[Bug] Running from source fails with ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND until npm run build

[chouste]

Running from a source checkout as documented fails on a clean clone: the launcher exits with ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND because the workspace packages have no dist/ yet. Both the quickstart and the development guide stop at npm ci, and neither mentions npm run build.

Environment

• macOS 26.6 (arm64), Node.js v24.14.0, npm 11.9.0
• prime-agent 0.7.3, commit f8f0036 (main)
• Clean git clone --depth 1, no prior install, no global prime-agent on PATH

Steps to reproduce

git clone https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent
cd prime-agent
npm ci
./prime-agent.sh --version

Expected

The launcher starts, per quickstart.md ("To run a source checkout instead, use Node.js 22.8.0 or newer: npm ci / ./prime-agent.sh") and development.md, which both end the setup at npm ci.

Actual

Error: Cannot find package '<repo>/node_modules/@earendil-works/pi-agent-core/dist/index.js'
  imported from <repo>/packages/coding-agent/src/core/agent-session.ts
    at legacyMainResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:205:26)
  code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'

Root cause

prime-agent.sh defaults to running packages/coding-agent/src/cli.ts through tsx, so no build seems necessary. But the coding agent imports its siblings by bare specifier, and npm ci only symlinks those workspaces into node_modules/@earendil-works/. Resolution then goes through each sibling's manifest:

• packages/agent/package.json → "main": "./dist/index.js"
• packages/ai/package.json → "exports": { ".": { "import": "./dist/index.js" } }

dist/ does not exist until npm run build runs, so the bare-specifier import fails even though the entry point itself is TypeScript source. The --dist path already checks for a missing bundle and prints "Run npm run build first", but the default tsx path needs the build too and gives no such hint.

Suggested fix

Add the build step to both setup blocks:

npm ci
npm run build
./prime-agent.sh

Optionally, have the default path in prime-agent.sh check for a sibling dist/ and print the same actionable message the --dist branch already has, instead of surfacing a raw Node resolution stack.

Happy to open a PR for the two doc pages if that would be useful, following the vouching process in CONTRIBUTING.md.

[YashvantHange]

Windows data point on current main (8c749fb), Git Bash, after a local npm ci with no packages/*/dist present.

Node v20.16.0 (system): ./prime-agent.sh --version never reaches module resolution. It exits on the Node guard:

prime-agent requires Node 22.8.0 or newer, but the active Node is v20.16.0.

Node v22.23.2: same tree, still no dist/. ./prime-agent.sh --version printed 0.7.4 (exit 0). I did not hit ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND for @earendil-works/pi-agent-core/dist/index.js.

So the missing-dist failure from this report does not reproduce here on current main with Node 22, even though sibling package.json entries still point at ./dist. Happy to re-run a fuller command if a specific invocation still fails on macOS.