Description

Description

After running `npm install` from a fresh git clone of NemoClaw on a Linux host without sudo or a user-writable global npm prefix configured, npm install reports "success" but the `nemoclaw` command is not actually available on PATH. Root cause: the `prepare` script in package.json calls `npm link` with both stderr and exit code suppressed (`2>/dev/null || true`), so any link failure is hidden from the user. The user only discovers it when they run `nemoclaw onboard` and get "No such file or directory".

The curl|bash installer handles this case gracefully by falling back to a user-local shim at `~/.local/bin/nemoclaw`. The dev install path should match that behavior, or at minimum surface the link failure clearly.

Device:        Ubuntu host (2u1g-b650-0082)
OS:            Ubuntu (version not captured)
Architecture:  x86_64
Node.js:       v22.22.2
npm:           10.9.7
Docker:        not captured
OpenShell CLI: 0.0.36
NemoClaw:      v0.0.26 (git tag, commit 5653d33a)
OpenClaw:      N/A (onboard not reached due to missing CLI)

1. On a fresh Linux host without a writable global npm prefix and without sudo configured for npm:
   git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw.git
2. cd NemoClaw && git checkout v0.0.26
3. npm install
   (npm reports success, all packages installed, no errors visible)
4. cd nemoclaw && npm install && npm run build && cd ..
   (also reports success)
5. nemoclaw onboard

Either:
(a) `npm install` fails clearly with a permission error stating `npm link` could not write to the global prefix, with a hint about fixing it (use sudo, or set `npm config set prefix ~/.npm-global`); OR
(b) `npm install` succeeds and `nemoclaw` is a working command — e.g. via fallback to user-local shim like `~/.local/bin/nemoclaw`, matching the behavior of the curl|bash installer ("Created user-local shim at /home/.../.local/bin/nemoclaw").

Steps 3 and 4 both report success with no warnings. Step 5 fails:

  $ nemoclaw onboard
  bash: /localhome/local-glennz/.local/bin/nemoclaw: No such file or directory

After clearing bash's hash cache (`hash -r`), `which nemoclaw` returns nothing — the dev install never actually created any `nemoclaw` command, despite npm install reporting success.

Workaround: manually run `npm link` (with sudo if a writable prefix isn't configured) inside the NemoClaw repo after `npm install`.

$ npm install

> nemoclaw@0.1.0 prepare
> if command -v tsc >/dev/null 2>&1 || [ -x node_modules/.bin/tsc ]; then npm run build:cli; fi && (npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts 2>/dev/null || true) && if [ -d .git ]; then if [ -z "${NEMOCLAW_INSTALLING:-}" ]; then NEMOCLAW_INSTALLING=1 npm link 2>/dev/null || true; fi; ... fi

> nemoclaw@0.1.0 build:cli
> tsc -p tsconfig.src.json && tsc -p nemoclaw-blueprint/tsconfig.json

up to date, audited 7 packages in 267ms
...
added 294 packages, and audited 295 packages in 4s

(no errors; npm install reports success)

$ nemoclaw onboard
bash: /localhome/local-glennz/.local/bin/nemoclaw: No such file or directory

Offending pattern in the prepare script:
  NEMOCLAW_INSTALLING=1 npm link 2>/dev/null || true

Both stderr (`2>/dev/null`) and exit code (`|| true`) are suppressed, hiding any link failure from the user.

Pick one of:

(a) Remove `2>/dev/null` and `|| true` from the prepare script's `npm link` call so errors propagate to the user. Add a clear hint about common fixes (sudo, npm prefix).

(b) Match the curl|bash installer behavior — when `npm link` fails, fall back to a user-local shim:
    NEMOCLAW_INSTALLING=1 npm link 2>/tmp/nemoclaw-link.log
    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
      mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
      ln -sf "$PWD/bin/nemoclaw" "$HOME/.local/bin/nemoclaw"
      echo "[INFO] Created user-local shim at $HOME/.local/bin/nemoclaw"
    fi

(c) At minimum, after `npm install` completes, print a verification line:
      "Verified: nemoclaw is available at 

Bug Details

[NVB#6116097]