fix(install): make prek optional in prepare script (fixes #731) by kagura-agent · Pull Request #746 · NVIDIA/NemoClaw

kagura-agent · 2026-03-23T22:58:11Z

Fixes #731

Problem

The prepare script in package.json unconditionally runs prek install to set up git hooks. Since prek is a devDependency (@j178/prek), it's not installed when:

End users clone the repo and run npm install without --include=dev
The installer runs npm install --ignore-scripts then later triggers prepare
Users deploy from a git checkout directory

This causes npm error code 127 (sh: 1: prek: not found) and blocks installation.

Solution

Guard the prek invocation with command -v prek so the prepare hook only runs when prek is actually available:

- "prepare": "if [ -d .git ]; then prek install; fi"
+ "prepare": "if [ -d .git ] && command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; fi"

Developers with devDependencies installed get hooks as before. End-user installs skip hook setup gracefully.

One-line change

Only package.json is modified.

Summary by CodeRabbit

Chores
- Improved install/setup script to verify the required CLI tool is available before running setup.
- Now emits a clear error if the project expects the tool but it’s not accessible, preventing silent failures.
- If the tool is not present at all, the hook/setup step is skipped with an informative message.

The prepare script runs 'prek install' to set up git hooks, but prek is a devDependency. When end users install NemoClaw from a git checkout without --include=dev (or when the installer runs 'npm install --ignore-scripts' then later triggers prepare), prek is not available and npm exits with code 127. Fix: Guard the prek invocation with 'command -v prek' so it only runs when the binary is actually installed (i.e., in a dev environment). End-user installs skip hook setup gracefully.

coderabbitai · 2026-03-23T22:58:25Z

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 3476f41 and 3a4cf60.

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package.json

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package.json

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The prepare npm script in package.json was updated to gate hook setup on both the presence of a .git directory and the availability of the prek executable; it now errors if @j178/prek is installed but prek is not in PATH, and otherwise skips hook setup with a message.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Install Script Configuration `package.json`	Changed `scripts.prepare` to check `command -v prek` before running `prek install`. If `node_modules/@j178/prek` exists but `prek` is not in PATH the script now errors and exits 1; if neither is available it prints a skip message and does not run hooks.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~2 minutes

Poem

🐰 I hopped around the scripts at night,
Found a missing prek that gave a fright.
Now I check the path before I call,
No more install crash — hooray for all! 🎉

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly identifies the main change: making prek optional in the prepare script and references the fixed issue `#731`.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The pull request directly addresses all coding requirements from issue `#731`: adding a binary check (command -v prek) to gate hook installation and allowing graceful failure when prek is absent.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are scoped to the prepare script modification in package.json; no unrelated alterations or out-of-scope code changes are present.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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wscurran · 2026-03-24T14:55:30Z

Thanks for submitting this PR, it makes prek optional in the prepare script, which could improve the CI/CD pipeline and user experience by providing more flexibility and preventing potential issues.

cv

Fixes the right problem, but as-is this silently skips hook setup even for developers where prek should be available (e.g. devDeps installed but binary somehow broken). Consider distinguishing "prek intentionally absent" (deploy/CI) from "prek should be here but isn't" (dev) — see inline suggestion.

…NVIDIA#746) * fix(install): make prek optional in prepare script (fixes NVIDIA#731) The prepare script runs 'prek install' to set up git hooks, but prek is a devDependency. When end users install NemoClaw from a git checkout without --include=dev (or when the installer runs 'npm install --ignore-scripts' then later triggers prepare), prek is not available and npm exits with code 127. Fix: Guard the prek invocation with 'command -v prek' so it only runs when the binary is actually installed (i.e., in a dev environment). End-user installs skip hook setup gracefully. * fix: less forgiving prepare script --------- Co-authored-by: Kagura Chen <daniyuu19@sjtu.edu.cn> Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cv@lixo.org>

DanTup · 2026-04-05T15:46:01Z

What's the intended behaviour after this PR?

I just tried to install this on a clean Ubuntu VM and it failed and stopped with the error:

prek package found but binary not in PATH

This seems to be essentially the same issue described in #731 which this PR was intended to fix, only there's a slightly different error message. Was that the intention, or was installation supposed to continue?

