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feat(install): install without administrator rights (--no-admin)

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Codeman itself always lived under $HOME; administrator rights were only
spent on what it needs first (system packages for Node.js, tmux and git,
Homebrew on a Mac). An account without those rights could not install it:
the installer died in ensure_sudo, or in Homebrew's own installer.

install.sh now has a no-admin route, taken by itself when the account has
no administrator rights (no sudo binary; outside sudo/wheel/admin and
`sudo -n true` fails; a refused sudo password; a Mac account outside the
admin group with no writable Homebrew) and forced with --no-admin or
CODEMAN_NO_ADMIN=1:

- Node.js: the official tarball from nodejs.org, checked against the
  SHASUMS256.txt published beside it, into ~/.codeman/runtime/node.
- tmux: the tmux project's own build (tmux/tmux-builds 3.7c), checked
  against a SHA-256 pinned in the installer, into ~/.codeman/runtime/bin.
- Both are linked from ~/.local/bin (never over a file that is not ours),
  and the runtime is on PATH and on the LaunchAgent's PATH.
- git is never installed. Without a working git the source comes as an
  archive, the install is marked with .install-source, and it updates by
  re-running the installer: the new tree is built beside the old one and
  swapped in only after the build succeeded. A later re-run on a machine
  that has gained git turns it back into a clone.
- Nothing on this route runs sudo, Homebrew or `xcode-select --install`,
  and the route is never decided by `sudo -v`.

What it cannot supply is checked before the first download: a C/C++
toolchain on Linux (node-pty 1.1.0 compiles there), musl, and macOS below
15 (the tmux build's deployment target).

Along the way:

- check_git no longer trusts `command -v git`. On a Mac without the Xcode
  Command Line Tools /usr/bin/git is a stub that opens Apple's install
  dialog; it is judged by `xcode-select -p` and never executed. Any other
  git is asked for its version.
- scripts/git-hooks.mjs answers "not a checkout" without running git, for
  the same reason: postinstall calls it on every npm install.
- The in-app updater knows the install kind `archive` and points such an
  install at the installer instead of `npm i -g aicodeman@latest`.
- download() and download_to_stdout() resolve DOWNLOADER themselves. Only
  main() used to set it, so `install.sh cloudflared` died on `set -u` with
  the message swallowed by the step log.
- The AI CLI menu leaves out a Homebrew-only install command where there
  is no Homebrew.

Verified with the real installer: a bare Ubuntu 24.04 container as an
unprivileged user (install, a PTY round trip through the API, update by
re-run, cloudflared, uninstall), the same without a compiler (stops before
any download), with a broken then working git, with sudo present but not
usable, and on macOS 26 (arm64) in an isolated HOME with sudo, brew, git,
the compilers, launchctl and tailscale replaced by tripwires. Not verified
on a real standard macOS account: that account was an administrator.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Codeman maintainer committed 2026-11-05 18:50:58 +01:00
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@@ -102,6 +102,49 @@ installs Tailscale itself non-interactively; a non-interactive run never renames
machine and never starts a service. Everything the unattended steps print goes to
`~/.codeman/install.log`, and the last lines of it are shown when a step fails.
### Without administrator rights
Codeman itself always lived in your home directory. What used `sudo` (or Homebrew on a
Mac) were the things it needs first. On an account that has no administrator rights the
installer says so in its summary (`Admin not used (...)`) and gets those another way:
| Needed | With administrator rights | Without |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Node.js 22 | system package or Homebrew | The official tarball from nodejs.org, checked against the `SHASUMS256.txt` published beside it, unpacked to `~/.codeman/runtime/node`. |
| tmux | system package or Homebrew | The tmux project's own build ([tmux-builds](https://github.com/tmux/tmux-builds)), checked against a SHA-256 pinned in the installer, in `~/.codeman/runtime/bin`. |
| git | system package or Xcode tools | Not installed. Without a working git, the source is downloaded as an archive instead of cloned. |
| Build toolchain (Linux) | system package | Cannot be supplied. See below. |
This route is taken by itself when `sudo` is not installed, when the account is outside the
`sudo`, `wheel` and `admin` groups and `sudo` will not run without a password, when the
`sudo` password is refused, and on a Mac for an account that is not an administrator.
`--no-admin` (or `CODEMAN_NO_ADMIN=1`) forces it on an account that does have the rights;
`CODEMAN_NO_ADMIN=0` switches the detection off. Nothing on this route runs `sudo`,
Homebrew or the Xcode tools installer.
What to know about it:
- **Linux needs make, a C++ compiler and python3 to be there already.** node-pty compiles
from source on Linux, and a compiler is a system package. The installer checks this
before it downloads anything and names what is missing. macOS needs no compiler.
- **The tmux download needs macOS 15 or newer** (and x86_64 or arm64 on either system).
On an older Mac an administrator has to install tmux once (`brew install tmux`); the
rest then works without one.
- **An install without git updates by re-running the install line**, not from App
Settings. The re-run builds the new version beside the old one and swaps it in only
after the build succeeded, so a failed download or build leaves the install as it was.
Once the machine has a working git, the next re-run turns the install into a normal
clone and in-app updates work again. On a Mac, "a working git" means the Xcode Command
Line Tools are installed: without them `/usr/bin/git` only opens Apple's install dialog,
and the installer never runs it.
- **Tailscale works where it is already installed and your account may configure it.** On
Linux, installing it, logging in and granting serve rights each need an administrator
(`sudo tailscale set --operator=$USER`, once). Local network and this-machine access
need nothing, and `install.sh cloudflared` puts `cloudflared` in `~/.local/bin`.
- `node`, `npm`, `npx` and `tmux` are linked from `~/.local/bin`, and
`~/.codeman/runtime/node/bin` is added to your PATH, so a CLI installed with
`npm install -g` is found as well.
## Route B: npm
```bash
@@ -194,6 +237,7 @@ If the dashboard loads and **+ New Session** opens, you are done. Continue to
| Path | What |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `~/.codeman/app` | The installed code (installer route only). |
| `~/.codeman/runtime` | Node.js and tmux, when the installer downloaded them instead of using system packages ([no administrator rights](#without-administrator-rights)). |
| `~/.codeman/` | All state: `state.json`, settings, session history, push keys, TLS certs. See [Core Concepts](Core-Concepts). |
| `~/codeman-cases/` | Cases created from scratch. Linked cases stay wherever they already are. |
| `~/.codeman/web.log` | Log for a detached (`-d`) server. |
@@ -217,6 +261,7 @@ Full detail, including logs and the self-updater, is in
| Install route | How to update |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Installer | Re-run the one-liner, or **App Settings → System → Updates** in the UI. |
| Installer, without git | Re-run the one-liner. The in-app updater says so instead of offering an update. |
| npm | `npm update -g aicodeman` |
| git clone | `git pull && npm install && npm run build`, then restart. |
| Docker Compose | Re-run `Start-Codeman.sh`. The in-app updater works too, and refuses a release that changes the container definition until you re-run the script. |
@@ -232,7 +277,9 @@ install.sh uninstall # installer route
npm uninstall -g aicodeman # npm route
```
Neither removes `~/.codeman/` or `~/codeman-cases/`. Delete those by hand if you want the
The installer route asks before it removes `~/.codeman/runtime` (the Node.js and tmux it
downloaded, if any), and keeps it by default when you installed CLIs there with
`npm install -g`. Neither removes `~/.codeman/` or `~/codeman-cases/`. Delete those by hand if you want the
state and your case folders gone as well, and check `~/codeman-cases/` first: linked cases
point at directories you already had, but cases created from scratch have their only copy
there.