Cannot npm install with `npm_config_ignore_scripts=true`

[chicco-carone]

Describe the bug

When asking any prompt in any project i always get this js Unhandled error:

   Unhandled error: Error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/pty.node'
   Require stack:
   - /home/chicco/.local/share/pnpm/global/5/.pnpm/@devm33+node-pty@1.0.9/node_modules/@devm33/node-pty/lib/unixTerminal.js
   - /home/chicco/.local/share/pnpm/global/5/.pnpm/@devm33+node-pty@1.0.9/node_modules/@devm33/node-pty/lib/index.js

Affected version

0.0.330

Steps to reproduce the behavior

install the cli with pnpm or npm
launch it in any project
type any prompt
error occurs

Expected behavior

The program handles the error

Additional context

Os: Arch Linux
CPU: x86
Terminal: Tested in Alacritty and Ghostty
Shell: Bash

[johanhammar]

I had a similar problem. Did you perhaps disable node build scripts? In my ~/.npmrc I had ignore-scripts=true. This makes the installation fail since the node-pty module has both install and postinstall scripts.

For pnpm I think install scripts are disabled by default for dependencies. See pnpm/pnpm#8897

[RyanHecht]

Hi @chicco-carone,

I'd be curious to know if @johanhammar's suggestions solve this issue for you. I'm also curious: what Node.js version do you have installed?

[chicco-carone]

I fixed the issue with this
pnpm add -g @github/copilot --ignore-scripts=false it's probably not necessary to explicitly set the flag but it works like this. I think the issue before was that I was using install and not add so I would probably add it to the readme for how to install it with pnpm

[chicco-carone]

Now after a real try (before i just sent a message since it didn't work) i noticed that it can't run any commands for some reason. The build deps are installed.
Here is an example of it not working

 ✗ Initialize package and install Vercel AI SDK providers with pnpm
   $ pnpm init -y && jq '. + {type:"module"}' package.json > package.tmp.json && mv package.tmp.json package.json && pnpm add ai zod @ai-sdk/openai @ai-sdk/anthropic @ai-sdk/mistral
   <exited with exit code MODULE_NOT_FOUND>

i always get that error with whatever command it might run

[macCesar]

Exactly the same error and a lot more... But I didn't use 'pnpm' to install it!!

 ✗ List directory app/Services
   Unhandled error: Error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/pty.node'
   Require stack:
   - /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@github/copilot/node_modules/node-pty/lib/unixTerminal.js
   - /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@github/copilot/node_modules/node-pty/lib/index.js

 ✗ Read app/Services/FirebaseNotificationService.php
   Unhandled error: Error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/pty.node'
   Require stack:
   - /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@github/copilot/node_modules/node-pty/lib/unixTerminal.js
   - /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@github/copilot/node_modules/node-pty/lib/index.js

 ✗ Check if firebase config exists in .env.example
   $ cd /Users/xxxx/yyyy/zzzz && grep -n "firebase" .env.example
   <exited with exit code MODULE_NOT_FOUND>

 ✗ Read config/services.php
   Unhandled error: Error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/pty.node'
   Require stack:
   - /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@github/copilot/node_modules/node-pty/lib/unixTerminal.js
   - /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@github/copilot/node_modules/node-pty/lib/index.js

[johanhammar]

@RyanHecht Might be different problems. For what it's worth, here's an example reproducing the error using npm.

1. Make sure Copilot CLI is not installed

2. Install Copilot CLI by running npm_config_ignore_scripts=true npm install -g @github/copilot

3. This installs Copilot CLI without running any buildscripts (including dependencies). node-pty has (atleast) two scripts (hooks)

     "install": "node scripts/prebuild.js || node-gyp rebuild",
     "postinstall": "node scripts/post-install.js",

4. Run copilot it should result in similar errors as mentioned above

5. Uninstall Copilot cli

6. Install Copilot CLI again, now with build scripts enabled by running npm_config_ignore_scripts=false npm install -g @github/copilot

7. Run Copilot CLI, it should work as expected

What ignore scripts does is that it prevents any lifecycle hooks for dependencies. There's different ways of ignoring scripts, some more info at https://www.nodejs-security.com/blog/npm-ignore-scripts-best-practices-as-security-mitigation-for-malicious-packages

Let me know if you need more information

[macCesar]

Thanks @johanhammar ... This did the trick: npm_config_ignore_scripts=false npm install -g @github/copilot

Now everything works as expected!

[RyanHecht]

Thanks for that additional intel, @johanhammar -- I've renamed the issue to better explain the problem. I'm thinking our team's action item should be to call this out in docs