Daemon uninstallation requires sudo privileges. Please run…

Error message

Daemon uninstallation requires sudo privileges. Please run with sudo.

What it means

The happy CLI daemon uninstall flow only supports macOS and refuses to remove system-level daemon files without root. Uninstalling deletes launchd plists and daemon binaries owned by root, so the process verifies the effective UID is 0 before proceeding. If getuid() returns a non-zero value, uninstall() throws immediately before touching the filesystem.

Solutions

Re-run the command with sudo: `sudo happy daemon uninstall`
Verify with `whoami`/`id -u` that the process actually runs as root inside the elevated context
If sudo is unavailable, manually remove the launchd plist (~/Library/LaunchAgents or /Library/LaunchDaemons) and daemon binary after unloading it with launchctl

Example fix

// before
await uninstall();
// after
import { execSync } from 'child_process';
if (execSync('id -u').toString().trim() !== '0') {
  execSync('sudo happy daemon uninstall', { stdio: 'inherit' });
} else {
  await uninstall();
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (process.getuid && process.getuid() !== 0) {
  throw new Error('Run with sudo: `sudo happy daemon uninstall`');
}

Type guard

const isRoot = (): boolean => typeof process.getuid === 'function' && process.getuid() === 0;

Prevention

Check `process.getuid() === 0` before invoking any daemon install/uninstall API
Document sudo requirement in scripts and wrappers
Use `sudo -E` when environment variables must survive elevation

When it happens

Trigger: Calling uninstall() from packages/happy-cli/src/daemon/uninstall.ts without sudo — i.e. process.getuid() exists and returns a value !== 0.

Common situations: A developer runs `happy daemon uninstall` (or equivalent API call) in a regular terminal without elevation on macOS; often after installing the daemon originally with sudo, so removal needs the same privileges.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of slopus/happy@b824cd0a46 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a76b07be25a1371c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/happy-cli/src/daemon/uninstall.ts:10

import { logger } from '@/ui/logger';
import { uninstall as uninstallMac } from './mac/uninstall';

export async function uninstall(): Promise<void> {
    if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
        throw new Error('Daemon uninstallation is currently only supported on macOS');
    }
    
    if (process.getuid && process.getuid() !== 0) {
        throw new Error('Daemon uninstallation requires sudo privileges. Please run with sudo.');
    }
    
    logger.info('Uninstalling Happy CLI daemon for macOS...');
    await uninstallMac();
}

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