From 180d827553eae61b1560a09599445f18f6c1bbdf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Gaurav Manchanda <gauravmanchanda@Gauravs-MacBook-Pro.local>
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:28:02 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Improve Node.js version error message

---
 packages/cli/src/index.ts | 17 +++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
index 25ebe87..5d20d13 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
@@ -696,10 +696,19 @@ program
       checks.push({ name: 'node_version', status: 'pass', message: `v${nodeVersion}` });
       passed++;
     } else {
-      fmt.error(`Node.js: v${nodeVersion} — requires >= 18`, 'Download from nodejs.org');
-      checks.push({ name: 'node_version', status: 'fail', message: `v${nodeVersion} — requires >= 18` });
-      failed++;
-    }
+  fmt.error(
+`Node.js ${nodeVersion} detected — Cortex requires Node.js 18 or later.
+
+How to upgrade:
+
+macOS:   brew install node@22
+Linux:   curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
+Windows: Download from https://nodejs.org/en/download
+
+Current: ${nodeVersion}
+Required: >= 18.0.0`
+  );
+}
 
     // Check 8: Data directory
     const dataDir = path.join(os.homedir(), '.cortex');