Make install.ps1 work on standard Windows (no admin): junctions + copy, stop deleting the clone#23
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plohkoon wants to merge 2 commits into
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Make install.ps1 work on standard Windows (no admin): junctions + copy, stop deleting the clone#23plohkoon wants to merge 2 commits into
plohkoon wants to merge 2 commits into
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The documented Windows flow clones the repo straight into its final location ($HOME\.claude\skills\ghostai) and then runs install.ps1. When the installer links the repo, the repo-link's Source and Target are the same path. New-GhostLink only skipped removal when the target was already a symlink, so against the real cloned directory it fell through to Remove-Item -Recurse -Force and deleted the checkout — then tried to symlink to the now-missing source. install.sh never hit this because it compares the resolved real paths of source and target. Fixes: - Self-path guard: if the target resolves to the same real path as the source, return without touching it (matches install.sh's behavior and preserves the freshly cloned repo). - Symlink-safe removal: delete a reparse point non-recursively. Remove-Item -Recurse on a directory symlink in Windows PowerShell 5.1 follows the link and deletes the target's contents, so re-running install (or update.ps1's re-link) could have wiped the real shared/ directory. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Symbolic links on Windows require admin rights or Developer Mode, so the symlink-based installer failed for ordinary users. Switch to mechanisms that work for a standard user: - Directories (the repo link, shared/, specialists/, agents/) -> directory junctions (New-Item -ItemType Junction). Junctions are reparse points that need no elevation and are transparent to file reads. - SKILL.md -> a copy. Junctions can't target files; a hard link would go stale when git replaces the file on update. update.ps1 re-runs install.ps1, which re-copies SKILL.md, so it stays current. The resulting skill directories are equivalent to the POSIX (symlink) layout: each holds SKILL.md plus shared/ (and specialists/ and agents/ where present), so skill discovery and shared/ resolution work the same. Also drops the up-front symlink-capability gate and the Developer Mode/admin error path (no longer relevant), keeps the self-path guard and the non-recursive reparse-point deletion (which now also cleans up symlinks left by the earlier symlink-based install), and updates the README Windows section and troubleshooting to state no admin/Developer Mode is required. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Makes
install.ps1actually work on a standard Windows account. Two commits:1. Stop deleting the cloned repo
The documented flow clones into the final location and then runs the installer, so the
ghostairepo link's Source and Target are the same path ($HOME\.claude\skills\ghostai).New-GhostLinkonly skipped removal when the target was already a symlink — against the freshly cloned real directory it fell through toRemove-Item -Recurse -Forceand deleted the checkout, then tried to link to the now-missing source.install.shavoids this by comparing resolved real paths; this adds the same self-path guard. Also makes reparse-point removal non-recursive so re-running the installer can't follow a directory link and wipe the real repo (aRemove-Item -Recursefootgun in Windows PowerShell 5.1).2. Use junctions + copy instead of symlinks (no admin / Developer Mode)
This is what the original PR got wrong: symbolic links on Windows require admin rights or Developer Mode, so installs failed for ordinary users on the symlink step. Switched to privilege-free mechanisms:
shared/,specialists/,agents/) → directory junctions (New-Item -ItemType Junction). No elevation, transparent to file reads.SKILL.md→ copy. Junctions can't target a file, and a hard link would go stale whengit pullreplaces the file on update.update.ps1re-runsinstall.ps1, which re-copiesSKILL.md, so it stays current.The resulting skill directories are equivalent to the POSIX symlink layout — each has
SKILL.md+shared/(+specialists//agents/where present) — so skill discovery andshared/resolution behave the same. Dropped the symlink-capability preflight and the Developer-Mode/admin error path; README Windows section + troubleshooting updated to say no admin/Developer Mode is needed (just possibly an execution-policy bypass).Traced flows
update.ps1Caveats
update.ps1, as a non-admin user) is the right gate.git clonebefore installing again.🤖 Generated with Claude Code