fix(cli): make the Windows release exe survive a double click (#183)

A console program started from Explorer gets a console of its own, prints
its usage because no model was given, exits, and the console vanishes with
it: a window that flashes and disappears, indistinguishable from a crash.

- cli: when the console was created for this process alone, the no-model
  path says it is a command-line program and waits for Enter before
  closing. From a terminal nothing changes.
- release-host: the archive README.txt opens with that fact and a complete
  command, and no longer points a Windows user at a bash script as the
  only instruction. The Windows build links the MSVC runtime statically so
  the exe does not depend on the VC++ Redistributable.
- 0.23.0: version bump and changelog entry.

.github/workflows/release-host.yml

@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ jobs:
             cmake_extra: ""
           - os: windows-latest
             target: windows-x86_64
-            cmake_extra: -DGGML_AVX2=ON -DGGML_FMA=ON -DGGML_F16C=ON
+            # Static MSVC runtime: the exe must not depend on the VC++ Redistributable being installed.
+            cmake_extra: -DGGML_AVX2=ON -DGGML_FMA=ON -DGGML_F16C=ON -DCMAKE_MSVC_RUNTIME_LIBRARY=MultiThreaded
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
       - name: Resolve tag
@@ -101,12 +102,26 @@ jobs:
             strip "$NAME/bmoe-cli" || true
           fi
           cp LICENSE "$NAME/"
+          if [ "${{ runner.os }}" = "Windows" ]; then
+            EXE='.\bmoe-cli.exe'; SHELL_NAME='PowerShell or cmd'
+          else
+            EXE='./bmoe-cli'; SHELL_NAME='a terminal'
+          fi
           cat > "$NAME/README.txt" <<EOF
-          bmoe-cli $TAG, ${{ matrix.target }} (portable build: x86_64 assumes AVX2, aarch64 assumes
-          armv8.2-a+dotprod+fp16). If it fails to start on your CPU, build from source:
+          bmoe-cli $TAG, ${{ matrix.target }}
+
+          This is a command-line program. Double-clicking it opens a console that closes again at
+          once, because it was given no model. Open $SHELL_NAME in this folder and run:
+
+            $EXE -m path/to/model.gguf --moe-stream --overlap --dense-weights anon --cache-mb 2000 --io-threads 4 -t 8 -n 64 --chatml --no-think -p "Explain MoE routing."
+
+          -m is the only required flag; $EXE --help lists the rest and $EXE --list-archs the
+          supported MoE architectures. Portable build: x86_64 assumes AVX2, aarch64 assumes
+          armv8.2-a+dotprod+fp16. If it fails to start on your CPU, build from source with
           scripts/build-host.sh in the repository, one command.
 
-          Benchmark on this machine, printing the tables for a benchmark-report issue:
+          Benchmark on this machine, printing the tables for a benchmark-report issue (Linux and
+          macOS; on Windows run the protocol command from docs/community-benchmarks.md by hand):
             BMOE_CLI=\$PWD/bmoe-cli scripts/bench-report.sh /path/to/model.gguf
           from a checkout of https://github.com/Helldez/BigMoeOnEdge (docs/community-benchmarks.md).
           EOF

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,7 +4,18 @@ All notable changes to this project are documented here. The format follows
 [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/), and the project aims to follow
 Semantic Versioning.
 
-## [0.23.0] - 2026-08-28
+## [0.23.0] - 2026-08-29
+
+### Fixed
+- **Windows `bmoe-cli.exe` looked broken when double-clicked (#181).** A console program started
+  from Explorer gets a console of its own, prints its usage because no model was given, exits,
+  and the console vanishes with it: a window that flashes and disappears, indistinguishable from a
+  crash. Now, when the console was created for this process alone, the no-model path says it is a
+  command-line program and waits for Enter before closing; from a terminal nothing changes. The
+  release archive's README.txt opens with the same fact and a complete Windows command, and no
+  longer points a Windows user at a bash script as the only instruction. The Windows build also
+  links the MSVC runtime statically, so the exe no longer needs the VC++ Redistributable to start.
+
 
 ### Added
 - **Prefill-phase attribution in `BMOE_DONE` and the CSV `# summary`.** `prefill_cpu_s` /

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.21)
 # The version is declared here and nowhere else in the build: the engine reports it (bmoe-cli
 # --version, and the run-parameter preamble of every metrics CSV), so a committed benchmark file
 # says which engine produced it. Keep it in step with CHANGELOG.md and the app's versionName.
-project(bigmoeonedge VERSION 0.22.0 LANGUAGES CXX)
+project(bigmoeonedge VERSION 0.23.0 LANGUAGES CXX)
 
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

cli/main.cpp

@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <thread>
 
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#include <windows.h>
+#endif
+
 using namespace bmoe;
 
 static int env_int(const char * k, int dflt) {
@@ -353,6 +358,18 @@ static int run_session_loop(const RunConfig & cfg,
     return rc;
 }
 
+// True when Explorer (a double click) created this console for us alone, so it will vanish the
+// instant we return and nothing we printed gets read. A terminal the user already had open also
+// holds the console and stays; the process count tells the two apart.
+static bool console_is_ours_alone() {
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+    DWORD pid;
+    return GetConsoleProcessList(&pid, 1) == 1;
+#else
+    return false;
+#endif
+}
+
 static void print_usage(const char * argv0) {
     std::printf(
         "usage: %s -m <model.gguf> [options]\n"
@@ -709,6 +726,13 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     if (cfg.model_path.empty()) {
         print_usage(argv[0]);
+        // Double-clicked: without this the window closes before the usage can be read, and the
+        // program looks like it failed to start.
+        if (console_is_ours_alone()) {
+            std::fprintf(stderr, "\nbmoe-cli is a command-line program: run it from a terminal with -m <model.gguf>.\n"
+                                 "Press Enter to close this window.\n");
+            std::getchar();
+        }
         return 1;
     }
 

examples/android/app/build.gradle

@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ android {
         applicationId 'io.bigmoeonedge.example'
         minSdk 29
         targetSdk 34
-        versionCode 37
-        versionName '0.22.0'
+        versionCode 38
+        versionName '0.23.0'
         buildConfigField 'String', 'GIT_SHA', "\"${gitSha}\""
         ndk {
             // The engine ships as prebuilt arm64 binaries staged by build-android.ps1.