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Windows: opencode upgrade fails to detect installation method (returns unknown) #17295
Description
Description
On Windows, opencode upgrade fails to detect the installation method and returns "unknown". This causes the upgrade command to show:
x opencode is installed to C:\Users\...\opencode-windows-x64\bin\opencode.exe and may be managed by a package manager
o Install anyways?
| No
Instead of detecting the correct method (e.g. npm) and proceeding with the upgrade.
Root cause: Installation.method() in src/installation/index.ts uses Process.text() which calls child_process.spawn() to run commands like npm list -g. On Windows, npm is actually npm.cmd (a .cmd batch file). child_process.spawn() without shell: true cannot resolve .cmd/.bat files, so every detection command silently fails (returns empty output due to nothrow: true), and method() falls through to "unknown".
The same issue affects all Windows package managers that use .cmd wrappers: npm, pnpm, bun.
Fix: Pass shell: process.env.ComSpec || "cmd.exe" (or shell: true) on Windows when spawning detection and upgrade commands. The path-based fallback detection (checking exec.includes("node_modules")) partially mitigates but does not cover all installation paths.
Plugins
No response
OpenCode version
1.2.25
Steps to reproduce
- Install opencode on Windows via npm:
npm install -g opencode-ai - Run
opencode upgrade - Observe error message about "may be managed by a package manager" instead of detecting npm as the method
Screenshot and/or share link
PS C:\Users\ravi.guntakala> opencode upgrade
▄
█▀▀█ █▀▀█ █▀▀█ █▀▀▄ █▀▀▀ █▀▀█ █▀▀█ █▀▀█
█ █ █ █ █▀▀▀ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █▀▀▀
▀▀▀▀ █▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀
T Upgrade
|
x opencode is installed to C:\Users\ravi.guntakala\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\opencode-ai\node_modules\opencode-windows-x64\bin\opencode.exe and may be managed by a package manager
|
o Install anyways?
| No
|
— Done
Operating System
Windows 11
Terminal
PowerShell / Windows Terminal
Activity
github-actions commentedon Mar 13, 2026
This issue might be a duplicate of existing issues. Please check:
.cmdwrappers not being resolved bychild_process.spawnwithoutshell: true), though that issue manifests at startup rather than during upgrade.fix(cli): resolve Windows upgrade by routing commands through shell
nonoDamn commentedon Mar 16, 2026
+1
denprog5 commentedon Mar 16, 2026
same
amr616d720a0a-rgb commentedon Mar 17, 2026
use npm update -g opencode-ai it solves the problem
lazyalex616 commentedon Mar 18, 2026
Additional context: this regression was introduced by PR #16286 (
refactor(opencode): replace Bun shell in core flows, merged 2026-03-09), which replaced Bun's$shell template (which resolves.cmdfiles through the system shell) withProcess.spawn()(Node.jschild_process.spawn) withoutshell: true.Note that this also affects
Installation.upgrade()— even ifmethod()were fixed,Process.run(["npm", "install", "-g", ...])would still fail for the same reason.feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…
feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…
feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…
feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…
feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…
feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…
feat(settings): self-update first chain, switch hermes to native inst…