[INFO]  Resolved install ref: latest
  ✓  Cloning NemoClaw source
  ✓  Preparing OpenClaw package
  ✓  Installing NemoClaw dependencies
  ✓  Building NemoClaw CLI modules
  ✓  Building NemoClaw plugin
  ✗  Linking NemoClaw CLI

npm error code 1
npm error path /home/ubuntu/.nemoclaw/source
npm error command failed
npm error command sh -c if command -v tsc >/dev/null 2>&1 || [ -x node_modules/.bin/tsc ]; then npm run build:cli; fi && npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts 2>/dev/null || true && if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]; then echo "ERROR: prek package found but binary not in PATH" && exit 1; else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi; fi
npm error > nemoclaw@0.1.0 build:cli
npm error > tsc -p tsconfig.src.json
npm error
npm error
npm error up to date, audited 5 packages in 3s
npm error
npm error 1 package is looking for funding
npm error   run `npm fund` for details
npm error
npm error found 0 vulnerabilities
npm error ERROR: prek package found but binary not in PATH
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/ubuntu/.npm/_logs/2026-04-05T15_41_33_344Z-debug-0.log

kagura-agent · 2026-04-05T16:18:11Z

Thanks for the detailed report @DanTup — you're right, this is a bug in my fix. The exit 1 when the prek package directory exists but the binary isn't in PATH is wrong. This happens during npm install --omit=dev (which the NemoClaw installer uses), where devDep directories may linger but binaries aren't linked.

The correct behavior should be: if prek isn't in PATH, skip hook setup regardless of whether the package directory exists. Working on a follow-up PR to fix this.

kagura-agent · 2026-04-05T16:21:40Z

Fix submitted in #1502 — removes the elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ] branch entirely. If prek isn't in PATH, we just skip regardless.

@DanTup

## Problem PR #746 (merged) made `prek` optional in the prepare script, but introduced a regression: when `node_modules/@j178/prek` directory exists but the `prek` binary is not in PATH, the script errors with `exit 1`. This happens in practice when running `npm install --omit=dev` (as the NemoClaw install script does) — the package directory may be present from a previous full install, but the binary won't be linked to PATH. Reported by @DanTup on a clean Ubuntu VM: #746 (comment) ## Root Cause The prepare script tried to distinguish between "prek intentionally absent" and "prek should be here but isn't" by checking for the `node_modules/@j178/prek` directory. However, this distinction is unreliable — the directory can exist without the binary being available (e.g., after `--omit=dev` with a stale `node_modules`). ## Fix Remove the `elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]` branch entirely. If `prek` is not in PATH, simply skip hook setup regardless of whether the package directory exists. **Before:** ```bash if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]; then echo "ERROR: ..." && exit 1; # ← BUG else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi fi ``` **After:** ```bash if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi fi ``` ## Test Scenarios | Scenario | Expected | Result | |----------|----------|--------| | `.git` exists + `prek` in PATH | Runs `prek install` | ✅ | | `.git` exists + `prek` not in PATH + `node_modules/@j178/prek` exists | Skip (no error) | ✅ (was ❌ `exit 1`) | | `.git` exists + `prek` not in PATH + no `node_modules` | Skip | ✅ | | No `.git` directory | Skip | ✅ | Fixes regression from #746.  ## Summary by CodeRabbit * **Chores** * Simplified the installation preparation script to streamline git hook setup. When the required tooling isn't available, the script now gracefully skips hook configuration (and logs a skip) instead of failing, reducing setup friction for users.  Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cvillela@nvidia.com>

