fix: Windows browse — health-check-first ensureServer, detached startServer, Windows process mgmt (v0.11.11.0) (#431)

* fix: Windows browse — health-check-first ensureServer, detached startServer, Windows process mgmt

Three compounding bugs made browse completely broken on Windows:

1. Bun.spawn().unref() doesn't truly detach on Windows — server dies when
   CLI exits. Fix: use Node's child_process.spawn with { detached: true }
   via a launcher script. Credit: PR #191 by @fqueiro for the approach.

2. process.kill(pid, 0) is broken in Bun's compiled binary on Windows —
   ensureServer() never reaches the health check. Fix: restructure to
   health-check-first (HTTP is definitive proof on all platforms). Extract
   isServerHealthy() helper for DRY (4 call sites).

3. Windows process management: isProcessAlive() falls back to tasklist,
   killServer() uses taskkill /T /F (kills process tree including Chromium),
   cleanupLegacyState() skips on Windows (no /tmp, no ps).

Also: hard-fail on Windows if server-node.mjs is missing instead of
silently falling back to the known-broken Bun path.

Fixes #342.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix: disable Chromium sandbox on Windows

Chromium's sandbox fails when the server is spawned through the
Bun→Node process chain on Windows (GitHub #276). Disable
chromiumSandbox on Windows at both launch sites (headless + headed).

Safe: local daemon browsing user-specified URLs, Playwright docs
recommend disabling in CI/container environments.

Fixes #276.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix: startup error log + Windows exit handler for browse server

On Windows, the CLI can't capture stderr from the server (stdio: 'ignore'
required for process detachment). Write startup errors to
.gstack/browse-startup-error.log so the CLI can report them on timeout.

Also add process.on('exit') handler on Windows as defense-in-depth for
state file cleanup (primary mechanism is CLI's stale-state detection).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test: add isServerHealthy + startup error log tests

Tests for the new cross-platform health check helper (isServerHealthy)
that replaces PID-based liveness checks in all polling loops. Covers
healthy, unhealthy, unreachable, and error response cases.

Also tests the startup error log write/read format used on Windows.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* chore: bump version and changelog (v0.11.11.0)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs: sync ARCHITECTURE.md with health-check-first ensureServer

