diff --git a/‎.changeset/22155-console-dist-remedy.md‎
Lines changed: 14 additions & 0 deletions b/‎.changeset/22155-console-dist-remedy.md‎
Lines changed: 14 additions & 0 deletions
diff --git a/‎README.md‎
Lines changed: 32 additions & 4 deletions b/‎README.md‎
Lines changed: 32 additions & 4 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/src/commands/serve.ts‎
Lines changed: 2 additions & 1 deletion b/‎packages/cli/src/commands/serve.ts‎
Lines changed: 2 additions & 1 deletion
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/src/utils/console.ts‎
Lines changed: 69 additions & 0 deletions b/‎packages/cli/src/utils/console.ts‎
Lines changed: 69 additions & 0 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/test/console-resolve.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 106 additions & 0 deletions b/‎packages/cli/test/console-resolve.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 106 additions & 0 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/test/published-subpath-console.pin.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 15 additions & 4 deletions b/‎packages/cli/test/published-subpath-console.pin.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 15 additions & 4 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/cli': patch
+---
+
+fix(cli): the "Console dist not found" boot warning names the remedy that works where the server runs (#22155)
+
+When the Console package the server resolves has no built `dist/`, the boot warning used to say `install @object-ui/console (already built) or run pnpm --filter @object-ui/console build in the objectui workspace`, wherever it ran. The first remedy works nowhere, because the resolver never looks for an installed `@object-ui/console`. The second needs an objectui checkout, which a fresh clone of the framework repository does not have; there the Console is built by a root script.
+
+The warning now names one remedy. It picks it by asking whether the nearest `package.json` above the resolved console package declares an `objectui:build` script:
+
+- **In the framework repository** (the root manifest declares it), the warning gives the dist path, says that `pnpm build` does not produce it, and names `pnpm objectui:build` with the directory to run it in.
+- **Anywhere else**, such as a project that installed `@objectstack/cli`, the warning gives the dist path and says the Console ships prebuilt in `@objectstack/console`, a dependency of `@objectstack/cli`. The remedy is to reinstall that package at the CLI's version.
+
+Only the text changes. The Console mounts, or is skipped, exactly as before.
@@ -222,12 +222,40 @@ to run the whole loop end-to-end.
 ```bash
 git clone https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectstack.git
 cd objectstack
-pnpm install     # Node 22+, pnpm 10 (corepack enable)
-pnpm build       # build all packages
-pnpm dev         # showcase example: REST + Console on :3000
-pnpm test        # run the test suite
+pnpm install          # Node 22+, pnpm 10 (corepack enable)
+pnpm build            # build all packages
+pnpm objectui:build   # build the Console SPA (not part of pnpm build)
+pnpm dev              # showcase example: REST + Console on :3000
 ```
 
+`pnpm objectui:build` builds [objectui](https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectui)
+at the commit pinned in `.objectui-sha` into `packages/console/dist`
+(gitignored). It builds from a `../objectui` checkout if one sits next to this
+repo, otherwise from a shallow clone of objectui into `.cache/`; either way it
+installs objectui's dependencies, so it needs network. Skip it and `pnpm dev`
+still serves the REST API, without the Console. Rerun it when `.objectui-sha`
+moves.
+
+A first run is slow, not stuck. Measured once on a fresh clone of `main`
+(4-vCPU container, Node 22.22, pnpm 10.31):
+
+| Command | Time | |
+|:---|---:|:---|
+| `pnpm install` | 16 s | |
+| `pnpm build` | 6 m 54 s | 72 turbo tasks |
+| `pnpm objectui:build` | 10 m 36 s | clones objectui and builds the Console |
+| `pnpm test` | 54 m 03 s | the full suite: 135 turbo tasks |
+
+For your own change, test what it reaches instead of the full suite:
+
+```bash
+pnpm turbo run test --affected          # packages your branch changes, and their dependents
+pnpm --filter @objectstack/<pkg> test   # one package
+```
+
+`--affected` compares your branch with your local `main`, so a stale `main`
+widens the set; keep it current, or set `TURBO_SCM_BASE=origin/main`.
+
 Other examples: `pnpm dev:crm`, `pnpm dev:todo`. Docs site: `pnpm docs:dev`.
 [AGENTS.md](./AGENTS.md) is the working rulebook for both humans and agents;
 [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md) covers the workflow.
 
