fix(npm): install to a user cache when the package is read-only; signal-safe first run

- When the package's bin/ is not writable (a root-owned `sudo npm i -g`
  whose postinstall npm 12 skipped), install the binary to a per-user
  cache ($XDG_CACHE_HOME, ~/.cache, ~/Library/Caches on macOS, under
  <package>/<version>/); the launcher looks in both. Previously the first
  run failed with EACCES and advice to rerun npm install.
- Run the first-run installer asynchronously with SIGTERM/SIGHUP
  forwarded, so a supervisor stopping the launcher stops the download;
  the installer removes its partial file and the launcher exits by the
  same signal.
- Verify an IDX_BINARY_URL local file's checksum on the copy, not the
  source, so the installed bytes are the checked ones.
- npm smoke covers the read-only fallback.

The last three come from a Codex review.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01V3syn2fN2LNo5pvTSqc6eh

docs/NPM_DISTRIBUTION.md

@@ -52,6 +52,13 @@ itself on first start, logging to stderr so the `idx-mcp` stdout channel stays
 clean; it fails only when that download fails too. Hermes Agent runs `npx` with
 its own npm 12, which is how 0.3.1 broke there (issue #41).
 
+The binary goes in the package's `bin/`, or, when that is not writable (a
+root-owned `sudo npm install -g` whose postinstall npm 12 skipped), in a
+per-user cache: `$XDG_CACHE_HOME`, else `~/.cache` (`~/Library/Caches` on
+macOS), under `<package>/<version>/`. The launcher looks in both. A
+termination signal during that first-run download stops the installer too,
+and it removes its partial file.
+
 To install the binary up front instead, allow the script explicitly:
 
 ```bash
@@ -70,7 +77,8 @@ npm install --global --allow-scripts=idx-cli idx-cli
 The smoke script builds or reuses `target/release/idx`, packs the npm wrapper,
 installs the tarball into a new temporary directory, and runs the installed
 `idx` command, then installs `idx-mcp` again with `--ignore-scripts` to check
-the launcher's first-run install. It uses `IDX_BINARY_URL` with a local `file:` URL, so the test
+the launcher's first-run install, also with a read-only package directory
+(the per-user cache fallback). It uses `IDX_BINARY_URL` with a local `file:` URL, so the test
 does not need a registry publish or a network download.
 
 ```bash

scripts/idx.js

@@ -3,51 +3,83 @@
 
 const fs = require("node:fs");
 const path = require("node:path");
-const { spawn, spawnSync } = require("node:child_process");
+const { spawn } = require("node:child_process");
 
 const packageManifest = JSON.parse(
   fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, "..", "package.json"), "utf8"),
 );
-const nativeBinary = packageManifest.nativeBinary || "idx";
 const packageName = packageManifest.name;
-const binaryName = process.platform === "win32" ? `${nativeBinary}.exe` : nativeBinary;
+const installer = path.join(__dirname, "install.js");
-const binaryPath = path.join(__dirname, "..", "bin", binaryName);
+// Requiring the installer only reads its paths; it installs when run directly.
+const { binaryLocations } = require(installer);
 
-// postinstall never ran (ignore-scripts) or its download failed: install now.
+const findBinary = () => binaryLocations.find((candidate) => fs.existsSync(candidate));
-// Its log goes to stderr, since stdout is the MCP channel for idx-mcp.
-if (!fs.existsSync(binaryPath)) {
-  console.error(`${packageName}: binary not installed; running the installer`);
-  spawnSync(process.execPath, [path.join(__dirname, "install.js")], {
-    stdio: ["ignore", 2, 2],
-  });
-}
 
-if (!fs.existsSync(binaryPath)) {
+// The running child: the first-run installer, then the binary.
-  console.error(`${packageName}: installed binary not found at ${binaryPath}`);
+let child = null;
-  console.error(`${packageName}: rerun npm install or set IDX_BINARY_URL for a local binary`);
+// A termination signal received while installing; the installer cleans up
+// and exits, and the launcher then stops the same way.
+let stopping = null;
+
+// Pass termination signals from a supervisor (kill, docker stop) to the child.
+for (const signal of ["SIGTERM", "SIGHUP"]) {
+  process.on(signal, () => {
+    stopping = signal;
+    if (child) {
+      child.kill(signal);
+    } else {
       process.exit(1);
     }
-
+  });
-const child = spawn(binaryPath, process.argv.slice(2), { stdio: "inherit" });
-
-// Pass termination signals from a supervisor (kill, docker stop) to the binary.
-for (const signal of ["SIGTERM", "SIGHUP"]) {
-  process.on(signal, () => child.kill(signal));
 }
-// Ctrl+C already reaches the binary through the terminal's process group.
+// Ctrl+C already reaches the child through the terminal's process group.
 process.on("SIGINT", () => {});
 