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

ARCHITECTURE.md

@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ The server writes `.gstack/browse.json` (atomic write via tmp + rename, mode 0o6
 { "pid": 12345, "port": 34567, "token": "uuid-v4", "startedAt": "...", "binaryVersion": "abc123" }
 ```
 
-The CLI reads this file to find the server. If the file is missing, stale, or the PID is dead, the CLI spawns a new server.
+The CLI reads this file to find the server. If the file is missing or the server fails an HTTP health check, the CLI spawns a new server. On Windows, PID-based process detection is unreliable in Bun binaries, so the health check (GET /health) is the primary liveness signal on all platforms.
 
 ### Port selection
 

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.11.14.0] - 2026-03-24 — Windows Browse Fix
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Browse engine now works on Windows.** Three compounding bugs blocked all Windows `/browse` users: the server process died when the CLI exited (Bun's `unref()` doesn't truly detach on Windows), the health check never ran because `process.kill(pid, 0)` is broken in Bun binaries on Windows, and Chromium's sandbox failed when spawned through the Bun→Node process chain. All three are now fixed. Credits to @fqueiro (PR #191) for identifying the `detached: true` approach.
+- **Health check runs first on all platforms.** `ensureServer()` now tries an HTTP health check before falling back to PID-based detection — more reliable on every OS, not just Windows.
+- **Startup errors are logged to disk.** When the server fails to start, errors are written to `~/.gstack/browse-startup-error.log` so Windows users (who lose stderr due to process detachment) can debug.
+- **Chromium sandbox disabled on Windows.** Chromium's sandbox requires elevated privileges when spawned through the Bun→Node chain — now disabled on Windows only.
+
+### For contributors
+
+- New tests for `isServerHealthy()` and startup error logging in `browse/test/config.test.ts`
+
 ## [0.11.13.0] - 2026-03-24 — Worktree Isolation + Infrastructure Elegance
 
 ### Added

VERSION

@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.11.13.0
+0.11.14.0

browse/src/browser-manager.ts

@@ -89,6 +89,10 @@ export class BrowserManager {
 
     this.browser = await chromium.launch({
       headless: useHeadless,
+      // On Windows, Chromium's sandbox fails when the server is spawned through
+      // the Bun→Node process chain (GitHub #276). Disable it — local daemon
+      // browsing user-specified URLs has marginal sandbox benefit.
+      chromiumSandbox: process.platform !== 'win32',
       ...(launchArgs.length > 0 ? { args: launchArgs } : {}),
     });
 
@@ -492,7 +496,11 @@ export class BrowserManager {
     // 2. Launch new headed browser (try-catch — if this fails, headless stays running)
     let newBrowser: Browser;
     try {
-      newBrowser = await chromium.launch({ headless: false, timeout: 15000 });
+      newBrowser = await chromium.launch({
+        headless: false,
+        timeout: 15000,
+        chromiumSandbox: process.platform !== 'win32',
+      });
     } catch (err: unknown) {
       const msg = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
       return `ERROR: Cannot open headed browser — ${msg}. Headless browser still running.`;

browse/src/cli.ts

@@ -76,6 +76,13 @@ export function resolveNodeServerScript(
 
 const NODE_SERVER_SCRIPT = IS_WINDOWS ? resolveNodeServerScript() : null;
 
+// On Windows, hard-fail if server-node.mjs is missing — the Bun path is known broken.
+if (IS_WINDOWS && !NODE_SERVER_SCRIPT) {
+  throw new Error(
+    'server-node.mjs not found. Run `bun run build` to generate the Windows server bundle.'
+  );
+}
+
 interface ServerState {
   pid: number;
   port: number;
@@ -96,6 +103,19 @@ function readState(): ServerState | null {
 }
 
 function isProcessAlive(pid: number): boolean {
+  if (IS_WINDOWS) {
+    // Bun's compiled binary can't signal Windows PIDs (always throws ESRCH).
+    // Use tasklist as a fallback. Only for one-shot calls — too slow for polling loops.
+    try {
+      const result = Bun.spawnSync(
+        ['tasklist', '/FI', `PID eq ${pid}`, '/NH', '/FO', 'CSV'],
+        { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe', timeout: 3000 }
+      );
+      return result.stdout.toString().includes(`"${pid}"`);
+    } catch {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
   try {
     process.kill(pid, 0);
     return true;
@@ -104,10 +124,42 @@ function isProcessAlive(pid: number): boolean {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * HTTP health check — definitive proof the server is alive and responsive.
+ * Used in all polling loops instead of isProcessAlive() (which is slow on Windows).
+ */
+export async function isServerHealthy(port: number): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const resp = await fetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${port}/health`, {
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(2000),
+    });
+    if (!resp.ok) return false;
+    const health = await resp.json() as any;
+    return health.status === 'healthy';
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 // ─── Process Management ─────────────────────────────────────────
 async function killServer(pid: number): Promise<void> {
   if (!isProcessAlive(pid)) return;
 
+  if (IS_WINDOWS) {
+    // taskkill /T /F kills the process tree (Node + Chromium)
+    try {
+      Bun.spawnSync(
