CherryHQ/cherry-studio · critical · Error

Missing prebuilt packages for ${platform}-${arch}: ${missing

Error message

Missing prebuilt packages for ${platform}-${arch}: ${missingPackages.join(', ')}
Run `rm -rf node_modules && pnpm install` — pnpm only reads supportedArchitectures on a fresh install, so plain `pnpm install` (even --force) will not fix it.

What it means

Thrown by scripts/before-pack.js during electron-builder packaging when one or more native prebuilt packages required for the target platform/arch are not present in node_modules. Cross-arch prebuilts are pulled in via supportedArchitectures in pnpm-workspace.yaml, but pnpm only honors that setting on a fresh install — once node_modules exists it ignores changes. Shipping without them would crash at runtime on native module load, so the build stops here.

Source

Thrown at scripts/before-pack.js:100

// Most native packages encode Electron's platform key (win32) in their name, but some
// (e.g. sqlite-vec) use the npm `windows` convention. Match either so a win32 build keeps
// sqlite-vec-windows-x64 instead of wrongly excluding it.
const keepPackages = (platform, arch) => {
  const platformTokens = platform === 'win32' ? ['win32', 'windows'] : [platform]
  return packages.filter((p) => p.includes(arch) && platformTokens.some((t) => p.includes(t)))
}

// Cross-arch prebuilt packages come from supportedArchitectures in pnpm-workspace.yaml —
// pnpm ignores that setting once node_modules exists, so it can't be flipped per pack pass.
// Anything kept for this arch but never installed is a native module the app would fail to
// load at runtime, so stop here instead of shipping it. musl builds are excluded: pnpm
// installs them only on a musl host, and releases are built on glibc.
const assertPrebuiltPackages = (platform, arch) => {
  const missingPackages = keepPackages(platform, arch)
    .filter((p) => !p.includes('musl'))
    .filter((p) => !fs.existsSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', 'node_modules', p)))
  if (missingPackages.length > 0) {
    throw new Error(
      `Missing prebuilt packages for ${platform}-${arch}: ${missingPackages.join(', ')}\n` +
        `Run \`rm -rf node_modules && pnpm install\` — pnpm only reads supportedArchitectures ` +
        `on a fresh install, so plain \`pnpm install\` (even --force) will not fix it.`
    )
  }
}
exports.assertPrebuiltPackages = assertPrebuiltPackages

exports.default = async function (context) {
  const arch = context.arch === Arch.arm64 ? 'arm64' : 'x64'
  const platformName = context.packager.platform.name
  const platform = platformToArch[platformName]

  assertPrebuiltPackages(platform, arch)

  if (platform === 'linux') {
    const linuxArch = context.arch === Arch.arm64 ? 'arm64' : context.arch === Arch.x64 ? 'x64' : null
    if (!linuxArch) throw new Error(`Unsupported Linux packaging architecture: ${context.arch}`)

View on GitHub (pinned to 726446b54c)

Solutions

Wipe and reinstall so pnpm re-reads supportedArchitectures: rm -rf node_modules && pnpm install. (The error message calls this out — plain pnpm install or pnpm install --force will NOT fix it.)
Confirm the target platform/arch combinations are listed in supportedArchitectures inside pnpm-workspace.yaml.
If you added a new native package, add its platform/arch variants to both the packages array in before-pack.js and supportedArchitectures in pnpm-workspace.yaml.
In CI, do not share/restamp a single node_modules cache across arch matrix entries — key the cache by arch.

Example fix

# before (fails)
pnpm install --force # pnpm ignores supportedArchitectures on existing node_modules

# after
rm -rf node_modules && pnpm install

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Pre-build check: ensure every required native package is installed for this arch
const fs = require('fs')
const path = require('path')
const { keepPackages } = require('./scripts/before-pack')
// keepPackages is not exported; replicate the filter or export it for reuse
const missing = require('./scripts/before-pack').assertPrebuiltPackages
// Simpler: run the assert before electron-builder in CI
// node -e "require('./scripts/before-pack').assertPrebuiltPackages('linux','arm64')"

Prevention

Always run rm -rf node_modules && pnpm install when switching arch targets — pnpm ignores supportedArchitectures on existing node_modules.
Key CI node_modules caches by target arch, not shared across arches.
When adding a native dependency, add it to both before-pack.js packages list and pnpm-workspace.yaml supportedArchitectures.

When it happens

Trigger: Building for an arch you have not freshly installed for (e.g. node_modules installed on an x64 host, then building a win32-arm64 or linux-arm64 target). Also when supportedArchitectures in pnpm-workspace.yaml was edited but pnpm install was run incrementally instead of cleanly, or when a new native package was added to the packages list but not to supportedArchitectures.

Common situations: CI cached node_modules from a prior arch build; a developer toggling arch targets without wiping node_modules; adding a new native dependency (e.g. a new @img/sharp-* variant) and forgetting to declare it in supportedArchitectures; switching between glibc and musl targets.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of CherryHQ/cherry-studio@726446b54c (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5db845cf27f3361e. Report an issue: GitHub.