From 6c7b61a8e946b777ea1985058dbed9019bddd53a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christophe Besson Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2026 22:21:42 +0200 Subject: docs: the Windows node's three modes and one lifecycle, and what it cost MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit - MESHBAY_DESIGN.md ยง11.2: the node runs only while the app is open, at sign-in, or as a boot-time service; starting and stopping have one implementation, the CLI's; a second instance refuses before it writes anything the running one depends on. - packaging/win/README.md: the three modes, switching between them, upgrading a running node, where the log is, the service task's settings. - docs/windows-build.md: the build's smoke start of the frozen daemon, the log location, and what an upgrade does to a running node. - CLAUDE.md: four engineering lessons -- an upgrade that cannot stop the node installs around it; on Windows the CLI is the process it is stopping; a second instance must fail before it touches anything shared; a test that redirects HOME isolates nothing on Windows. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 --- docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md | 18 ++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) (limited to 'docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md') diff --git a/docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md b/docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md index 4541d64..38ceec8 100644 --- a/docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md +++ b/docs/MESHBAY_DESIGN.md @@ -2942,10 +2942,20 @@ treated as correctness from the start. What the port needed is registered as Two Windows-specific design points worth stating here: -- **Autostart has two modes, chosen at install and switchable afterwards** from the - Node page: a per-user startup launcher (the default) and a scheduled-task service - mode. A per-user default is right for the desktop persona; a service is what a - machine that must serve while nobody is logged in needs. +- **The node runs in one of three modes, chosen at install and switchable + afterwards** from the Node page: only while the application is open (it starts + the node and stops one it started), at sign-in through a per-user startup + launcher, or as a scheduled-task service from boot. The two automatic ones + exclude each other. A per-user mode is right for the desktop persona; a service + is what a machine that must serve while nobody is logged in needs. +- **Starting and stopping have one implementation, the CLI's**, which the + application, the installer's restart and a terminal all call. A stop asks the + node through its own control API first โ€” the one channel that reaches it in any + session without elevation, and the one that runs its shutdown โ€” then Task + Scheduler, then a forced stop that spares the command running it (the CLI and + the daemon are one executable). A start reports the version that answered, never + "started" about a node nobody asked. A second instance refuses before it writes + anything the running one depends on. - **A user service unit cannot carry a system unit's user directive.** Two unit templates exist, held apart by a test that parses directives rather than searching the file โ€” searching matched the *comment* explaining why the directive -- cgit v1.2.3