-child.once("error", (error) => {
+function exitLike(code, signal) {
-  console.error(`${packageName}: failed to start ${binaryPath}: ${error.message}`);
-  process.exit(1);
-});
-
-child.once("exit", (code, signal) => {
   if (signal) {
     process.removeAllListeners(signal);
     process.kill(process.pid, signal);
     return;
   }
-
   process.exit(code === null ? 1 : code);
+}
+
+function run(binaryPath) {
+  child = spawn(binaryPath, process.argv.slice(2), { stdio: "inherit" });
+  child.once("error", (error) => {
+    console.error(`${packageName}: failed to start ${binaryPath}: ${error.message}`);
+    process.exit(1);
   });
+  child.once("exit", exitLike);
+}
+
+const installed = findBinary();
+if (installed) {
+  run(installed);
+} else {
+  // postinstall never ran (npm 12 `allow-scripts`, pnpm, bun, --ignore-scripts)
+  // or its download failed: install now. Its log goes to stderr, since stdout
+  // is the MCP channel for idx-mcp.
+  console.error(`${packageName}: binary not installed; running the installer`);
+  child = spawn(process.execPath, [installer], { stdio: ["ignore", 2, 2] });
+  child.once("error", (error) => {
+    console.error(`${packageName}: failed to run the installer: ${error.message}`);
+    process.exit(1);
+  });
+  child.once("exit", (code, signal) => {
+    child = null;
+    if (signal || stopping) {
+      exitLike(code, signal || stopping);
+      return;
+    }
+    const binaryPath = findBinary();
+    if (!binaryPath) {
+      console.error(`${packageName}: no installed binary at ${binaryLocations.join(" or ")}`);
+      console.error(
+        `${packageName}: check access to github.com and rerun, or set IDX_BINARY_URL to a local binary`,
+      );
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+    run(binaryPath);
+  });
+}

scripts/install.js

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const crypto = require("node:crypto");
 const fs = require("node:fs");
 const http = require("node:http");
 const https = require("node:https");
+const os = require("node:os");
 const path = require("node:path");
 const { pipeline } = require("node:stream");
 const { URL, fileURLToPath } = require("node:url");
@@ -18,8 +19,21 @@ const packageManifest = JSON.parse(
 const nativeBinary = packageManifest.nativeBinary || "idx";
 const packageName = packageManifest.name;
 const binaryName = process.platform === "win32" ? `${nativeBinary}.exe` : nativeBinary;
-const binaryDirectory = path.join(packageRoot, "bin");
+// The binary goes in the package's own bin/, or, when that is not writable
-const binaryPath = path.join(binaryDirectory, binaryName);
+// (a root-owned global install whose postinstall npm 12 skipped), in a
+// per-user cache. scripts/idx.js looks in both, in this order.
+const packageBinaryPath = path.join(packageRoot, "bin", binaryName);
+const cacheBinaryPath = path.join(
+  process.env.XDG_CACHE_HOME ||
+    (process.platform === "darwin"
+      ? path.join(os.homedir(), "Library", "Caches")
+      : path.join(os.homedir(), ".cache")),
+  packageName,
+  packageManifest.version,
+  binaryName,
+);
+const binaryLocations = [packageBinaryPath, cacheBinaryPath];
+let binaryPath = packageBinaryPath;
 const githubRepository = "0xrsydn/idx-cli";
 const maxRedirects = 5;
 const requestTimeoutMs = 60_000;
@@ -65,15 +79,43 @@ function releaseAssetUrl(assetName) {
   return `https://github.com/${githubRepository}/releases/download/v${packageManifest.version}/${assetName}`;
 }
 
+// Picks the first writable location and points binaryPath at it.
 function ensureBinaryDirectory() {
-  fs.mkdirSync(binaryDirectory, { recursive: true });
+  for (const candidate of binaryLocations) {
+    const directory = path.dirname(candidate);
+    try {
+      fs.mkdirSync(directory, { recursive: true });
+      fs.accessSync(directory, fs.constants.W_OK);
+      binaryPath = candidate;
+      return;
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (!["EACCES", "EPERM", "EROFS"].includes(error.code)) {
+        throw error;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  throw new Error(`no writable location for the binary: ${binaryLocations.join(", ")}`);
 }
 
