[KrunchMuffin]

Problem

On Windows, the browse tool pops console windows during normal use (issue #1952). #1979 fixes one source — the watchdog's tasklist call flashing a conhost.exe window every 60s. This PR addresses the other three sources, which complement that fix.

Sources fixed

Window	Cause	Fix
chrome-headless-shell.exe (every browse action)	The default headless path launches the console-subsystem headless shell, which pops a window on Windows.	Force Chrome's --headless=new on Windows → full chrome.exe (GUI-subsystem, no console window). Other platforms keep the lighter shell.
node daemon (Windows detached spawn)	detached: true on Windows creates a console window unless windowsHide is set.	windowsHide: true on the launcher + the detached server spawn.
bun terminal-agent	Spawned via Bun.spawn, whose windowsHide does not reliably suppress the window on Windows.	Spawn via Node's child_process.spawn with windowsHide: true (reliable), same unref'd lifecycle.

Changes

• browse/src/browser-manager.ts — --headless=new on Windows in launch().
• browse/src/cli.ts — windowsHide on the Windows daemon spawn.
• browse/src/terminal-agent-control.ts — Node spawn + windowsHide for the terminal-agent.

Source-only; browse/dist is gitignored.

Verification (Windows 11)

• Process list shows chrome.exe ... --headless=new, no chrome-headless-shell.exe.
• Screenshots render correctly under new-headless.
• Single daemon, no stray bun/conhost windows during normal browsing.

Notes

• Complements fix(browse): stop isProcessAlive from flashing a Windows console every watchdog tick #1979 (no overlap — that PR handles error-handling.ts's tasklist; this one touches the three above).
• The Bun.spawn → node:child_process swap for the terminal-agent is the same lesson fix(browse): stop isProcessAlive from flashing a Windows console every watchdog tick #1979 applied: don't rely on Bun's Windows console handling.

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[jbetala7]

Cross-link: #1983 ("fix browse lifecycle on Windows") independently makes the same two browse/src/cli.ts edits this PR does (lines 326 and 328 on current main) — windowsHide: true on the detached Node daemon spawn and on the Bun.spawnSync(['node', '-e', launcherCode], ...) launcher. Both stem from #1952, so whichever merges first, the other needs a rebase on those exact lines.

This PR is the more focused console-flash fix — it also adds --headless=new and the terminal-agent-control.ts agent-spawn windowsHide that #1983 doesn't touch — while #1983 additionally reworks the status/stop lifecycle and adds a /status endpoint. Flagging the shared spawn edits so the duplicate doesn't get merged twice.

[time-attack]

@16francej Please close this because it combines duplicate launcher edits with untested browser-mode and terminal-agent changes; focused rewrites cover the useful parts.

[capy-ai]

Thanks for chasing the console flashes. Superseded: main now sets windowsHide on every spawn (enforced by a sweep test), patches Playwright's spawn, and forwards windowsHide/detached through the Bun polyfill. Closing.