[codex] Structure desktop update persistence errors

[juliusmarminge]

Summary

• add channel context to update-channel persistence and in-progress errors while retaining the exact settings-write cause chain
• keep user-facing persistence messages structural and independent of nested cause messages
• remove the valueless desktop settings error constructor wrapper and instantiate errors at each failure boundary
• use catchTags for the three exact Electron updater failure channels
• add focused coverage for requested-channel context, union predicates, stable messages, and cause identity

Validation

• vp test apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts apps/desktop/src/settings/DesktopAppSettings.test.ts
• vp check (0 errors; 20 pre-existing unrelated warnings)
• vp run typecheck

---

Note

Medium Risk
Touches desktop update actions, quit/install flow, and what users see on failure, but behavior is tightened with recovery paths and broad unit tests rather than new external surface area.

Overview
Restructures desktop auto-update error handling so user-visible state and logs use stable, structural messages instead of raw updater or disk failure text, while preserving full cause chains on typed errors for programmatic handling.

Update channel changes now fail with DesktopUpdateChannelPersistenceError (channel + DesktopSettingsWriteError cause), DesktopUpdateActionInProgressError includes the requested channel, and isDesktopUpdateSetChannelError guards the set-channel error union. Settings writes drop the writeError helper and construct DesktopSettingsWriteError at each I/O boundary.

Check, download, and install use Effect.catchTags for the three Electron updater failure types; unexpected defects during download/install map to DesktopUpdateUnexpectedActionError, with state rollback on interrupt and quitting/install flags reset when install setup fails. Background pollers and malformed updater events get dedicated tagged errors; raw error events become DesktopUpdaterReportedError with bounded log annotations (errorTag, channel, etc.).

Tests cover cause identity, secret-free messages, download retry after interrupt, and persistence failure wrapping.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 5c21085. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Structure desktop update persistence errors with bounded messages and typed error classes

• Introduces several new tagged error classes in DesktopUpdates.ts: DesktopUpdatePollerError, DesktopUpdateEventHandlingError, DesktopUpdaterReportedError, DesktopUpdateUnexpectedActionError, and DesktopUpdateChannelPersistenceError, replacing generic catch-all error handling.
• DesktopUpdateActionInProgressError now includes a requestedChannel field and a more specific message; setChannel maps persistence failures to DesktopUpdateChannelPersistenceError with channel and underlying cause.
• Error state and logs now use bounded messages with structured annotations (e.g. { errorTag, channel }) instead of raw cause strings, preventing secret leakage.
• Download and install actions now restore state on interruption or unexpected failure via Effect.onInterrupt and Effect.catchCause.
• Adds isDesktopUpdateSetChannelError type guard and extensive test coverage in DesktopUpdates.test.ts for error preservation, recovery, and channel persistence behavior.

^{Macroscope summarized 5c21085.}

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• Commit unit tests in branch codex/desktop-update-settings-errors

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved

Refactors desktop update error handling to use structured error classes with sanitized messages that don't leak sensitive information. Includes comprehensive test coverage. No behavioral changes beyond improved error presentation and proper interrupt handling.

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Dismissing prior approval to re-evaluate 12714d8

Dismissing prior approval to re-evaluate 22015b0

Dismissing prior approval to re-evaluate b4641b4

Dismissing prior approval to re-evaluate f5ca17c

[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes using high effort and found 1 potential issue.

Autofix Details

Bugbot Autofix prepared a fix for the issue found in the latest run.

• ✅ Fixed: Install failure leaves quitting stuck
  • Added Effect.onError after the ElectronUpdaterQuitAndInstallError catchTags to reset updateInstallInFlightRef and desktopState.quitting when backendManager.stop or electronWindow.destroyAll fail with a non-updater error tag, preventing the stuck state.

Or push these changes by commenting:

@cursor push 2a00aa7b08

Preview (2a00aa7b08)

diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts
--- a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts
@@ -435,6 +435,11 @@
           },
         ),
       }),
+      Effect.onError(() =>
+        Ref.set(updateInstallInFlightRef, false).pipe(
+          Effect.andThen(Ref.set(desktopState.quitting, false)),
+        ),
+      ),
     );
   }).pipe(Effect.withSpan("desktop.updates.installDownloadedUpdate"));

_{You can send follow-ups to the cloud agent here.}

Dismissing prior approval to re-evaluate 459f9d7

[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes using high effort and found 2 potential issues.

Bugbot Autofix prepared fixes for both issues found in the latest run.

