🐛 fix(build): guard root postinstall so it stops printing a MODULE_NOT_FOUND stack

[scttbnsn]

Follow-up to #18. Every Vercel build dumps a stack trace that is swallowed but never fixed.

The noise

Vercel installs the workspace root (npm install --prefix=.., since root package.json has workspaces: ["website"]), which fires the root postinstall. But /scripts is vercelignored, so:

> rolester@0.5.2 postinstall
> node scripts/install-skills.mjs --soft || true

Error: Cannot find module `/vercel/path0/scripts/install-skills.mjs`
    at Module._resolveFilename ...
  code: `MODULE_NOT_FOUND`

|| true swallows the exit code but not the stack. It is harmless today, and it is exactly the kind of expected-looking stack trace that a real failure hides behind later.

The fix

Check the file exists before running it.

node -e "const f='scripts/install-skills.mjs'; if (require('fs').existsSync(f)) require('child_process').spawnSync(process.execPath,[f,'--soft'],{stdio:'inherit'})"

node -e rather than [ -f ... ] && because npm runs lifecycle scripts through cmd.exe on Windows, where the POSIX test builtin does not exist.

Install can still never fail

That was the point of || true, and it is preserved two ways: --soft already makes install-skills.mjs exit 0 on every handled path (process.exit(soft ? 0 : 1)), and spawnSyncs status is ignored, so a hard throw inside the script cannot fail npm install -g rolester either.

Verified both paths

	scripts/ present	scripts/ absent (Vercel)
old	runs, exit 0	2 stack lines, exit 0
new	runs, exit 0	silent, exit 0

The real proof is the build log on merge: this PR merging to main triggers a production deploy, and that log should no longer contain MODULE_NOT_FOUND. Checking after merge.

🔧 Changed

• Updated postinstall to check for scripts/install-skills.mjs before running it.
• Uses node -e and spawnSync for Windows compatibility while preserving inherited output and --soft behavior.

🐛 Fixed

• Prevents MODULE_NOT_FOUND stack traces during Vercel builds where /scripts is absent.

• Keeps installs successful and silent when the installer script is unavailable.

• Verify that installer spawn failures still preserve the previous non-failing postinstall behavior.

[vercel]

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
rolester-website	Ready	Preview, Comment	Jul 9, 2026 10:53pm

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 0236e3e and 9468700.

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• package.json

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Updated the postinstall script to check whether scripts/install-skills.mjs exists before running it. When present, the script invokes it with Node, the --soft argument, and inherited standard I/O. The previous unconditional execution and explicit || true fallback were removed.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 2

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
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.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/postinstall-guard

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_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[biggest-littlest]

Confirmed on the preview build for 9468700: zero MODULE_NOT_FOUND, postinstall runs silently, and the website still builds ┌ ○ /. node -e over [ -f ] is right for cmd.exe. install can still never fail (--soft exits 0, and spawnSync status is ignored).

[ALARGECOMPANY]

Good cleanup. Silent build logs make real failures visible.