+let activeTemporaryPath = null;
+
+function removeActiveTemporary() {
+  if (activeTemporaryPath && fs.existsSync(activeTemporaryPath)) {
+    fs.unlinkSync(activeTemporaryPath);
+  }
+  activeTemporaryPath = null;
+}
+
+// Each install writes its own temporary file and renames it into place, so
+// concurrent first runs never expose a partial binary.
 function temporaryBinaryPath() {
-  return `${binaryPath}.${process.pid}.tmp`;
+  activeTemporaryPath = `${binaryPath}.${process.pid}.tmp`;
+  return activeTemporaryPath;
 }
 
-function replaceWithLocalBinary(sourcePath) {
+// Verifies the copy rather than the source, so the installed bytes are the
+// checked ones even if the source changes meanwhile.
+function replaceWithLocalBinary(sourcePath, expectedSha256) {
   const resolvedSource = path.resolve(sourcePath);
   const sourceStat = fs.statSync(resolvedSource, { throwIfNoEntry: false });
   if (!sourceStat || !sourceStat.isFile()) {
@@ -83,12 +125,13 @@ function replaceWithLocalBinary(sourcePath) {
   const temporaryPath = temporaryBinaryPath();
   try {
     fs.copyFileSync(resolvedSource, temporaryPath);
+    if (expectedSha256) {
+      verifyChecksum(temporaryPath, expectedSha256, resolvedSource);
+    }
     fs.chmodSync(temporaryPath, 0o755);
     fs.renameSync(temporaryPath, binaryPath);
   } finally {
-    if (fs.existsSync(temporaryPath)) {
+    removeActiveTemporary();
-      fs.unlinkSync(temporaryPath);
-    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -199,9 +242,7 @@ async function replaceWithDownloadedBinary(url, expectedSha256) {
     fs.chmodSync(temporaryPath, 0o755);
     fs.renameSync(temporaryPath, binaryPath);
   } finally {
-    if (fs.existsSync(temporaryPath)) {
+    removeActiveTemporary();
-      fs.unlinkSync(temporaryPath);
-    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -241,10 +282,7 @@ async function main() {
   if (override) {
     const localPath = localPathFromOverride(override);
     if (localPath) {
-      if (overrideSha256) {
+      replaceWithLocalBinary(localPath, overrideSha256);
-        verifyChecksum(localPath, overrideSha256, localPath);
-      }
-      replaceWithLocalBinary(localPath);
       console.log(`${packageName}: installed local binary from ${path.resolve(localPath)}`);
       return;
     }
@@ -260,7 +298,19 @@ async function main() {
   console.log(`${packageName}: installed binary at ${binaryPath}`);
 }
 
+module.exports = { binaryLocations };
+
+if (require.main === module) {
+  // A supervisor stopping the launcher mid-download stops this too; leave no
+  // temporary file behind.
+  for (const [signal, number] of [["SIGTERM", 15], ["SIGHUP", 1], ["SIGINT", 2]]) {
+    process.on(signal, () => {
+      removeActiveTemporary();
+      process.exit(128 + number);
+    });
+  }
   main().catch((error) => {
     console.error(`${packageName}: ${error.message}`);
     process.exit(1);
   });
+}

scripts/npm-smoke.sh

@@ -95,4 +95,19 @@ if ! head -n 1 "${smoke_dir}/no-scripts-help.txt" | grep -q "MCP server"; then
   cat "${smoke_dir}/no-scripts-help.txt" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
-echo "npm smoke: PASS (idx-cli and idx-mcp: pack, install, --help; idx-mcp without postinstall)"
+# A read-only package (root-owned global install) falls back to the user cache.
+echo "npm smoke: idx-mcp without postinstall, read-only package directory"
+read_only_dir="${smoke_dir}/idx-mcp-read-only"
+npm_config_cache="$npm_cache" npm install --prefix "$read_only_dir" "${smoke_dir}"/idx-mcp/idx-mcp-*.tgz \
+  --no-save --no-package-lock --no-audit --no-fund --ignore-scripts
+chmod -R a-w "${read_only_dir}/node_modules/idx-mcp"
+XDG_CACHE_HOME="${smoke_dir}/user-cache" IDX_BINARY_URL="${repo_root}/target/release/idx-mcp" \
+  "${read_only_dir}/node_modules/.bin/idx-mcp" --help > "${smoke_dir}/read-only-help.txt"
+chmod -R u+w "${read_only_dir}/node_modules/idx-mcp"
+cached=("${smoke_dir}"/user-cache/idx-mcp/*/idx-mcp)
+if ! head -n 1 "${smoke_dir}/read-only-help.txt" | grep -q "MCP server" || [[ ! -x "${cached[0]}" ]]; then
+  echo "npm smoke: idx-mcp with a read-only package did not install to the user cache:" >&2
+  cat "${smoke_dir}/read-only-help.txt" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "npm smoke: PASS (idx-cli and idx-mcp: pack, install, --help; idx-mcp without postinstall, also read-only)"