• ✅ Fixed: Unexpected failures reject IPC promise
  • Replaced Effect.onError with Effect.catchCause in both download and install handlers so unexpected defects are caught and return { accepted: true, completed: false } instead of propagating the failure to the IPC promise.
• ✅ Fixed: Interrupt leaves downloading status stuck
  • The download catchCause handler now calls reduceDesktopUpdateStateOnDownloadFailure on interrupt-only causes, rolling back the status from 'downloading' to 'available' so the UI is not stuck.

Or push these changes by commenting:

@cursor push 3e0a9d307a

Preview (3e0a9d307a)

diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts
--- a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.test.ts
@@ -369,13 +369,13 @@
         harness.emit("update-available", { version: "1.2.4" });
         yield* flushCallbacks;
 
-        const exit = yield* Effect.exit(updates.download);
-        assert.equal(exit._tag, "Failure");
+        const result = yield* updates.download;
+        assert.equal(result.accepted, true);
+        assert.equal(result.completed, false);
 
-        const failedState = yield* updates.getState;
-        assert.equal(failedState.status, "available");
-        assert.equal(failedState.errorContext, "download");
-        assert.equal(failedState.message, "Desktop update download action failed unexpectedly.");
+        assert.equal(result.state.status, "available");
+        assert.equal(result.state.errorContext, "download");
+        assert.equal(result.state.message, "Desktop update download action failed unexpectedly.");
 
         const changedState = yield* updates.setChannel("nightly");
         assert.equal(changedState.channel, "nightly");
@@ -396,14 +396,14 @@
         harness.emit("update-downloaded", { version: "1.2.4" });
         yield* flushCallbacks;
 
-        const exit = yield* Effect.exit(updates.install);
-        assert.equal(exit._tag, "Failure");
+        const result = yield* updates.install;
+        assert.equal(result.accepted, true);
+        assert.equal(result.completed, false);
         assert.isFalse(yield* Ref.get(desktopState.quitting));
 
-        const failedState = yield* updates.getState;
-        assert.equal(failedState.status, "downloaded");
-        assert.equal(failedState.errorContext, "install");
-        assert.equal(failedState.message, "Desktop update install action failed unexpectedly.");
+        assert.equal(result.state.status, "downloaded");
+        assert.equal(result.state.errorContext, "install");
+        assert.equal(result.state.message, "Desktop update install action failed unexpectedly.");
 
         const changedState = yield* updates.setChannel("nightly");
         assert.equal(changedState.channel, "nightly");

diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts
--- a/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/updates/DesktopUpdates.ts
@@ -408,18 +408,22 @@
           },
         ),
       }),
-      Effect.onError((cause) => {
-        if (Cause.hasInterruptsOnly(cause)) {
-          return Effect.void;
-        }
-        const error = new DesktopUpdateUnexpectedActionError({ action: "download", cause });
-        return Effect.gen(function* () {
-          yield* updateState((current) =>
-            reduceDesktopUpdateStateOnDownloadFailure(current, error.message),
-          );
-          yield* logUpdaterError(error.message, { error });
-        });
-      }),
+      Effect.catchCause((cause) =>
+        Effect.gen(function* () {
+          if (Cause.hasInterruptsOnly(cause)) {
+            yield* updateState((current) =>
+              reduceDesktopUpdateStateOnDownloadFailure(current, "Download was interrupted."),
+            );
+          } else {
+            const error = new DesktopUpdateUnexpectedActionError({ action: "download", cause });
+            yield* updateState((current) =>
+              reduceDesktopUpdateStateOnDownloadFailure(current, error.message),
+            );
+            yield* logUpdaterError(error.message, { error });
+          }
+          return { accepted: true, completed: false };
+        }),
+      ),
       Effect.ensuring(Ref.set(updateDownloadInFlightRef, false)),
     );
   }).pipe(Effect.withSpan("desktop.updates.downloadAvailableUpdate"));
@@ -459,18 +463,18 @@
           },
         ),
       }),
-      Effect.onError((cause) =>
+      Effect.catchCause((cause) =>
         Effect.gen(function* () {
           yield* Ref.set(updateInstallInFlightRef, false);
           yield* Ref.set(desktopState.quitting, false);
-          if (Cause.hasInterruptsOnly(cause)) {
-            return;
+          if (!Cause.hasInterruptsOnly(cause)) {
+            const error = new DesktopUpdateUnexpectedActionError({ action: "install", cause });
+            yield* updateState((current) =>
+              reduceDesktopUpdateStateOnInstallFailure(current, error.message),
+            );
+            yield* logUpdaterError(error.message, { error });
           }
-          const error = new DesktopUpdateUnexpectedActionError({ action: "install", cause });
-          yield* updateState((current) =>
-            reduceDesktopUpdateStateOnInstallFailure(current, error.message),
-          );
-          yield* logUpdaterError(error.message, { error });
+          return { accepted: true, completed: false };
         }),
       ),
     );

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