stablyai/orca · error · Error

node-pty ConPTY runtime file is missing: ${runtimeFile}

Error message

node-pty ConPTY runtime file is missing: ${runtimeFile}

What it means

Thrown by assertNodePtyWindowsConptyRuntime inside the Electron native-module probe (probeElectronNativeModules) on win32 when node-pty's build/Release/conpty directory is missing one of the expected ConPTY runtime files. This is the probe-time counterpart to the restore step (errors 169/170): it verifies that the DLLs the restore step copies are actually present at load time. If the restore was skipped or its files were removed, loading node-pty under Electron on Windows will fail at first ConPTY use.

Source

Thrown at config/scripts/rebuild-native-deps.mjs:506

  projectRequire(moduleName)
}

function assertNodePtyWindowsConptyRuntime(nativeDir) {
  if (process.platform !== 'win32' || !isNodePtyReleaseBuildDir(nativeDir)) {
    return
  }
  const runtimeDir = resolve(
    process.cwd(),
    'node_modules',
    'node-pty',
    'build',
    'Release',
    'conpty'
  )
  for (const filename of ${JSON.stringify(NODE_PTY_CONPTY_RUNTIME_FILES)}) {
    const runtimeFile = resolve(runtimeDir, filename)
    if (!existsSync(runtimeFile)) {
      throw new Error('node-pty ConPTY runtime file is missing: ' + runtimeFile)
    }
  }
}

function isNodePtyReleaseBuildDir(nativeDir) {
  return typeof nativeDir === 'string' && nativeDir.replace(/\\\\/g, '/').includes('build/Release/')
}

function getNodePtyNativeModuleName() {
  if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
    return 'pty'
  }
  const match = /(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)/g.exec(release())
  const buildNumber = match && match.length === 4 ? Number.parseInt(match[3], 10) : 0
  return buildNumber >= 18309 ? 'conpty' : 'pty'
}

function formatError(error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

1. Rerun rebuild-native-deps.mjs so the ConPTY restore step (errors 169/170's function) copies the DLLs into build/Release/conpty.
2. Confirm node-pty's build/Release/conpty.node exists before the restore runs (the restore returns early otherwise).
3. Reinstall node-pty to repopulate the third_party/conpty source payload, then rerun the rebuild.

Example fix

// before
# build/Release/conpty exists but is missing a DLL
node config/scripts/rebuild-native-deps.mjs --platform win32
# -> node-pty ConPTY runtime file is missing: ...

// after
rm -rf node_modules/node-pty && npm install
node config/scripts/rebuild-native-deps.mjs --platform win32

import { existsSync, readdirSync } from 'node:fs'
import { join } from 'node:path'

if (process.platform === 'win32') {
  const runtimeDir = join('node_modules', 'node-pty', 'build', 'Release', 'conpty')
  const files = existsSync(runtimeDir) ? readdirSync(runtimeDir) : []
  if (files.length === 0) {
    throw new Error('ConPTY runtime dir empty; rerun rebuild-native-deps.mjs --platform win32')
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: On win32, after a rebuild where the ConPTY DLL-restore step did not run (e.g. node-pty was rebuilt via @electron/rebuild but the post-restore in errors 169/170's function was bypassed) or where build/Release/conpty was later deleted. The loop over NODE_PTY_CONPTY_RUNTIME_FILES at lines 502-506 throws on the first missing file.

Common situations: The restore step returned early (conpty.node did not exist at restore time), a clean/strip step removed build/Release/conpty after the restore, or a partial install left only some DLLs. This fires when node-pty is probed under Electron on Windows without the runtime DLLs in place.

Related errors

• node-pty has no ConPTY runtime payload for win10-${rebuildAr
• node-pty is missing ${sourceFile}
• node-pty resolved to ${native.dir}; expected build/Release s
• Unsupported packaged node-pty Windows architecture: ${archit
• Packaged node-pty is missing ${conptyRoot}

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c6176e914d9ddda4. Report an issue: GitHub.