[Bug]: Preview fails because Open CoDesign app bundle is missing the ms module

[Mustafa-raja]

Description

Preview fails before rendering App.jsx. The app reports a runtime dependency error from inside the Open CoDesign application bundle: Cannot find module 'ms'. This appears unrelated to the design source because the require stack points to /Applications/Open CoDesign.app/.../node_modules/debug/src/common.js.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Open CoDesign.
2. Open the workspace/design.
3. Click Preview for App.jsx.
4. Observe that preview fails before rendering the design.

Expected behavior

App.jsx should render in the preview window, or source-level JSX/runtime errors should be shown if the design file has a problem.

Actual behavior

Preview executor fails with:

Cannot find module 'ms'
Require stack:

• /Applications/Open CoDesign.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar/node_modules/debug/src/common.js

The design preview does not load.

open-codesign version

0.1.3

Platform

macOS

OS version

macOS 15.3.2

Model provider (if relevant)

OpenAI

Error code

No response

Diagnostics bundle

No response

Logs

[github-actions]

Thanks for the detailed report! This looks like a packaging issue where the ms module (a transitive dependency of the debug package) wasn't bundled into the Electron asar correctly.

Code evidence:

• The error stack (.../node_modules/debug/src/common.js) shows debug requiring ms. In Node.js, debug declares ms as a dependency, so it should be included in a normal pnpm install. However, during electron-vite bundling or electron-builder packaging, ms may have been incorrectly pruned if the bundler considered it unused.

This is an app-bundle issue, not a design-source issue. The preview failure is unrelated to App.jsx.

Related search: I checked open and closed issues for "ms module", "debug", and "preview fails with require stack asar" — no exact duplicates found.

Likely root cause: The published v0.1.3 binary may have a missing transitive dependency in the asar. The project's pnpm-lock.yaml and apps/desktop/package.json do not directly list debug or ms, but they are pulled in by one of the dependencies (e.g., electron-log, electron-updater, or puppeteer-core). The bundler may have failed to include ms during the build.

Workaround / next steps:

1. Upgrade to the latest release (v0.2.0) — this may already be fixed, as the build tooling has seen several updates.
2. Reinstall the app — a corrupted asar download could cause this.
3. If building from source, run pnpm install and rebuild with pnpm build to regenerate the asar.
4. If the problem persists in v0.2.0, please attach a diagnostics bundle (Settings → Storage → Export diagnostics) — that will help pinpoint which dependency is missing.

Need more info:

• Are you using the pre-built .dmg from releases, or did you build from source?
• Does the issue occur after a fresh install or after an update?
• Can you reproduce it with a newly created empty design?

---

Open-CoDesign Bot

[Mustafa-raja]

my bad, my open-codesign version is already v0.2.0, so the issue is in latest build

Answers for more info required

1. using .dmg
2. fresh install
3. yes, i tried starting a new deign, the issue persisted.

[mussonking]

Thanks for the follow-up confirming this is happening on the v0.2.0 .dmg fresh install.

I traced this to the packaged preview executor path: puppeteer-core loads debug, and debug requires ms, but the app bundle did not include ms in the asar. This is not caused by the design source itself, but it does break the local-workspace preview(App.jsx) flow.

A fix is now included in PR #334: #334

That PR now declares ms@2.1.3 as an explicit desktop runtime dependency so Electron packaging includes it. I also verified locally with:

• pnpm --filter @open-codesign/desktop test -- preview-runtime.test.ts
• pnpm --filter @open-codesign/desktop build:dir
• inspected the generated app.asar and confirmed it contains node_modules/ms alongside node_modules/debug/src/common.js
• pre-push checks passed: typecheck, lint, and full test suite

Leaving this open until the PR lands and a build containing the fix is available.

[hqhq1025]

Correction on my earlier release note: the fix has been repacked into the existing v0.2.0 release, not shipped as v0.3.0.

Updated status:

• The erroneous v0.3.0 release/tag has been removed.
• The v0.2.0 tag now points at the minimal packaging fix for this issue.
• The v0.2.0 GitHub Release assets were rebuilt and overwritten.
• I downloaded the new open-codesign-0.2.0-arm64.dmg, verified it against the updated SHA256SUMS.txt, mounted it, and inspected Open CoDesign.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar.
• The rebuilt v0.2.0 app still reports CFBundleShortVersionString = 0.2.0 and now contains both node_modules/debug/src/common.js and node_modules/ms/{index.js,package.json}.

Please reinstall from the v0.2.0 release page: https://github.com/OpenCoworkAI/open-codesign/releases/tag/v0.2.0

[hqhq1025]

Small correction to my wording above: the fixed build was repacked into v0.2.0, not v0.3.0. The key point remains the same: your v0.2.0 DMG fresh-install repro was the signal that this was a shipped app-bundle issue.