Windows: no supported install path (installer and docs cover macOS/Linux only)

[isacgalvao]

Summary

README and docs/quickstart.md document installation only for macOS and Linux (curl -fsSL .../install.sh | sh). The runtime itself already treats Windows as a platform: docs/windows.md documents the Git Bash requirement, the coding agent has win32 branches (findExecutable, ensureUv), and #660 / #663 come from a real Windows install. But there is no documented or supported way to install Prime Agent on Windows.

Current behavior on Windows

• Under Git Bash, install.sh works when Node >= 20.6 is already installed: the release tarball and SHA256SUMS download, sha256sum is available for verification, and the npm install -g step succeeds. This is the path the reporter of Windows: kernel bootstrap uses venv bin/python, so the IPython kernel never starts and each retry wipes the venv #660 used ("installed via the official install.sh -> npm install -g path" on Windows 11).
• If Node is missing, the installer cannot recover: detect_node_install_method falls through to standalone, and the standalone flow only maps Darwin/Linux — uname -s reports MINGW64_NT-... under Git Bash, so it ends in "Unsupported operating system for automatic Node.js install".
• From native PowerShell/cmd there is no path at all; the installer is POSIX sh.

Why a Windows install path is viable

The install payload is platform-independent: prime-agent-<version>.tgz is an npm package installed with npm install -g, and a per-release SHA256SUMS is already published next to it. Nothing in the artifact is macOS/Linux-specific. The release workflow already renders install.sh (base URL substitution in build-binaries.yml) and uploads it to the public bucket, so publishing a Windows installer alongside it is mechanical.

Proposal

In increasing effort:

1. Document the supported manual path: with Node >= 20.6 and Git for Windows installed, the existing curl ... | sh line works from Git Bash. Add a Windows note to README / quickstart pointing at docs/windows.md for the runtime shell requirement.
2. Publish an install.ps1 rendered and uploaded by the same release workflow: check Node/npm >= 20.6, resolve the channel version, download the tarball and SHA256SUMS, verify with Get-FileHash, run npm install -g, optionally bootstrap the kernel runtime (uv ships Windows builds). That gives an irm ... | iex install without a bash prerequisite at install time; the runtime requirement from docs/windows.md still applies and the installer can check for it.

Either way this probably should not be advertised in the README until #663 lands, since a fresh Windows install currently comes up with a non-working kernel (#660).

Related: #660 / #663 cover a runtime bug hit after installing on Windows; this issue is only about the install path.

Environment checked

Windows 11 Pro, Git Bash (uname -s = MINGW64_NT-10.0-26300), Node 24, repo at v0.7.0 (c98941a2).

I can submit a PR for either option.

[kevinjosethomas]

Hi, thanks for taking the time to report this! Since open sourcing Prime Agent, we’ve received far more Issues than we can reliably triage and maintain. Rather than leave a large backlog that we cannot meaningfully work through, we’re closing the current Issue queue and moving to a discussion-first process.

We have established new contribution guidelines to help us continue iterating on Prime Agent and better manage contributions from the community. Going forward, GitHub Issues will be our maintainer work queue rather than the initial place for public reports and requests. Bug reports, feature requests, questions, and other feedback should begin in GitHub Discussions. Please read the full process documented in our contribution guidelines. Security vulnerabilities should continue to be reported privately according to our security policy.

While we’re closing this backlog, we’re still reviewing it at a high level to identify recurring bugs, useful ideas, and important problems that we should address ourselves. Thanks again for the time you put into this!