fix(desktop): repair macOS auto-updater (ESM autoUpdater + app_ready handler)

[skevetter]

Summary

Two independent bugs were preventing the desktop auto-updater from working on macOS in v1.10.0-beta.14 (and earlier):

1. autoUpdater was undefined under ESM. desktop/package.json has "type": "module", so the main bundle runs as ESM. await import("electron-updater") against electron-updater's CJS module does not surface autoUpdater as a named export — it's defined via Object.defineProperty(exports, "autoUpdater", { get }), which Node's cjs-module-lexer doesn't detect. Result: const { autoUpdater } = await import("electron-updater") was always undefined, the !autoUpdater guard in updater.ts always fired, and the UI showed "Update check failed: Updates require a packaged build" even on properly signed/notarized builds.

   Verified directly:

   $ node --input-type=module -e "const m=await import('electron-updater'); console.log(typeof m.autoUpdater)"
   undefined
   

   Fixed by introducing a small loadAutoUpdater() helper that reads mod.default?.autoUpdater ?? mod.autoUpdater (the default path invokes the CJS getter). Used at all three call sites in updater.ts.

   Prior PRs (fix(desktop): handle missing autoUpdater on unsigned macOS builds #391, feat(desktop): redesign update UX #459) misread the symptom as a code-signing limitation; the real cause is the ESM/CJS interop.

2. app_ready IPC handler was never registered. The renderer invokes appReady() on mount (App.svelte:111), but no ipcMain.handle("app_ready", ...) existed in main. The promise rejection was silently swallowed until feat(desktop): redesign update UX #459 added a console.warn surfacing it. Handler added next to the other update IPCs; it replays the current updater status so a freshly-mounted UI immediately sees state main already knows.

Also widened normalizeReleaseNotes to accept note: string | null to match electron-updater's real ReleaseNoteInfo type (the helper's stricter return type surfaced this).

Not fixed here

• The https://dl.devsy.sh/desktop/latest-mac.yml 404 turned out to be expected — beta releases publish beta-mac.yml only (release.yml gates latest-* on non-prerelease), and beta-mac.yml returns 200 with a healthy manifest. No publishing-pipeline change needed.

Verification

• npx tsc --noEmit net-improves type errors (2 updater.ts errors removed; 3 pre-existing errors in cli.test.ts / analytics.ts unchanged).
• Needs a fresh signed + notarized build to verify end-to-end in the installed app on macOS.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Enhanced release notes handling to gracefully manage missing or invalid content.
  • Improved auto-updater module initialization for better reliability.

• New Features

  • App now communicates update status information immediately upon becoming ready, enabling faster update notifications to users.

[netlify]

✅ Deploy Preview for devsydev canceled.

Name	Link
🔨 Latest commit	1857671
🔍 Latest deploy log	https://app.netlify.com/projects/devsydev/deploys/6a1a360db0460300081849d2

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

The pull request is closed.

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: b36b7127-e8ff-4e86-9744-307e7811ac21

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 3ce80d5 and 1857671.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• desktop/src/main/__tests__/updater.test.ts
• desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
• desktop/src/main/updater.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The PR refactors Electron updater module loading to correctly handle ESM/CJS interop, adds an app-ready IPC handler to broadcast update status, and hardens release notes parsing for null values. The core change introduces loadAutoUpdater() to centralize accessing the CommonJS autoUpdater getter under ESM, replacing scattered destructuring imports throughout the updater initialization code.

Changes

Updater system and IPC integration

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Electron updater ESM/CJS compatibility desktop/src/main/updater.ts, desktop/src/main/__tests__/updater.test.ts	New loadAutoUpdater() helper centralizes electron-updater module loading and resolves the CommonJS autoUpdater getter via mod.default?.autoUpdater ?? mod.autoUpdater ?? null. All call sites (initAutoUpdater(), getUpdater(), setAutoDownloadEnabled()) now use the helper instead of direct destructuring. Test mock updated to expose both named and default exports to match the loader's fallback chain.
Release notes array robustness desktop/src/main/updater.ts	normalizeReleaseNotes() now maps array note objects to their note field and filters out null values before joining into a single string.
App-ready status broadcast desktop/src/main/ipc.ts	New "app_ready" IPC handler sends the current update status to the renderer on app startup via setImmediate, guarded by !event.sender.isDestroyed() to avoid errors after sender teardown.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• devsy-org/devsy#391: Modifies desktop/src/main/updater.ts to change how electron-updater's autoUpdater is accessed and initialized, addressing similar module loading and availability patterns in the updater setup code path.

Suggested labels

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