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ import {
   decideConsoleMount,
   formatConsoleShaDriftWarning,
   formatConsoleShaDriftRefusal,
+  formatConsoleDistMissingWarning,
   createConsoleStaticPlugin,
   createRuntimeAssetsPlugin,
   type ConsoleShaDrift,
@@ -5066,7 +5067,7 @@ export default class Serve extends Command {
           } else if (refusedForDrift && consoleDrift) {
             console.error(chalk.red(formatConsoleShaDriftRefusal(consoleDrift)));
           } else {
-            console.warn(chalk.yellow(`  ⚠ Console dist not found — install \`@object-ui/console\` (already built) or run \`pnpm --filter @object-ui/console build\` in the objectui workspace`));
+            console.warn(chalk.yellow(formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consolePath)));
           }
         }
       }
 
@@ -294,6 +294,75 @@ export function hasConsoleDist(consolePath: string): boolean {
   return fs.existsSync(path.join(consolePath, 'dist', 'index.html'));
 }
 
+// ─── "No dist" remedy — named for where the server runs ─────────────
+
+/** The framework repo's root script that builds `packages/console/dist`. */
+const CONSOLE_BUILD_SCRIPT = 'objectui:build';
+
+/**
+ * The directory whose `package.json` declares `objectui:build` for this
+ * console package, or `null`.
+ *
+ * Only the NEAREST `package.json` above `consolePath` is asked. In the
+ * framework repo that is the root manifest (`packages/` carries none), which
+ * declares the script. An installed `@objectstack/console` stops at the
+ * consuming project's own manifest — including the pnpm store layout, whose
+ * intermediate directories carry none — so a project that merely sits inside
+ * a framework checkout is never told to run a script that does not build the
+ * console it actually resolved. The signal is the script itself rather than
+ * the repo's layout or its `.objectui-sha` pin, so the remedy is named only
+ * where it exists.
+ */
+function findConsoleBuildRoot(consolePath: string): string | null {
+  let dir = path.dirname(consolePath);
+  for (let depth = 0; depth < 8; depth++) {
+    const pkgPath = path.join(dir, 'package.json');
+    if (fs.existsSync(pkgPath)) {
+      try {
+        const pkg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(pkgPath, 'utf-8'));
+        return typeof pkg?.scripts?.[CONSOLE_BUILD_SCRIPT] === 'string' ? dir : null;
+      } catch {
+        return null; // unreadable manifest — name the install remedy instead
+      }
+    }
+    const parent = path.dirname(dir);
+    if (parent === dir) break;
+    dir = parent;
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * The boot warning for a resolved console package with no built `dist/`.
+ *
+ * Two places reach it, and each gets the remedy that works there:
+ *
+ *   - the framework repo, where `packages/console/dist` is a gitignored build
+ *     that `pnpm build` never produces — `pnpm objectui:build`, run at the
+ *     root it was found under (it is a root script, so it does not resolve
+ *     from the example directory `pnpm dev` runs in);
+ *   - anywhere else, where the Console arrives prebuilt as
+ *     `@objectstack/console`, a dependency of `@objectstack/cli` — so the
+ *     remedy is that package install. (An installed `@object-ui/console`,
+ *     which this text used to name, is never consulted: that name is matched
+ *     only as the workspace package of a sibling `../objectui` checkout.)
+ */
+export function formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consolePath: string): string {
+  const dist = path.join(consolePath, 'dist');
+  const buildRoot = findConsoleBuildRoot(consolePath);
+  if (buildRoot) {
+    return (
+      `  ⚠ Console dist not found at ${path.relative(buildRoot, dist)} — \`pnpm build\` does not produce it. ` +
+      `Build it with \`pnpm ${CONSOLE_BUILD_SCRIPT}\` in ${buildRoot} ` +
+      `(uses a ../objectui checkout if present, else clones objectui at the pinned commit — needs network).`
+    );
+  }
+  return (
+    `  ⚠ Console dist not found at ${dist} — the Console ships prebuilt in \`${CONSOLE_PACKAGE}\`, ` +
+    `a dependency of \`@objectstack/cli\`; reinstall it at the same version as the CLI.`
+  );
+}
+
 // ─── objectui-SHA Drift Guard (dev monorepo only) ───────────────────
 
