-agentmemory-launcher will be documented in this
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Changed
+- **Windows launch is now always silent — the startup tab is gone.** A launch triggered by the startup health check (backend down when the plugin loads) now takes the exact path recovery launches have used since 4.1.0: resolve the newest `dist/cli.mjs` and spawn `node` directly on it, so no window, terminal tab, or focus steal ever appears at startup either. The earlier rollback to a visible startup tab (4.2.0) was triggered by console flashes at OpenCode startup that are actually caused by OpenCode's own local-MCP spawns (`cmd.exe /d /s /c npx …` allocates a console per server, and each OpenCode server instance spawns the whole local fleet) — not by this plugin, whose spawned tree (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) carries no cmd.exe/conhost at all (verified by live process-tree audits). Diagnostics for a failed launch remain in the plugin log (`warn`) plus `agentmemory doctor`.
+
 ## [4.2.1] - 2026-10-07
 
 ### Changed

README.md

@@ -104,11 +104,10 @@ Restart OpenCode to relaunch agentmemory with the updated version.
 
 1. **On load** (`setup()`): the plugin starts a health-check interval (60s)
 2. **Health check**: Pings `GET /agentmemory/livez` on the backend (always public, no auth — even with agentmemory 0.9.30's auth-by-default)
-3. **Auto-restart (two-mode)**: If the health check fails, the backend is launched.
-   - **Startup** (backend down when the plugin loads): opens a visible Windows Terminal tab titled `agentmemory` (`wt -w 0 nt --title agentmemory --suppressApplicationTitle node <cli>`) — Windows Terminal launches `node` itself, so no cmd/pwsh shell is involved. The backend coming up is visible; focus is taken once here — acceptable at startup, and never on the recovery path. Falls back to the silent path when `wt.exe` is unavailable.
-   - **Recovery** (every later (re)launch from the 60s loop): fully silent. On Windows the plugin bypasses npx/cmd entirely — it resolves the **newest** `dist/cli.mjs` it can find in the npm/npx cache or a global install on `PATH`, and spawns `node` directly on it, so the process tree (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) never touches cmd.exe and never allocates a console: no window/tab and no focus steal, mid-session or while idle (plain `windowsHide` is insufficient because every cmd.exe hop lets a grandchild allocate a new console). Falls back to an npx spawn when no local copy is found. Relaunches are throttled by a 90s boot grace window plus a cross-instance launch lock (multiple OpenCode servers share one backend)
+3. **Auto-restart**: If the health check fails, the backend is launched.
+   - **Always silent** (startup and every later (re)launch from the 60s loop): on Windows the plugin bypasses npx/cmd entirely — it resolves the **newest** `dist/cli.mjs` it can find in the npm/npx cache or a global install on `PATH`, and spawns `node` directly on it, so the process tree (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) never touches cmd.exe and never allocates a console: no window/tab and no focus steal, at startup, mid-session or while idle (plain `windowsHide` is insufficient because every cmd.exe hop lets a grandchild allocate a new console). Falls back to an npx spawn when no local copy is found. Relaunches are throttled by a 90s boot grace window plus a cross-instance launch lock (multiple OpenCode servers share one backend); a startup launch does not count toward the failure backoff, so a failed startup is retried ~90s later
 4. **Debug mode**: Set `OPENCODE_AGENTMEMORY_DEBUG=1` for verbose logging
-5. **Failure diagnostics**: A backend launch that exits with a non-zero code is logged at `warn` with the likely causes — a daemon already answering on the port (agentmemory 0.9.30 refuses to start a second instance) or the enforced iii-engine pin mismatch. A visible startup tab whose process exits with a non-zero code stays open (Windows Terminal's `closeOnExit: graceful`) so the error text remains readable
+5. **Failure diagnostics**: A backend launch that exits with a non-zero code is logged at `warn` with the likely causes — a daemon already answering on the port (agentmemory 0.9.30 refuses to start a second instance) or the enforced iii-engine pin mismatch. The backend runs with `stdio: "ignore"`, so for the actual error text run `npx @agentmemory/agentmemory doctor`
 
 ## Environment Variables
 
@@ -126,7 +125,7 @@ Two common causes: agentmemory 0.9.30 enforces its iii-engine pin (v0.22.1), so
 npx @agentmemory/agentmemory doctor
 ```
 
-**A visible startup tab shows `agentmemory worker did not become ready within 15s` and exits with code 1.**
+**The launcher log shows `agentmemory worker did not become ready within 15s` and the launch exits with code 1.**
 A stale instance from an earlier session is still holding the REST port, so the fresh CLI starts its engine but its worker registration never becomes ready — a healthy fresh start completes in ~2s. Diagnose and restart the whole chain (never kill a single worker process: it may be the active route handler, and killing it makes `/agentmemory/livez` return 404):
 
