Windows: claudemem auto-reindex spawns visible cmd.exe window on every file edit

[mann1x]

Bug

On Windows, the code-analysis plugin's handleAutoReindex in hooks/handler.ts spawns a visible cmd.exe console window every time a code file is written or edited. The window flashes in the foreground showing "Indexing C:\Users...\project..." and steals focus.

Root cause

claudemem is installed globally via npm, which creates a .cmd batch file wrapper (%APPDATA%\Roaming\npm\claudemem.cmd). On Windows, .cmd/.bat files always open a visible cmd.exe console window — Node's windowsHide: true flag is ignored because it only applies to .exe binaries.

This affects two call sites in hooks/handler.ts:

1. handleAutoReindex (background spawn) — the most visible, fires on every Write/Edit of a code file:

   const child = spawn("claudemem", ["index", "--quiet"], {
     cwd: input.cwd,
     detached: true,
     stdio: "ignore",
     windowsHide: true,  // ← has no effect on .cmd files
   });

2. runCommand (sync calls) — used for claudemem status and claudemem --version on SessionStart:

   const result = spawnSync(cmd, args, {
     cwd,
     encoding: "utf-8",
     timeout: 10000,
     windowsHide: true,  // ← same issue
   });

Suggested fix

On Windows, resolve claudemem to bun.exe + the actual JS entry point directly, bypassing the .cmd wrapper. The .cmd file itself reveals the path:

"%_prog%" "%dp0%\node_modules\mnemex\dist\index.js" %*

For the background spawn:

const claudememJs = join(
  process.env.APPDATA || "",
  "npm", "node_modules", "mnemex", "dist", "index.js"
);
const bunExe = existsSync(join(process.env.USERPROFILE || "", ".bun", "bin", "bun.exe"))
  ? join(process.env.USERPROFILE || "", ".bun", "bin", "bun.exe")
  : "bun";
const cmd = existsSync(claudememJs) ? bunExe : "claudemem";
const args = existsSync(claudememJs)
  ? [claudememJs, "index", "--quiet"]
  : ["index", "--quiet"];

const child = spawn(cmd, args, {
  cwd: input.cwd,
  detached: true,
  stdio: "ignore",
  windowsHide: true,  // now works because bun.exe is a real .exe
});

Same pattern for runCommand — detect Windows + claudemem command and redirect to bun + JS entry point.

Environment

• Windows 11, Claude Code CLI
• code-analysis plugin v3.2.2
• mnemex installed globally via npm install -g mnemex
• bun available at C:\Users\<user>\.bun\bin\bun.exe

Notes

This is a general Windows gotcha for any npm-installed CLI tool invoked via spawn/spawnSync — the .cmd wrapper will always flash a window. The same pattern applies to any future tools the plugin might spawn.