 /**
 
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   isConsoleVersionCompatible,
   detectConsoleShaDrift,
   formatConsoleShaDriftWarning,
+  formatConsoleDistMissingWarning,
 } from '../src/utils/console.js';
 
 // resolveConsolePath() also discovers the real, version-locked workspace
@@ -223,3 +224,108 @@ describe('detectConsoleShaDrift', () => {
     expect(warnings).toEqual([]);
   });
 });
+
+describe('formatConsoleDistMissingWarning — the remedy named for where the server runs', () => {
+  /** The framework repo's remedy, and the one the warning used to name everywhere. */
+  const BUILD_REMEDY = 'pnpm objectui:build';
+  const RETIRED_REMEDY = '@object-ui/console';
+
+  function writeJson(file: string, value: unknown): void {
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(file), { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(file, JSON.stringify(value));
+  }
+
+  /** A console package with a manifest and no `dist/` — what the warning is printed for. */
+  function writeUnbuiltConsole(dir: string): string {
+    writeJson(path.join(dir, 'package.json'), { name: '@objectstack/console', version: '1.0.0' });
+    return dir;
+  }
+
+  function tmpRoot(tag: string): string {
+    return fs.realpathSync(fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), `os-console-remedy-${tag}-`)));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The framework repo's shape: the root manifest declares the build script
+   * (or, for the control, does not), and `packages/console` is the workspace
+   * package `@objectstack/cli` resolves.
+   */
+  function makeFrameworkTree(withScript: boolean): { root: string; consoleDir: string } {
+    const root = tmpRoot('repo');
+    writeJson(path.join(root, 'package.json'), {
+      name: 'framework-root',
+      private: true,
+      scripts: withScript
+        ? { build: 'turbo run build', 'objectui:build': 'bash scripts/build-console.sh' }
+        : { build: 'turbo run build' },
+    });
+    const consoleDir = writeUnbuiltConsole(path.join(root, 'packages', 'console'));
+    return { root, consoleDir };
+  }
+
+  it('names `pnpm objectui:build` and the root to run it in, inside the framework repo', () => {
+    const { root, consoleDir } = makeFrameworkTree(true);
+
+    const message = formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consoleDir);
+    expect(message).toContain(BUILD_REMEDY);
+    expect(message).toContain(` in ${root} `);
+    expect(message).toContain(path.join('packages', 'console', 'dist'));
+    expect(message).not.toContain('@objectstack/console');
+    expect(message).not.toContain(RETIRED_REMEDY);
+  });
+
+  it('control: the same layout without the script gets the install remedy — the script is the signal, not the layout', () => {
+    const { consoleDir } = makeFrameworkTree(false);
+
+    const message = formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consoleDir);
+    expect(message).not.toContain(BUILD_REMEDY);
+    expect(message).toContain('@objectstack/console');
+  });
+
+  it('names the `@objectstack/console` install in a project that installed the CLI (hoisted and pnpm-store layouts)', () => {
+    const project = tmpRoot('app');
+    writeJson(path.join(project, 'package.json'), {
+      name: 'consumer-app',
+      scripts: { dev: 'objectstack dev' },
+    });
+    for (const consoleDir of [
+      writeUnbuiltConsole(path.join(project, 'node_modules', '@objectstack', 'console')),
+      writeUnbuiltConsole(
+        path.join(
+          project, 'node_modules', '.pnpm', '@objectstack+console@1.0.0',
+          'node_modules', '@objectstack', 'console',
+        ),
+      ),
+    ]) {
+      const message = formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consoleDir);
+      expect(message).toContain('@objectstack/console');
+      expect(message).toContain(path.join(consoleDir, 'dist'));
+      expect(message).not.toContain(BUILD_REMEDY);
+      expect(message).not.toContain(RETIRED_REMEDY);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('stops at the consuming project\'s own manifest, even inside a framework checkout', () => {
+    // A project created inside a directory whose manifest declares the script:
+    // the console it resolved is ITS install, which `objectui:build` does not
+    // build, so the install remedy is the true one.
+    const outer = tmpRoot('outer');
+    writeJson(path.join(outer, 'package.json'), {
+      name: 'framework-root',
+      scripts: { 'objectui:build': 'bash scripts/build-console.sh' },
+    });
+    const project = path.join(outer, 'scratch', 'my-app');
+    const consoleDir = writeUnbuiltConsole(
+      path.join(project, 'node_modules', '@objectstack', 'console'),
+    );
+    writeJson(path.join(project, 'package.json'), { name: 'my-app' });
+    expect(formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consoleDir)).not.toContain(BUILD_REMEDY);
+
+    // Control: without the project's own manifest the walk reaches the outer
+    // one — so the stop above is what kept the answer right.
+    fs.rmSync(path.join(project, 'package.json'));
+    const climbed = formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consoleDir);
+    expect(climbed).toContain(BUILD_REMEDY);
+    expect(climbed).toContain(` in ${outer} `);
+  });
+});
@@ -168,6 +168,15 @@ const RETIRED_RUNTIME_NAMES = [
   'isConsoleVersionCompatible',
 ];
 
