[eric-engberg]

What

Launching the TUI with npx -y ccstatusline@latest next to a pinned global install no longer takes npx's cached copy for the active ccstatusline. Install Complete and Manage Installation now report the real global install and its package manager, with no false "Multiple ccstatusline binaries are on PATH" warning. The pinned-version guard fires again when the npx-launched TUI is newer than the pinned install.

Why (evidence)

The README's route to a pinned install is to launch the TUI through npx -y ccstatusline@latest. While npx runs it, npm prepends the bin dir of its cached copy to PATH: libnpmexec installs into resolve(npxCache, hash) (npxCache = join(cache, '_npx'), hash = first 16 hex characters of a sha512 of the package spec) and passes <installDir>/node_modules/.bin as the first entry to @npmcli/run-script's setPATH (checked against npm 11.19.1). So which -a ccstatusline / where ccstatusline lists ~/.npm/_npx/<hash>/node_modules/.bin/ccstatusline (Windows: %LocalAppData%\npm-cache\_npx\<hash>\node_modules\.bin\ccstatusline.cmd/.ps1) ahead of the global install.

getPersistentCommandResolutionPaths already dropped bunx's temporary bunx-*ccstatusline@* copy, but not npx's, so resolvedPaths[0] was the npx copy. Reproduced with a fake npx cache bin first on PATH and an npm global prefix after it:

• inspectActiveGlobalCommand returned packageManager: 'unknown', version: null and "⚠ Multiple ccstatusline binaries are on PATH. Claude Code will run the first match: …/_npx/9f3c1e2a7b6d4c80/node_modules/.bin/ccstatusline". Claude Code never runs that copy; it only exists on the PATH npx hands the TUI.
• inspectGlobalCommandResolution (Install Complete) gave the same warning.
• Since the manager came back unknown, getPinnedVersionMismatch returned null, so a newer TUI launched through npx opened the Main Menu and saved settings the older pinned install may not support.

How

isTransientStatusLinePath (was isTransientBunxStatusLinePath) in src/utils/global-command-resolution.ts checks a list of patterns: the existing bunx one, plus _npx/<hash>/node_modules/.bin/ccstatusline, optionally with .cmd/.ps1, either path separator, case-insensitive. Only the part before _npx depends on where the npm cache lives (npm_config_cache), so a custom cache matches too. All three consumers (Install Complete's warning, Manage Installation, the pinned-version guard) go through this filter, so nothing else changes.

Other one-off runners (npm 6's npx, pnpm dlx, yarn dlx) use different temp layouts and aren't in the README, so they're left as they are.

Demo

which -a ccstatusline lists npx's cached copy first, then a pinned npm global install, and then the TUI launches. Fake bins and a stub npm (answering prefix -g/root -g) in a scratch HOME.

Manage Installation: before, it takes the npx copy for the active binary, with no manager or version and a false "Multiple binaries" warning. After, it shows the npm global install.

Powerline

Before:

After:

Plain

Before:

After:

Pinned v2.2.30, TUI v2.2.32: before, the TUI opens the Main Menu and ctrl+s saves. After, it opens on the Pinned Install Version Mismatch guard, which ignores ctrl+s.

Powerline

Before:

After:

Plain

Before:

After:

Testing

• 6 new tests, all failing on main before the fix:
  • global-command-resolution: POSIX ~/.npm/_npx, a custom npm cache dir, and the Windows %LocalAppData%\npm-cache\_npx shims (extensionless/.cmd/.ps1) are dropped and the global path kept; the existing bunx test still passes.
  • global-package-manager: POSIX and Windows npx-first PATHs resolve to npm with the global version and no warning.
  • App: launched with an npx-first PATH and an older pinned npm install, the TUI opens on Pinned Install Version Mismatch.
• bun test: 3174 pass, 0 fail across 178 files (main: 3168).
• bun run lint: clean.
• Changed test files under Node vitest: 28 pass / 20 fail (main: 28 / 14). Every failure, old and new, is the existing "Cannot spy on export execFileSync/execFile" ESM error on node:child_process.
• Built dist under Bun 1.4.2 and Node v26.10.0: plain and Powerline piped renders agree across runtimes and match main; the TUI opens and exits cleanly under both.