[Windows] install.ps1 (v0.9.0) aborts with "error: installed binary failed to run" — `install` subcommand ignores `--dir`

[cyberlieflife]

Version

codebase-memory-mcp 0.9.0

Platform

Windows (x64)

Install channel

GitHub release archive / install.sh / install.ps1

Binary variant

standard

What happened, and what did you expect?

Running the official install.ps1 shipped in the v0.9.0 release archive ends with:

error: installed binary failed to run

and exit code 1, even though the binary and all agent configs were installed successfully. Expected: the installer exits 0 after a successful install.

Root cause is a contract mismatch between install.ps1 and the install subcommand about where the binary goes:

• install.ps1 calls codebase-memory-mcp.exe install -y --force --dir=%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp (line 294) and later verifies %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp\codebase-memory-mcp.exe (lines 326–334).
• cbm_cmd_install() in src/cli/cli.c never parses --dir. Its argument loop only handles --dry-run, --force, --plan, and --reset-indexes, and bin_target is hardcoded to ~/.local/bin/codebase-memory-mcp.exe (lines 3817–3821).
• Therefore %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp\codebase-memory-mcp.exe is never created. The final & $Dest --version throws, the catch block prints error: installed binary failed to run, and the script exits 1.

Secondary effect: the installer's own self-copy step (install.ps1 → %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp\install.ps1, lines 311–322) also fails because that directory is never created, printing:

note: could not place install.ps1 in ... (update will explain where to find it)

so a later update has no local updater to point at.

Reproduction

1. On a fresh Windows 11 x64 machine, download the v0.9.0 release archive and extract install.ps1.
2. Run powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1.
3. Observe the final line error: installed binary failed to run (exit code 1).
4. Confirm the binary actually landed at %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\codebase-memory-mcp.exe, and that %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp\codebase-memory-mcp.exe does not exist.

Logs

codebase-memory-mcp installer (Windows)
  variant: standard
  arch:    amd64
  target:  C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp\codebase-memory-mcp.exe

Downloading codebase-memory-mcp-windows-amd64.zip...
Checksum verified.
Extracting...
Verified candidate: codebase-memory-mcp 0.9.0
codebase-memory-mcp install 0.9.0
信息: 没有运行的带有指定标准的任务。
Installed binary -> C:/Users/xxx/.local/bin/codebase-memory-mcp.exe
Detected agents: Claude-Code Codex VS-Code Cursor
Claude Code:
  skills: 1 installed
  mcp: C:/Users/xxx/.claude/.mcp.json
  mcp: C:/Users/xxx/.claude.json
  hooks: PreToolUse (Grep/Glob search-graph augmenter, non-blocking)
  hooks: SessionStart (MCP usage reminder on startup/resume/clear/compact)
  hooks: SubagentStart (MCP usage reminder for subagents)
Codex CLI:
  mcp: C:/Users/xxx/.codex/config.toml
  instructions: C:/Users/xxx/.codex/AGENTS.md
  hooks: SessionStart (codebase-memory-mcp reminder)
VS Code:
  mcp: C:/Users/xxx/AppData/Roaming/Code/User/mcp.json
VS Code:
  mcp: C:/Users/xxx/AppData/Roaming/Code/User/profiles/builtin/mcp.json
Cursor:
  mcp: C:/Users/xxx/.cursor/mcp.json
PATH already includes C:/Users/xxx/.local/bin
Install complete. Restart your shell or run:
  source C:/Users/xxx/.profile
note: could not place install.ps1 in C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp (update will explain where to find it)
error: installed binary failed to run

Diagnostics trajectory (memory / performance / leak issues)

Project scale (if relevant)

No response

Confirmations

• I searched existing issues and this is not a duplicate.
• My reproduction uses shareable code (a dummy snippet or a public OSS repository), not proprietary code.

[AmirF194]

This doesn't reproduce against current main (0d6f26a, 2026-08-06). Checked the exact claim: cbm_cmd_install() in src/cli/cli.c does parse --dir=/--dir (src/cli/cli.c:9306-9317) and uses it to build bin_target (the --dir value flows into requested_bin_dir -> bin_dir -> bin_target), so install.ps1's --dir=%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\codebase-memory-mcp would land the binary exactly where the script later checks for it.

Confirmed this is a version gap, not a live bug: git show v0.9.0:src/cli/cli.c | grep -c '"--dir="' is 0 (the tag matching your reported version), the parsing was added 8 days later in 0e00ef57 ("feat: coordinate concurrent CBM sessions", 2026-07-16), and it's present in v0.9.1-rc.1 (2026-07-30) and every commit since.

The catch: gh release list shows v0.9.0 (2026-07-08) is still the Latest tag on the releases page, v0.9.1-rc.1 is marked pre-release. So anyone downloading via the normal release flow, exactly like this report, still gets the broken binary even though the fix has been sitting on main for three weeks. Might be worth cutting a stable release off current main (or promoting v0.9.1-rc.1) rather than a code fix here.