 ```powershell

src/agentmemory-launcher.ts

@@ -9,18 +9,18 @@ import { delimiter, join } from "node:path";
 // Uses /agentmemory/livez (always public, no auth) for health checks.
 // Health-checks every 60s and restarts the backend if it is down.
 //
-// Windows launch is two-mode:
-//  • startup  — the backend is down when the plugin loads, so open a visible
-//    Windows Terminal tab titled "agentmemory" for it. Taking focus once at
-//    startup is acceptable: the user sees the backend come up.
-//  • recovery — every later (re)launch from the 60s supervision loop must be
-//    invisible. `windowsHide` alone is NOT enough there: it only suppresses
-//    the direct child, and every hop through cmd.exe (npx's shim,
-//    `shell: true`) lets a grandchild allocate a NEW console, which Windows
-//    Terminal surfaces as a focus-stealing tab. So recovery bypasses npx/cmd
-//    and spawns `node` directly on the resolved CLI entry; the tree
-//    (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) never touches cmd.exe and never owns a
-//    console (the CLI spawns iii-engine with `windowsHide` itself).
+// Windows launch is always silent — no window, no tab, no focus steal, at
+// startup and on recovery alike. `windowsHide` alone is NOT enough: it only
+// suppresses the direct child, and every hop through cmd.exe (npx's shim,
+// `shell: true`) lets a grandchild allocate a NEW console, which Windows
+// Terminal surfaces as a focus-stealing window. So every launch bypasses
+// npx/cmd and spawns `node` directly on the resolved CLI entry; the tree
+// (node → cli.mjs → iii.exe) never touches cmd.exe and never owns a console
+// (the CLI spawns iii-engine with `windowsHide` itself). Live process-tree
+// audits confirm the spawned backend carries no cmd.exe/conhost at all,
+// while OpenCode's own local-MCP spawns (`cmd.exe /d /s /c npx …`) each
+// allocate a console — console flashes at OpenCode startup come from those
+// MCP spawns, not from this plugin.
 //
 // OpenCode V2 plugin: the host loads the default export `{ id, setup }`.
 // Supervision starts in `setup()` (V2 has no `config` hook) and the returned
@@ -54,12 +54,13 @@ let lastLaunchAt = 0;
 let launchAttempts = 0;
 let timer: ReturnType<typeof setInterval> | null = null;
 
-/** Startup launches open a visible tab; recovery launches are silent. */
+/**
+ * Why a launch is happening. Startup launches (backend down when the plugin
+ * loads) do not count toward the failure backoff, so a failed startup is
+ * retried ~90s later rather than 180s. Both modes spawn identically silent.
+ */
 type LaunchReason = "startup" | "recovery";
 
-/** Title of the visible startup tab (kept stable via --suppressApplicationTitle). */
-const TAB_TITLE = "agentmemory";
-
 type Level = "info" | "warn" | "error" | "debug";
 
 // V2 has no `client.app.log` equivalent — warn/error go to stderr
@@ -271,27 +272,6 @@ function spawnSilent(cli: string, env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv, label: string): void {
   void log("info", `launching backend silently via ${label}`);
 }
 
-/**
- * Startup launch: open a visible Windows Terminal tab running the backend.
- * No shell is involved — Windows Terminal launches `node` itself, so the
- * visible path is as shell-free as the silent one (no cmd/pwsh hop).
- * Focus is taken once — acceptable at startup, never used on the recovery path.
- * Degrades to the silent launch when wt.exe is unavailable.
- */
-function spawnVisibleTab(cli: string, env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv, label: string): void {
-  const child = spawn(
-    "wt.exe",
-    ["-w", "0", "nt", "--title", TAB_TITLE, "--suppressApplicationTitle", "node", cli],
-    { detached: true, stdio: "ignore", windowsHide: true, env },
-  );
-  child.on("error", (err) => {
-    void log("warn", `visible tab spawn failed (${err.message}); falling back to a silent launch`);
-    spawnSilent(cli, env, label);
-  });
-  watch(child, `visible tab → ${label}`);
-  void log("info", `launching backend in a visible tab via ${label}`);
-}
-
 function launch(reason: LaunchReason): void {
   const now = Date.now();
   // Exponential backoff across consecutive FAILED attempts (90s, 180s, …,
@@ -310,12 +290,7 @@ function launch(reason: LaunchReason): void {
   const resolved = process.platform === "win32" ? resolveCli() : null;
 
   if (resolved) {
-    const label = `${resolved.version} (${resolved.path})`;
-    if (process.platform === "win32" && reason === "startup") {
-      spawnVisibleTab(resolved.path, env, label);
-    } else {
-      spawnSilent(resolved.path, env, label);
-    }
+    spawnSilent(resolved.path, env, `${resolved.version} (${resolved.path})`);
     return;
   }