From 5192912b68119fef6afce99e194b0fc46a780c13 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: A <258483684+la14-1@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2026 11:17:54 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix: auto-update silently fails in multiple scenarios (#1725)

- Prevent recursive update check during install (SPAWN_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1)
- Increase fetch timeout from 5s to 10s for slow/cold connections
- Add 1-hour failure backoff to avoid repeated failed update attempts
- Bump CLI version to 0.6.6

Co-authored-by: Claude <claude@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 cli/install.sh                         |  2 +-
 cli/src/__tests__/update-check.test.ts | 12 +++++++
 cli/src/update-check.ts                | 50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 3 files changed, 61 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/cli/install.sh b/cli/install.sh
index aeeaf0bd..7ab6b17c 100755
--- a/cli/install.sh
+++ b/cli/install.sh
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ ensure_in_path() {
     local install_dir="$1"
     if echo "${PATH}" | tr ':' '\n' | grep -qx "${install_dir}"; then
         echo ""
-        "${install_dir}/spawn" version
+        SPAWN_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 "${install_dir}/spawn" version
         echo ""
         printf "${GREEN}[spawn]${NC} Run ${BOLD}spawn${NC} to get started\n"
     else
diff --git a/cli/src/__tests__/update-check.test.ts b/cli/src/__tests__/update-check.test.ts
index 1ab49ddd..9cac75c3 100644
--- a/cli/src/__tests__/update-check.test.ts
+++ b/cli/src/__tests__/update-check.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,18 @@
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach, mock, spyOn } from "bun:test";
+import fs from "fs";
+import path from "path";
 
 // ── Test Helpers ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+/** Remove the .update-failed backoff file so it doesn't interfere with tests */
+function clearUpdateBackoff() {
+  try {
+    fs.unlinkSync(path.join(process.env.HOME || "/tmp", ".config", "spawn", ".update-failed"));
+  } catch {
+    // File may not exist
+  }
+}
+
 function mockEnv() {
   const originalEnv = { ...process.env };
   process.env.NODE_ENV = undefined;
@@ -23,6 +34,7 @@ describe("update-check", () => {
 
   beforeEach(() => {
     originalEnv = mockEnv();
+    clearUpdateBackoff();
     consoleErrorSpy = spyOn(console, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
     // Mock process.exit to prevent tests from exiting
     processExitSpy = spyOn(process, "exit").mockImplementation((() => {}) as any);
diff --git a/cli/src/update-check.ts b/cli/src/update-check.ts
index ac001af6..4cd257bd 100644
--- a/cli/src/update-check.ts
+++ b/cli/src/update-check.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import "./unicode-detect.js"; // Ensure TERM is set before using symbols
 import { execSync as nodeExecSync, execFileSync as nodeExecFileSync, type ExecSyncOptions, type ExecFileSyncOptions } from "child_process";
+import fs from "fs";
+import path from "path";
 import pc from "picocolors";
 import pkg from "../package.json" with { type: "json" };
 import { RAW_BASE } from "./manifest.js";
@@ -14,7 +16,8 @@ export const executor = {
 
 // ── Constants ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-const FETCH_TIMEOUT = 5000; // 5 seconds
+const FETCH_TIMEOUT = 10000; // 10 seconds
+const UPDATE_BACKOFF_MS = 60 * 60 * 1000; // 1 hour
 
 // Validate RAW_BASE matches expected GitHub raw content URL pattern (defense-in-depth, CWE-78)
 const GITHUB_RAW_URL_PATTERN = /^https:\/\/raw\.githubusercontent\.com\/[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+\/[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+\/[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+$/;
@@ -59,6 +62,42 @@ function compareVersions(current: string, latest: string): boolean {
   return false; // Versions are equal
 }
 
+// ── Failure Backoff ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+function getUpdateFailedPath(): string {
+  return path.join(process.env.HOME || "/tmp", ".config", "spawn", ".update-failed");
+}
+
+export function isUpdateBackedOff(): boolean {
+  try {
+    const failedPath = getUpdateFailedPath();
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(failedPath, "utf8").trim();
+    const failedAt = parseInt(content, 10);
+    if (isNaN(failedAt)) return false;
+    return Date.now() - failedAt < UPDATE_BACKOFF_MS;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function markUpdateFailed(): void {
+  try {
+    const failedPath = getUpdateFailedPath();
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(failedPath), { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(failedPath, String(Date.now()));
+  } catch {
+    // Best-effort — don't break the CLI if we can't write the file
+  }
+}
+
+function clearUpdateFailed(): void {
+  try {
+    fs.unlinkSync(getUpdateFailedPath());
+  } catch {
+    // File may not exist — that's fine
+  }
+}
+
 /** Print boxed update banner to stderr */
 function printUpdateBanner(latestVersion: string): void {
   const line1 = `Update available: v${VERSION} -> v${latestVersion}`;
@@ -143,8 +182,10 @@ function performAutoUpdate(latestVersion: string): void {
 
     console.error();
     console.error(pc.green(pc.bold(`${CHECK_MARK} Updated successfully!`)));
+    clearUpdateFailed();
     reExecWithArgs();
   } catch {
+    markUpdateFailed();
     console.error();
     console.error(pc.red(pc.bold(`${CROSS_MARK} Auto-update failed`)));
     console.error(pc.dim("  Please update manually:"));
@@ -159,7 +200,7 @@ function performAutoUpdate(latestVersion: string): void {
 
 /**
  * Check for updates on every run and auto-update if available.
- * Uses a 5-second timeout to avoid blocking for too long.
+ * Uses a 10-second timeout to avoid blocking for too long.
  */
 export async function checkForUpdates(): Promise<void> {
   // Skip in test environment
@@ -172,6 +213,11 @@ export async function checkForUpdates(): Promise<void> {
     return;
   }
 
+  // Skip if a recent auto-update failed (backoff for 1 hour)
+  if (isUpdateBackedOff()) {
+    return;
+  }
+
   // Always fetch the latest version on every run
   try {
     const latestVersion = await fetchLatestVersion();