+        ['taskkill', '/PID', String(pid), '/T', '/F'],
+        { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe', timeout: 5000 }
+      );
+    } catch {}
+    const deadline = Date.now() + 2000;
+    while (Date.now() < deadline && isProcessAlive(pid)) {
+      await Bun.sleep(100);
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+
   try { process.kill(pid, 'SIGTERM'); } catch { return; }
 
   // Wait up to 2s for graceful shutdown
@@ -127,6 +179,10 @@ async function killServer(pid: number): Promise<void> {
  * Verifies PID ownership before sending signals.
  */
 function cleanupLegacyState(): void {
+  // No legacy state on Windows — /tmp and `ps` don't exist, and gstack
+  // never ran on Windows before the Node.js fallback was added.
+  if (IS_WINDOWS) return;
+
   try {
     const files = fs.readdirSync('/tmp').filter(f => f.startsWith('browse-server') && f.endsWith('.json'));
     for (const file of files) {
@@ -164,44 +220,65 @@ function cleanupLegacyState(): void {
 async function startServer(): Promise<ServerState> {
   ensureStateDir(config);
 
-  // Clean up stale state file
+  // Clean up stale state file and error log
   try { fs.unlinkSync(config.stateFile); } catch {}
+  try { fs.unlinkSync(path.join(config.stateDir, 'browse-startup-error.log')); } catch {}
 
-  // Start server as detached background process.
-  // On Windows, Bun can't launch/connect to Playwright's Chromium (oven-sh/bun#4253, #9911).
-  // Fall back to running the server under Node.js with Bun API polyfills.
-  const useNode = IS_WINDOWS && NODE_SERVER_SCRIPT;
-  const serverCmd = useNode
-    ? ['node', NODE_SERVER_SCRIPT]
-    : ['bun', 'run', SERVER_SCRIPT];
-  const proc = Bun.spawn(serverCmd, {
-    stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
-    env: { ...process.env, BROWSE_STATE_FILE: config.stateFile },
-  });
+  let proc: any = null;
 
-  // Don't hold the CLI open
-  proc.unref();
+  if (IS_WINDOWS && NODE_SERVER_SCRIPT) {
+    // Windows: Bun.spawn() + proc.unref() doesn't truly detach on Windows —
+    // when the CLI exits, the server dies with it. Use Node's child_process.spawn
+    // with { detached: true } instead, which is the gold standard for Windows
+    // process independence. Credit: PR #191 by @fqueiro.
+    const launcherCode =
+      `const{spawn}=require('child_process');` +
+      `spawn(process.execPath,[${JSON.stringify(NODE_SERVER_SCRIPT)}],` +
+      `{detached:true,stdio:'ignore',env:Object.assign({},process.env,` +
+      `{BROWSE_STATE_FILE:${JSON.stringify(config.stateFile)}})}).unref()`;
+    Bun.spawnSync(['node', '-e', launcherCode], { stdio: 'ignore' });
+  } else {
+    // macOS/Linux: Bun.spawn + unref works correctly
+    proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', SERVER_SCRIPT], {
+      stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
+      env: { ...process.env, BROWSE_STATE_FILE: config.stateFile },
+    });
+    proc.unref();
+  }
 
-  // Wait for state file to appear
+  // Wait for server to become healthy.
+  // Use HTTP health check (not isProcessAlive) — it's fast (~instant ECONNREFUSED)
+  // and works reliably on all platforms including Windows.
   const start = Date.now();
   while (Date.now() - start < MAX_START_WAIT) {
     const state = readState();
-    if (state && isProcessAlive(state.pid)) {
+    if (state && await isServerHealthy(state.port)) {
       return state;
     }
     await Bun.sleep(100);
   }
 
-  // If we get here, server didn't start in time
-  // Try to read stderr for error message
-  const stderr = proc.stderr;
-  if (stderr) {
-    const reader = stderr.getReader();
+  // Server didn't start in time — try to get error details
+  if (proc?.stderr) {
+    // macOS/Linux: read stderr from the spawned process
+    const reader = proc.stderr.getReader();
     const { value } = await reader.read();
     if (value) {
       const errText = new TextDecoder().decode(value);
       throw new Error(`Server failed to start:\n${errText}`);
     }
+  } else {
+    // Windows: check startup error log (server writes errors to disk since
+    // stderr is unavailable due to stdio: 'ignore' for detachment)
+    const errorLogPath = path.join(config.stateDir, 'browse-startup-error.log');
+    try {
+      const errorLog = fs.readFileSync(errorLogPath, 'utf-8').trim();
+      if (errorLog) {
+        throw new Error(`Server failed to start:\n${errorLog}`);
+      }
+    } catch (e: any) {
+      if (e.code !== 'ENOENT') throw e;
+    }
   }
   throw new Error(`Server failed to start within ${MAX_START_WAIT / 1000}s`);
 }
@@ -237,7 +314,10 @@ function acquireServerLock(): (() => void) | null {
 async function ensureServer(): Promise<ServerState> {
   const state = readState();
 
-  if (state && isProcessAlive(state.pid)) {
+  // Health-check-first: HTTP is definitive proof the server is alive and responsive.
+  // This replaces the PID-gated approach which breaks on Windows (Bun's process.kill
+  // always throws ESRCH for Windows PIDs in compiled binaries).
+  if (state && await isServerHealthy(state.port)) {
     // Check for binary version mismatch (auto-restart on update)
     const currentVersion = readVersionHash();
     if (currentVersion && state.binaryVersion && currentVersion !== state.binaryVersion) {
@@ -245,21 +325,7 @@ async function ensureServer(): Promise<ServerState> {
       await killServer(state.pid);
       return startServer();
     }
-
-    // Server appears alive — do a health check
-    try {