@DanTup

## Problem PR NVIDIA#746 (merged) made `prek` optional in the prepare script, but introduced a regression: when `node_modules/@j178/prek` directory exists but the `prek` binary is not in PATH, the script errors with `exit 1`. This happens in practice when running `npm install --omit=dev` (as the NemoClaw install script does) — the package directory may be present from a previous full install, but the binary won't be linked to PATH. Reported by @DanTup on a clean Ubuntu VM: NVIDIA#746 (comment) ## Root Cause The prepare script tried to distinguish between "prek intentionally absent" and "prek should be here but isn't" by checking for the `node_modules/@j178/prek` directory. However, this distinction is unreliable — the directory can exist without the binary being available (e.g., after `--omit=dev` with a stale `node_modules`). ## Fix Remove the `elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]` branch entirely. If `prek` is not in PATH, simply skip hook setup regardless of whether the package directory exists. **Before:** ```bash if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]; then echo "ERROR: ..." && exit 1; # ← BUG else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi fi ``` **After:** ```bash if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi fi ``` ## Test Scenarios | Scenario | Expected | Result | |----------|----------|--------| | `.git` exists + `prek` in PATH | Runs `prek install` | ✅ | | `.git` exists + `prek` not in PATH + `node_modules/@j178/prek` exists | Skip (no error) | ✅ (was ❌ `exit 1`) | | `.git` exists + `prek` not in PATH + no `node_modules` | Skip | ✅ | | No `.git` directory | Skip | ✅ | Fixes regression from NVIDIA#746.  ## Summary by CodeRabbit * **Chores** * Simplified the installation preparation script to streamline git hook setup. When the required tooling isn't available, the script now gracefully skips hook configuration (and logs a skip) instead of failing, reducing setup friction for users.  Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cvillela@nvidia.com>

@DanTup

## Problem PR NVIDIA#746 (merged) made `prek` optional in the prepare script, but introduced a regression: when `node_modules/@j178/prek` directory exists but the `prek` binary is not in PATH, the script errors with `exit 1`. This happens in practice when running `npm install --omit=dev` (as the NemoClaw install script does) — the package directory may be present from a previous full install, but the binary won't be linked to PATH. Reported by @DanTup on a clean Ubuntu VM: NVIDIA#746 (comment) ## Root Cause The prepare script tried to distinguish between "prek intentionally absent" and "prek should be here but isn't" by checking for the `node_modules/@j178/prek` directory. However, this distinction is unreliable — the directory can exist without the binary being available (e.g., after `--omit=dev` with a stale `node_modules`). ## Fix Remove the `elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]` branch entirely. If `prek` is not in PATH, simply skip hook setup regardless of whether the package directory exists. **Before:** ```bash if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; elif [ -d node_modules/@j178/prek ]; then echo "ERROR: ..." && exit 1; # ← BUG else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi fi ``` **After:** ```bash if [ -d .git ]; then if command -v prek >/dev/null 2>&1; then prek install; else echo "Skipping git hook setup (prek not installed)"; fi fi ``` ## Test Scenarios | Scenario | Expected | Result | |----------|----------|--------| | `.git` exists + `prek` in PATH | Runs `prek install` | ✅ | | `.git` exists + `prek` not in PATH + `node_modules/@j178/prek` exists | Skip (no error) | ✅ (was ❌ `exit 1`) | | `.git` exists + `prek` not in PATH + no `node_modules` | Skip | ✅ | | No `.git` directory | Skip | ✅ | Fixes regression from NVIDIA#746.  ## Summary by CodeRabbit * **Chores** * Simplified the installation preparation script to streamline git hook setup. When the required tooling isn't available, the script now gracefully skips hook configuration (and logs a skip) instead of failing, reducing setup friction for users.  Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cvillela@nvidia.com>

wscurran added bug Something isn't working CI/CD Use this label to identify issues with NemoClaw CI/CD pipeline or GitHub Actions. priority: medium Issue that should be addressed in upcoming releases labels Mar 24, 2026

cv reviewed Mar 24, 2026

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Comment thread package.json Outdated

fix: less forgiving prepare script

3a4cf60

cv approved these changes Mar 24, 2026

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cv merged commit faad085 into NVIDIA:main Mar 24, 2026
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DanTup mentioned this pull request Apr 5, 2026

NemoClaw install fails in Git checkout when hook bootstrap invokes missing 'prek' binary (npm error 127) #731

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kagura-agent mentioned this pull request Apr 5, 2026

fix(install): skip prek hook setup when binary not in PATH #1502

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fix(install): make prek optional in prepare script (fixes #731)#746

fix(install): make prek optional in prepare script (fixes #731)#746
cv merged 2 commits intoNVIDIA:mainfrom
kagura-agent:fix/prepare-prek-optional

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