2026-05-09: Fix missing root npm install in tauri dev/build scripts

Problem

After the Prisma generate fix, npm run tauri:dev got further but still failed at the final step:

▸ Launching Tauri dev …
npm error could not determine executable to run

Root cause: node_modules/.bin/tauri was a broken symlink (empty target string). @tauri-apps/cli lives in the repo root’s devDependencies, but tauri-dev.sh never ran npm install at the repo root — only at front/ and backend/.

The script already had a comment about this exact class of problem:

Note: if the repo is synced via Google Drive, node_modules symlinks are broken after switching machines. The npm install steps below self-heal this.

The self-healing only covered front/ and backend/ — not the root where @tauri-apps/cli lives.

Diagnosis:

$ ls -la node_modules/.bin/tauri
lrw-------- tauri ->        ← broken (empty target)

$ ls node_modules/@tauri-apps/cli/tauri.js
node_modules/@tauri-apps/cli/tauri.js   ← file exists, just not linked

Fix

Added npm ci 2>/dev/null || npm install at the repo root before the front and backend steps in both scripts:

`scripts/tauri-dev.sh` and `scripts/tauri-build.sh`

echo "▸ Installing root dependencies (Tauri CLI) …"
cd "$REPO_ROOT"
npm ci 2>/dev/null || npm install

This runs first, healing the node_modules/.bin/tauri symlink so the later npx tauri dev / npx tauri build call resolves correctly.

Why this happens

The repo root package.json has a minimal install — only @tauri-apps/cli in devDependencies. When node_modules are broken (Google Drive sync, machine switch, or missing install), the scripts now self-heal the root in addition to front and backend.

Execution Summary

Commit: cee4832

Actual changes

File	Change
`scripts/tauri-dev.sh`	Added root `npm ci 2>/dev/null \|\| npm install` before the frontend step
`scripts/tauri-build.sh`	Same, before the backend step
`docs/src/content/docs/plans/2026-05-09-fix-tauri-root-npm-install.md`	This plan doc (new file)

Deviations from plan

None.

Test results

Gate	Result
Backend unit	✅ 265 tests passed
Backend e2e	⏭ skipped (unaffected)
Frontend unit	⏭ skipped (unaffected)
Frontend e2e	⏭ skipped (unaffected)
Tauri symlink	✅ `node_modules/.bin/tauri` → `../@tauri-apps/cli/tauri.js`, `tauri-cli 2.10.1`

Key discoveries

The root node_modules only had @tauri-apps — a sparse install suggesting the root was installed once but never refreshed with the scripts.
The broken symlink had an empty target (lrw-------- tauri ->), not a dangling one. This is a known Google Drive artefact when syncing across machines.
After npm install at root, the symlink was recreated correctly in under 2 seconds.