+/**
+ * Exports `utils/console.ts` gained after the retirement above, internal from
+ * the day they landed. Listed so the partition below still accounts for every
+ * export of that module; the two "exactly three names" checks are what keep
+ * them off the published subpath. Publishing one is the same deliberate act as
+ * re-admitting a retired name.
+ */
+const INTERNAL_SINCE_RETIREMENT = ['formatConsoleDistMissingWarning'];
+
 /**
  * Every subpath the published package resolves, in full. A subpath removed here
  * is a consumer broken in the exact shape of #15325 and #13662; a subpath added
@@ -682,16 +691,18 @@ describe('the public surface is exactly three names', () => {
 
   it('retires exactly the names that are NOT public — the two lists partition the module, with nothing dropped', () => {
     // The census is taken from the packed INTERNAL module rather than from a
-    // constant here, so a 14th export added to `utils/console.ts` lands in
-    // neither list and fails this — instead of silently being neither published
-    // nor recorded as retired.
+    // constant here, so a new export added to `utils/console.ts` lands in no
+    // list and fails this — instead of silently being neither published nor
+    // recorded as internal.
     const internal = declaredExports(join(installedRoot, 'dist', 'utils', 'console.d.ts'));
     // ⛔ First: the census is only a partition if every export was NAMEABLE. An
     // export form this walk cannot name is missing from both lists, and the
     // equality below would still hold — green, over a surface read short.
     expectEveryExportNamed('the packed internal module `.d.ts`', internal);
     expect(internal.starReExports).toBe(0);
-    expect(internal.names).toEqual([...PUBLIC_SURFACE, ...RETIRED_FROM_THIS_SUBPATH].sort());
+    expect(internal.names).toEqual(
+      [...PUBLIC_SURFACE, ...RETIRED_FROM_THIS_SUBPATH, ...INTERNAL_SINCE_RETIREMENT].sort(),
+    );
   });
 });
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ import {`
`153`	`153`	`decideConsoleMount,`
`154`	`154`	`formatConsoleShaDriftWarning,`
`155`	`155`	`formatConsoleShaDriftRefusal,`
	`156`	`+ formatConsoleDistMissingWarning,`
`156`	`157`	`createConsoleStaticPlugin,`
`157`	`158`	`createRuntimeAssetsPlugin,`
`158`	`159`	`type ConsoleShaDrift,`
`@@ -5066,7 +5067,7 @@ export default class Serve extends Command {`
`5066`	`5067`	`} else if (refusedForDrift && consoleDrift) {`
`5067`	`5068`	`console.error(chalk.red(formatConsoleShaDriftRefusal(consoleDrift)));`
`5068`	`5069`	`} else {`
`5069`		- console.warn(chalk.yellow(` ⚠ Console dist not found — install \`@object-ui/console\` (already built) or run \`pnpm --filter @object-ui/console build\` in the objectui workspace`));
	`5070`	`+ console.warn(chalk.yellow(formatConsoleDistMissingWarning(consolePath)));`
`5070`	`5071`	`}`
`5071`	`5072`	`}`
`5072`	`5073`	`}`