-      const resp = await fetch(`http://127.0.0.1:${state.port}/health`, {
-        signal: AbortSignal.timeout(2000),
-      });
-      if (resp.ok) {
-        const health = await resp.json() as any;
-        if (health.status === 'healthy') {
-          return state;
-        }
-      }
-    } catch {
-      // Health check failed — server is dead or unhealthy
-    }
+    return state;
   }
 
   // Ensure state directory exists before lock acquisition (lock file lives there)
@@ -273,7 +339,7 @@ async function ensureServer(): Promise<ServerState> {
     const start = Date.now();
     while (Date.now() - start < MAX_START_WAIT) {
       const freshState = readState();
-      if (freshState && isProcessAlive(freshState.pid)) return freshState;
+      if (freshState && await isServerHealthy(freshState.port)) return freshState;
       await Bun.sleep(200);
     }
     throw new Error('Timed out waiting for another instance to start the server');
@@ -282,7 +348,7 @@ async function ensureServer(): Promise<ServerState> {
   try {
     // Re-read state under lock in case another process just started the server
     const freshState = readState();
-    if (freshState && isProcessAlive(freshState.pid)) {
+    if (freshState && await isServerHealthy(freshState.port)) {
       return freshState;
     }
 

browse/src/server.ts

@@ -286,6 +286,13 @@ async function shutdown() {
 // Handle signals
 process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown);
 process.on('SIGINT', shutdown);
+// Windows: taskkill /F bypasses SIGTERM, but 'exit' fires for some shutdown paths.
+// Defense-in-depth — primary cleanup is the CLI's stale-state detection via health check.
+if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+  process.on('exit', () => {
+    try { fs.unlinkSync(config.stateFile); } catch {}
+  });
+}
 
 // ─── Start ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 async function start() {
@@ -365,5 +372,14 @@ async function start() {
 
 start().catch((err) => {
   console.error(`[browse] Failed to start: ${err.message}`);
+  // Write error to disk for the CLI to read — on Windows, the CLI can't capture
+  // stderr because the server is launched with detached: true, stdio: 'ignore'.
+  try {
+    const errorLogPath = path.join(config.stateDir, 'browse-startup-error.log');
+    fs.mkdirSync(config.stateDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(errorLogPath, `${new Date().toISOString()} ${err.message}\n${err.stack || ''}\n`);
+  } catch {
+    // stateDir may not exist — nothing more we can do
+  }
   process.exit(1);
 });

browse/test/config.test.ts

@@ -248,3 +248,69 @@ describe('version mismatch detection', () => {
     expect(shouldRestart).toBe(false);
   });
 });
+
+describe('isServerHealthy', () => {
+  const { isServerHealthy } = require('../src/cli');
+  const http = require('http');
+
+  test('returns true for a healthy server', async () => {
+    const server = http.createServer((_req: any, res: any) => {
+      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: 'healthy' }));
+    });
+    await new Promise<void>(resolve => server.listen(0, resolve));
+    const port = server.address().port;
+    try {
+      expect(await isServerHealthy(port)).toBe(true);
+    } finally {
+      server.close();
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('returns false for an unhealthy server', async () => {
+    const server = http.createServer((_req: any, res: any) => {
+      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: 'unhealthy' }));
+    });
+    await new Promise<void>(resolve => server.listen(0, resolve));
+    const port = server.address().port;
+    try {
+      expect(await isServerHealthy(port)).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      server.close();
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('returns false when server is not running', async () => {
+    // Use a port that's almost certainly not in use
+    expect(await isServerHealthy(59999)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test('returns false on non-200 response', async () => {
+    const server = http.createServer((_req: any, res: any) => {
+      res.writeHead(500);
+      res.end('Internal Server Error');
+    });
+    await new Promise<void>(resolve => server.listen(0, resolve));
+    const port = server.address().port;
+    try {
+      expect(await isServerHealthy(port)).toBe(false);
+    } finally {
+      server.close();
+    }
+  });
+});
+
+describe('startup error log', () => {
+  test('write and read error log', () => {
+    const tmpDir = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `browse-error-log-test-${Date.now()}`);
+    fs.mkdirSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true });
+    const errorLogPath = path.join(tmpDir, 'browse-startup-error.log');
+    const errorMsg = 'Cannot find module playwright';
+    fs.writeFileSync(errorLogPath, `2026-03-23T00:00:00.000Z ${errorMsg}\n`);
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(errorLogPath, 'utf-8').trim();
+    expect(content).toContain(errorMsg);
+    expect(content).toMatch(/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T/); // ISO timestamp prefix
+    fs.rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+});

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gstack",
-  "version": "0.11.13.0",
+  "version": "0.11.14.0",
   "description": "Garry's Stack — Claude Code skills + fast headless browser. One repo, one install, entire AI engineering workflow.",
   "license": "MIT",
   "type": "module",