PR #52291: fix(ui): make ui:build work on Windows

• Repository: openclaw/openclaw
• Author: xiwuqi
• State: closed | merged: False
• Link: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/52291

Description (problem / solution / changelog)

Summary

• Problem: pnpm ui:build can fail on Windows when the resolved pnpm.cmd path contains spaces, because scripts/ui.js launches shell-backed commands without quoting the executable path.
• Additional issue found while reproducing on a clean checkout: the build auto-install path used pnpm install --prod, which skips vite and leaves the UI build unable to start.
• What changed: quote Windows shell launcher paths before spawn/spawnSync, and make the build auto-install path install the full UI dependency set instead of production-only deps.
• Scope boundary: no UI app code changed; this only touches the build wrapper script and its tests.

Change Type

• Bug fix
• Feature
• Refactor
• Docs
• Security hardening
• Chore/infra

Scope

• Gateway / orchestration
• Skills / tool execution
• Auth / tokens
• Memory / storage
• Integrations
• API / contracts
• UI / DX
• CI/CD / infra

Linked Issue/PR

• Closes #52282

User-visible / Behavior Changes

On Windows, pnpm ui:build now works when the package manager lives under a path with spaces (for example C:\Program Files\...). On clean checkouts, the command also installs the build-time UI dependencies it needs before invoking Vite.

Security Impact

• New permissions/capabilities? No
• Secrets/tokens handling changed? No
• New/changed network calls? No
• Command/tool execution surface changed? No
• Data access scope changed? No

Repro + Verification

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• Runtime/container: Node v20.19.0 / pnpm v10.32.1
• Relevant command: pnpm ui:build

Expected

• pnpm ui:build should launch the resolved package-manager command correctly on Windows.
• The command should be able to install the UI dependencies required for the build and complete successfully.

Actual before fix

• On affected Windows setups, shell-backed launchers under paths with spaces fail before running: 'D:\Program' is not recognized ...
• On a clean checkout in my local reproduction, the same code path also installed with --prod, so vite build failed because vite was absent.

Evidence

• Failing repro before + passing after
• Screenshot/recording
• Perf numbers

Commands run:

• pnpm exec vitest run --config vitest.config.ts test/scripts/ui.test.ts
• pnpm ui:build

Observed after fix:

• test/scripts/ui.test.ts: 1 passed, 6 passed tests
• pnpm ui:build: completed successfully and emitted dist/control-ui/*

Human Verification

What I personally verified:

• The Windows shell launcher path is now quoted when needed.
• pnpm ui:build succeeds locally on a fresh worktree after the script changes.
• Non-shell launchers remain unquoted.

Review Conversations

• I replied to or resolved every bot review conversation I addressed in this PR.
• I left unresolved only the conversations that still need reviewer or maintainer judgment.

Compatibility / Migration

• Backward compatible? Yes
• Config/env changes? No
• Migration needed? No

Failure Recovery

• How to disable/revert this change quickly: revert this commit
• Known bad symptoms reviewers should watch for: none beyond the previous ui:build failures returning

Risks and Mitigations

• Risk: quoting shell launchers on Windows could affect commands that were already quoted.
  • Mitigation: the helper preserves already-quoted commands and only touches shell-backed launchers with whitespace in the path.
• Risk: installing full deps for build may do more work than the previous production-only install.
  • Mitigation: this is only used when UI deps are missing, and the build already requires vite/other dev-time tooling to succeed.

Changed files

• scripts/ui.js (modified, +15/-6)
• test/scripts/ui.test.ts (modified, +15/-1)