deploy-menubar

name	deploy-menubar
description	Build and launch the Threadbase menubar Electron app from vendor/menubar. Run this after the streamer server is healthy (post local-deploy). Ensures the submodule is checked out, deps are installed, TypeScript is compiled, and the app is running. Use when the user says "launch the menubar", "start the tray app", "deploy menubar", or "set up the menubar".

Deploy menubar

Builds and launches the vendor/menubar Electron app. Always run this after the streamer server is healthy — the menubar polls /healthz and needs the server up to show a green icon.

Step 1 — Detect OS

Use $IsWindows / $IsMacOS / $IsLinux in PowerShell, or check uname -s in bash:

Platform	Proceed?
macOS (Darwin)	yes
Linux	yes
Windows ($IsWindows)	yes
Other	stop — unsupported

All subsequent steps have platform-specific variants where needed.

Step 2 — Ensure submodule is checked out

macOS / Linux (bash):

cd <repo-root>
if [[ ! -f vendor/menubar/package.json ]]; then
  git submodule update --init --recursive vendor/menubar
fi

Windows (PowerShell):

$menubarPkg = "vendor\menubar\package.json"
if (-not (Test-Path $menubarPkg)) {
  git submodule update --init --recursive vendor/menubar
}

Step 3 — Install deps (idempotent)

macOS / Linux:

cd vendor/menubar
if [[ ! -d node_modules ]] || [[ package.json -nt node_modules ]]; then
  npm install --silent
fi

Windows:

Set-Location vendor\menubar
if (-not (Test-Path node_modules)) { npm install --silent }

Step 4 — Build (idempotent)

macOS / Linux:

cd vendor/menubar
need_build=0
if [[ ! -d dist ]]; then
  need_build=1
else
  newest_src="$(find src -type f -newer dist -print -quit 2>/dev/null || true)"
  [[ -n "$newest_src" ]] && need_build=1
fi
if (( need_build )); then
  npm run build
fi

Windows:

Set-Location vendor\menubar
$needBuild = -not (Test-Path dist)
if (-not $needBuild) {
  $distMtime = (Get-Item dist).LastWriteTime
  $newerSrc = Get-ChildItem src -Recurse -File | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -gt $distMtime } | Select-Object -First 1
  if ($newerSrc) { $needBuild = $true }
}
if ($needBuild) { npm run build }

Step 5 — Check if already running

macOS / Linux:

pgrep -f "vendor/menubar" >/dev/null 2>&1 && already_running=1 || already_running=0

Windows:

$electronProcs = Get-Process electron -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$alreadyRunning = !!$electronProcs

If already running, report "menubar is already running" and stop — do not kill and relaunch unless the user explicitly asked for a restart.

Important (Windows): always kill ALL existing electron processes before launching — Electron spawns ~10 child processes per instance, so even one prior failed launch leaves many orphans. Kill them all, then launch fresh:

Get-Process electron -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Stop-Process -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1

Step 6 — Launch

macOS / Linux:

cd vendor/menubar
nohup npx electron . </dev/null >>/tmp/threadbase-menubar.log 2>&1 &
disown
sleep 1
pgrep -f "vendor/menubar" >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "menubar running" || echo "menubar exited — check /tmp/threadbase-menubar.log"

Windows (PowerShell):

Critical: do NOT use electron.cmd (the npm bin wrapper) — it spawns a cmd.exe parent that exits and takes Electron with it. Launch electron.exe directly from node_modules\electron\dist\:

$menubarDir = Resolve-Path "vendor\menubar"
$electronExe = "$menubarDir\node_modules\electron\dist\electron.exe"

$proc = Start-Process -FilePath $electronExe `
  -ArgumentList "." `
  -WorkingDirectory $menubarDir `
  -Environment @{
    THREADBASE_PORT = '8766'
    USERPROFILE     = $env:USERPROFILE
    APPDATA         = $env:APPDATA
    TEMP            = $env:TEMP
    SystemRoot      = $env:SystemRoot
    PATH            = $env:PATH
  } `
  -PassThru
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
$alive = Get-Process -Id $proc.Id -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($alive) {
  Write-Host "menubar running (PID $($proc.Id))"
} else {
  Write-Host "menubar exited. ExitCode: $($proc.ExitCode)"
}

Step 7 — Report

On success: "Menubar launched. Tray icon should appear in the system tray — gray until the streamer responds, then green."

On immediate exit: surface the last 20 lines of the log file and stop. Do not claim success.

• macOS/Linux log: /tmp/threadbase-menubar.log
• Windows log: %TEMP%\threadbase-menubar.log

Notes

• The menubar default port is 3456. If the streamer is running on a different port, pass it as an env var before launching:
  • macOS/Linux: THREADBASE_PORT=8766 nohup npx electron . …
  • Windows: $env:THREADBASE_PORT = '8766' before Start-Process
• vendor/menubar uses tsc (not tsup) — output lands in dist/ with main.ts → dist/main.js.
• The renderer (src/renderer/index.html) is referenced as ../src/renderer/index.html from dist/ — this is intentional for dev; do not change the path.
• First launch: config.json won't exist yet, so the menubar auto-shows its popup for the "Launch at login" preference. This is expected behavior.
• Login-item registration (launch at login) is handled inside the app via the popup toggle — this skill does not configure it separately.
• On Windows, Electron shows a tray icon in the system tray (bottom-right). If the icon doesn't appear, check that the tray is not hidden under "Show hidden icons" (the ^ arrow in the taskbar).