1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js b/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js
index a348007..6c92531 100644
--- a/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js
+++ b/packages/meshbay-client/src/main.js
@@ -854,6 +854,13 @@ function registerBridge() {
     const bin = await findNodeBinary();
     if (!bin) throw new Error('meshbay-node not found on PATH');
     const child = spawn(bin, [], { detached: true, stdio: 'ignore', windowsHide: true });
+    // spawn() failures (bad path, a stale PATH entry, antivirus interference)
+    // land on the ChildProcess as an 'error' event, asynchronously -- with no
+    // listener, Node rethrows it as an uncaught exception and takes the whole
+    // main process down with it. The caller's waitForNode() timeout already
+    // turns "never came up" into a clean message; this only has to keep that
+    // path reachable instead of crashing first.
+    child.on('error', (err) => console.error('[node] failed to start:', err.message));
     child.unref();
   }
 
@@ -1133,6 +1140,10 @@ function registerBridge() {
         detached: true,
         stdio: 'ignore',
       });
+      // Same reason as spawnNodeDetached(): an unhandled 'error' event here
+      // would crash the whole main process instead of letting the polling
+      // loop below report "never came up".
+      child.on('error', (err) => console.error('[node] failed to start:', err.message));
       child.unref();
     }