Windows compatibility: npm global commands cannot be spawned without shell workaround

[jmadore-payfacto]

Summary

zeroshot fails on Windows when trying to spawn itself or the AI provider CLI (e.g. claude) because npm global commands on Windows are .cmd batch files that cannot be directly spawn()-ed by Node.js without shell: true. Additionally, the Jira provider uses a mix of go-jira and ankitpokhrel/jira-cli commands.

Issues Found

1. Jira provider — mixed CLI commands

• checkAuth() uses jira session (go-jira syntax)
• fetchIssue() uses jira issue view --template json (ankitpokhrel syntax)

Fixes needed:

• Change auth check from jira session → jira me
• Change --template json → --raw (ankitpokhrel's equivalent)

2. spawnTaskProcess in agent-task-executor.js — spawn zeroshot ENOENT

getClaudeTasksPath() returns 'zeroshot' which Node.js cannot find on Windows because the actual executable is zeroshot.cmd.

Fix: On Windows, invoke process.execPath (node.exe) with the CLI script path directly:

if (process.platform === 'win32') {
  const cliScript = path.join(__dirname, '../../cli/index.js');
  spawnCmd = process.execPath;
  spawnArgs = [cliScript, ...args];
}

Same issue exists in claude-task-runner.js.

3. watcher.js — spawn claude ENOENT (no task output)

watcher.js spawns the AI provider command (e.g. claude) which is also a .cmd file. Using shell: true causes arguments containing spaces (e.g. the prompt) to be split into multiple positional args, breaking the CLI invocation.

Fix: Resolve the actual Node.js script path from the .cmd wrapper file and invoke node directly. The .cmd file for any npm global command contains the script path and has a predictable format. Pass commandScript through watcherConfig from runner.js so watcher can use spawn(process.execPath, [commandScript, ...args]) on Windows.

Environment

• Windows 11
• Node.js (global npm install)
• ankitpokhrel/jira-cli for Jira

[tomdps]

Status review (2026-07-29):

• Still relevant on current main: src/agent/agent-task-executor.js resolves zeroshot through Unix which and spawnTaskProcess() spawns it directly; src/claude-task-runner.js likewise spawns bare zeroshot.
• Provider execution still resolves Claude to bare claude and calls spawn(..., { shell: false }) in src/agent-cli-provider/claude-command.ts and process-runner.ts; the former watcher path is gone, but its underlying Windows npm .cmd concern remains.
• Jira currently declares go-jira in src/issue-providers/jira-provider.js and uses jira session plus --template json, so the proposed ankitpokhrel flag swaps should not be applied without first choosing one supported Jira CLI contract.
• Windows-support theme: yes—this belongs with the Windows executable-resolution/spawn cluster (fix: resolve npm CLI wrappers in Windows watchers #475, fix: invoke zeroshot via node on Windows #473, fix: hide child process windows on Windows #472, [BUG] Windows Native Version Not Working #63, [BUG] Error: spawn zeroshot ENOENT #57). Keep open and triage as a bug.