[eric] electron+e2e: close the init-script race - main reads OPENSWARM_E2E env on startup and appends an --openswarm-e2e chromium switch, preload reads the switch BEFORE any page script parses and contextBridge-exposes __OPENSWARM_E2E__=true so the production store-on-window gate fires deterministically rather than racing addInitScript against bundle parse

e2e/helpers/launch.ts

@@ -79,12 +79,17 @@ export function hasAnyProviderKey(): boolean {
 
 export async function launchApp(): Promise<ElectronApplication> {
   seedTestUserIfClean();
-  const app = await electron.launch({ executablePath: packagedAppPath(), args: [] });
-  // The frontend bundle gates `__OPENSWARM_STORE__` exposure on
-  // `__OPENSWARM_E2E__` being truthy at module-load time. Adding an init
-  // script BEFORE the main page navigates guarantees the flag is set before
-  // bundle.js parses, so specs that read the Redux store directly work
-  // against the production build.
+  // OPENSWARM_E2E=1 is read by electron/main.js BEFORE the renderer launches; it
+  // appends a Chromium switch the preload reads to set window.__OPENSWARM_E2E__
+  // before bundle.js parses, so the production store-on-window gate fires
+  // deterministically (no addInitScript race).
+  const app = await electron.launch({
+    executablePath: packagedAppPath(),
+    args: [],
+    env: { ...process.env, OPENSWARM_E2E: '1' },
+  });
+  // Belt-and-braces: addInitScript ALSO sets the flag in case a future Electron
+  // changes the cmdline propagation. If either path works, the spec succeeds.
   try { await app.context().addInitScript({ content: '(window).__OPENSWARM_E2E__ = true;' }); } catch { /* best effort */ }
   return app;
 }

electron/main.js

@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 const { app, components, BrowserWindow, ipcMain, shell, session, dialog, crashReporter } = require('electron');
 
+// E2E flag: when OPENSWARM_E2E=1, append a Chromium command-line switch the
+// renderer reads at startup to set window.__OPENSWARM_E2E__ = true BEFORE any
+// page script parses, so the production-build store-on-window gate fires
+// deterministically. Normal user launches never set the env var so this is a
+// no-op for them; only Playwright's electron.launch({env}) flips it on.
+if (process.env.OPENSWARM_E2E === '1') {
+  try { app.commandLine.appendSwitch('openswarm-e2e', '1'); } catch {}
+}
+
 // Local-only crash reporter. Captures native renderer crashes that escape JS-level error handlers and don't otherwise surface in Crashpad. uploadToServer=false keeps minidumps on disk under %APPDATA%/OpenSwarm/Crashpad so we can inspect them post-mortem without sending anywhere.
 try {
   crashReporter.start({

electron/preload.js

@@ -3,6 +3,17 @@ const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require('electron');
 // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
 console.log('[diag][preload] start, ua=', navigator.userAgent);
 
+// E2E gate: set the renderer flag BEFORE any page script parses so the
+// production-build store-on-window expose fires deterministically when
+// Playwright launches with OPENSWARM_E2E=1. Read from the Chromium switch
+// the main process appended; no-op for normal user launches.
+try {
+  const args = (typeof process !== 'undefined' && process.argv) ? process.argv : [];
+  if (args.some((a) => /--openswarm-e2e(=1)?$/.test(a))) {
+    contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('__OPENSWARM_E2E__', true);
+  }
+} catch (e) { console.log('[diag][preload] e2e-flag setup failed:', e && e.message); }
+
 // Synchronous exposure. The previous async IIFE (await ipcRenderer.invoke) raced React mount: any code reading window.openswarm during the gap (BrowserCard's Electron-detection falling back to iframe mode, AgentChat's auth-token call throwing) saw undefined. sendSync blocks the renderer for one IPC round-trip during preload before any user-visible paint, so window.openswarm is guaranteed to exist before the first frontend bundle evaluates.
 const port = ipcRenderer.sendSync('get-backend-port-sync');
 const webviewPreloadPath = ipcRenderer.sendSync('get-webview-preload-path-sync');