# Bug Report: Windows launcher (`bin/opencode.exe`) is invalid when installed with npm 12 + nvm4w

Description

Summary

On Windows x64, installing opencode-ai globally with npm results in a broken launcher.

The launcher located at:

<node-global>\node_modules\opencode-ai\bin\opencode.exe

is only 479 bytes and Windows reports:

"The specified executable is not a valid application for this operating system platform."

However, the native binary works correctly once it is installed manually.

---

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 x64
• Node.js: v24.16.0
• npm: 12.0.2
• Node manager: nvm4w
• Installation method:

npm install -g opencode-ai --allow-scripts=opencode-ai

Installed package version:

opencode-ai 1.18.8

---

Expected behavior

Running

opencode

or

opencode --version

should start OpenCode normally.

---

Actual behavior

PowerShell returns:

The program 'opencode.exe' failed to run:
The specified executable is not a valid application for this operating system platform.

The failing executable is:

C:\nvm4w\nodejs\node_modules\opencode-ai\bin\opencode.exe

File size:

479 bytes

---

Investigation

The launcher generated by the package is invalid.

Initially, the package did not install any of its optional native dependencies.

Running:

Get-ChildItem "C:\nvm4w\nodejs\node_modules\opencode-ai\node_modules"

returned nothing.

The package.json correctly declares:

"optionalDependencies": {
    "opencode-windows-x64": "1.18.8",
    ...
}

but the dependency was not installed automatically.

After manually installing:

npm install -g opencode-windows-x64@1.18.8

the native executable became available at:

C:\nvm4w\nodejs\node_modules\opencode-windows-x64\bin\opencode.exe

Running:

opencode.exe --version

returns:

1.18.8

which proves the native binary itself works correctly.

---

Additional observation

The launcher scripts generated by npm (opencode.cmd and opencode.ps1) always invoke:

node_modules\opencode-ai\bin\opencode.exe

Since this executable is invalid, every invocation of:

opencode

fails.

If the launcher is manually modified to invoke the real native binary instead, OpenCode works correctly.

---

Possible root cause

It appears one of the following is happening:

1. npm 12 + nvm4w is not installing the optional dependency opencode-windows-x64, or

2. postinstall.mjs is not handling this installation scenario correctly, leaving bin/opencode.exe unusable.

---

Suggested improvements

• Verify compatibility with npm 12.
• Detect when the native package is missing and display a clear error.
• Automatically resolve the native executable from the installed optional dependency.
• Consider avoiding the current 479-byte launcher if it cannot execute correctly on Windows.

---

Reproduction steps

1. Install Node.js using nvm4w.
2. Use npm 12.x.
3. Run:

npm install -g opencode-ai

(or even)

npm install -g opencode-ai --allow-scripts=opencode-ai

4. Run:

opencode

The launcher fails with the Windows executable error.

---

Temporary workaround

npm install -g opencode-windows-x64

Then invoke the native executable directly:

node_modules/opencode-windows-x64/bin/opencode.exe

instead of the generated launcher.

---

Thank you for your work on OpenCode. If you need any additional logs or if you'd like me to test a fix on Windows (npm 12 + nvm4w), I'd be happy to help.

Plugins

No response

OpenCode version

No response

Steps to reproduce

No response

Screenshot and/or share link

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Operating System

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Terminal

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