stablyai / stablyai/orca

[Bug]: Orca 1.4.200 launches WSL automatically on startup even with no workspace open

Open
#20,184 7 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug os:Windows
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Description

### Operating system

Windows

### Orca version

v1.4.200

### Details

## Bug description

On Windows, launching Orca 1.4.200 automatically starts WSL, even when no workspace is open and I am not using any WSL-based project.

Before launching Orca, all WSL distributions are stopped. Immediately after Orca starts, one of the WSL distributions changes to `Running`.

This happens even on the Orca home/empty page, with no workspace opened.

## Environment

* Orca version: `1.4.200`
* OS: Windows
* WSL2 installed
* No workspace open
* No WSL project open

## Steps to reproduce

1. Completely exit Orca.
2. Run:

```powershell
wsl --shutdown
wsl -l -v
```

3. Confirm that all WSL distributions show `Stopped`.
4. Launch Orca.
5. Do not open any workspace or project.
6. Run again:

```powershell
wsl -l -v
```

## Actual behavior

A WSL distribution changes from:

```text
Stopped
```

to:

```text
Running
```

simply by launching Orca.

## Expected behavior

Orca should not start a stopped WSL distribution unless a feature that actually requires WSL is being used, for example:

* opening a WSL workspace;
* opening a WSL terminal;
* explicitly using an agent/runtime configured for WSL.

Merely launching Orca with no workspace open should leave sto

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Reproduce the startup behavior on Windows by running `wsl --shutdown`, checking `wsl -l -v`, launching Orca without opening a workspace, and checking again. Trace the startup path that initializes WSL and verify that launching to the empty page does not start a stopped distribution; confirm WSL still starts when a WSL-dependent feature is explicitly used.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
desktop, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
52/100

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