@monolex/pty-daemon

PTY daemon helper for Monolex terminal functionality. This package provides a standalone PTY daemon that can be used by the Monolex app to create terminal sessions even when the main app's spawn-helper has Hardened Runtime restrictions.

Installation

npm install -g @monolex/pty-daemon

What's New in v0.10.0

• Pre-built binaries for macOS arm64 - No Python or Xcode required!
• Automatic Hardened Runtime removal - Works in production apps
• Faster installation - Skip compilation on supported platforms

The postinstall script will automatically:

1. Use pre-built binaries if available (macOS arm64)
2. Otherwise compile node-pty for your system
3. Fix spawn-helper permissions and signature
4. Find and save Electron path for daemon usage
5. Test the spawn-helper functionality

How It Works

This daemon runs as a separate process using Electron's Node.js runtime (ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1) and provides PTY functionality through Unix domain sockets.

Architecture

Monolex App (Production)
    ↓
  IPC Handler
    ↓
  Daemon Process (this package)
    ├─ node-pty (without Hardened Runtime)
    ├─ Unix domain sockets
    └─ PTY sessions

Usage

Automatic (via Monolex app)

The Monolex app will automatically detect and use this daemon when installed globally.

Manual Start

# With Electron (recommended)
ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1 /path/to/electron monolex-pty-daemon

# With system Node.js (if ABI compatible)
monolex-pty-daemon

Control Commands

The daemon exposes a control socket at ~/.monolex/sockets/daemon-control.sock for management:

• create-session - Create a new PTY session
• remove-session - Remove a PTY session
• list-sessions - List all active sessions
• resize-session - Resize terminal dimensions
• status - Get daemon status
• shutdown - Gracefully shut down daemon

Configuration

Create a config file and pass it to the daemon:

{
  "sessionPrefix": "daemon",
  "maxSessions": 10,
  "defaultShell": "bash",
  "defaultCols": 120,
  "defaultRows": 40,
  "socketDir": "~/.monolex/sockets",
  "logFile": "/tmp/monolex-pty-daemon.log"
}

monolex-pty-daemon --config /path/to/config.json

Troubleshooting

spawn-helper Issues

If you see posix_spawnp failed errors:

1. Check spawn-helper signature:

codesign -dvvv node_modules/node-pty/build/Release/spawn-helper

2. If it has "Runtime Version", the postinstall script should fix it automatically.

3. Manual fix if needed:

# Remove Hardened Runtime
codesign --remove-signature node_modules/node-pty/build/Release/spawn-helper
codesign --force --sign - node_modules/node-pty/build/Release/spawn-helper

Logs

Check daemon logs at:

• /tmp/monolex-pty-daemon.log - Daemon runtime logs
• /tmp/pty-daemon.log - PTY process logs

Testing

Run the test script:

npm test

This will verify that spawn-helper can create PTY processes correctly.

Requirements

• macOS, Linux, or Windows
• Node.js 18+ or Electron 20+
• Build tools (only if pre-built binaries not available):
  • macOS: xcode-select --install (not needed for Apple Silicon)
  • Linux: apt-get install build-essential
  • Windows: npm install -g windows-build-tools

License

MIT

Support

Report issues at: https://github.com/monolex/pty-daemon/issues