Windows: spawned Node.js processes create visible console windows (fix: windowsHide: true) #459

Summary

On Windows, every spawned sub-process (watcher, Claude CLI child, zeroshot task run) creates a visible cmd.exe or Node.js console window that appears on the user's desktop and taskbar. These windows flash or persist while agents are running, making the tool unusable in a desktop environment.

Root cause

Node.js spawn() and fork() on Windows default to creating a new console window for each child process. This can be suppressed by passing windowsHide: true in the spawn options — but none of the four spawn/fork call sites in zeroshot do this.

Affected files and call sites

Fix

Add windowsHide: true to the options object in each of the four call sites above.

task-lib/runner.js — spawnWatcher():

const watcher = fork(
  watcherScript,
  [id, cwd, logFile, JSON.stringify(finalArgs), JSON.stringify(watcherConfig)],
  {
    detached: true,
    stdio: 'ignore',
    windowsHide: true,  // add this
  }
);

task-lib/watcher.js — main child spawn:

const child = spawn(spawnCmd, spawnFinalArgs, {
  cwd,
  env,
  stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
  windowsHide: true,  // add this
});

src/agent/agent-task-executor.js — spawnTaskProcess():

const proc = spawn(spawnCmd, spawnArgs, {
  cwd,
  stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
  env: spawnEnv,
  windowsHide: true,  // add this
});

src/claude-task-runner.js — _spawnAndGetTaskId():

const proc = spawn(spawnCmd, spawnArgs, {
  cwd,
  stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
  env: spawnEnv,
  windowsHide: true,  // add this
});

Environment

• Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200
• Node.js (npm global install)
• @covibes/zeroshot latest

Additional context

This is part of a broader set of Windows compatibility issues. Related: #457 (spawn ENOENT on Windows for npm global commands).

windowsHide is a no-op on non-Windows platforms, so this change is safe to apply unconditionally.