[Bug]: T3 Code 0.0.40 desktop UI: "T3 Code could not load"

[Cthuulhaa]

Before submitting

• I searched existing issues and did not find a duplicate.
• I included enough detail to reproduce or investigate the problem.

Area

apps/desktop

Steps to reproduce

1. Download the T3 Code 0.0.40 Linux AppImage.
2. Make it executable.
3. Launch it normally:
   ./T3-Code.AppImage
4. The Electron window opens but displays “T3 Code could not load.”

For more detailed logging: ./T3-Code.AppImage --enable-logging=stderr --v=1

Expected behavior

The desktop UI should load normally after the backend starts.

Actual behavior

The renderer fails while loading the bundled UI:

T3 Code failed to start. SyntaxError: The requested module './ConnectionStatusDot-DxBlMuxG.js' does not provide an export named 't'
source: t3code://app/assets/index-69CxTXc4.js (2)

Impact

Blocks work completely

Version or commit

No response

Environment

T3 Code: 0.0.40, Package: Linux AppImage, Desktop environment: Cinnamon Linux, distribution: Linux Mint

Logs or stack traces

Screenshots, recordings, or supporting files

No response

Workaround

No response

[juliusmarminge]

Triage

Accepted as a critical desktop launch bug. 0.0.40 Linux AppImage opens a window, then the renderer dies while loading the bundled UI.

This is not a duplicate of #10517. That issue is a blank window when the backend never serves t3code://app. Here the page does load: bootstrap.ts runs, showBootError replaces the splash with “T3 Code could not load.”, and the console has a concrete ESM error.

T3 Code failed to start. SyntaxError: The requested module './ConnectionStatusDot-DxBlMuxG.js' does not provide an export named 't'
source: t3code://app/assets/index-69CxTXc4.js (2)

What the code does

Production desktop serves the packaged web client through the backend (t3code://app in apps/desktop/src/electron/ElectronProtocol.ts → static files from apps/server/src/http.ts / server/dist/client).

Startup is:

1. apps/web/index.html loads src/bootstrap.ts
2. bootstrap.ts does import("./main").catch(showBootError)
3. apps/web/src/lib/bootError.ts logs T3 Code failed to start. and paints “T3 Code could not load.” (the SyntaxError is shown only in DEV, which is why it only appears in the console / --enable-logging)

ConnectionStatusDot-DxBlMuxG.js is a Vite/Rolldown production chunk for apps/web/src/components/ConnectionStatusDot.tsx. That module is on the critical path:

• Root: __root.tsx → ConnectOnboardingDialog → CloudEnvironmentConnectList → ConnectionStatusDot
• Lazy settings: settings.connections, settings.providers (the latter also imports connectionPhaseDotClassName / connectionPhasePingClassName)
• Welcome wizard

apps/web/vite.config.ts enables TanStack autoCodeSplitting: true on Vite 8 / Rolldown (vite-plus 0.3.0). A shared module used from the root graph and split routes becomes its own hashed chunk. index-*.js then imports a minified binding { t } that the chunk does not export. That is an inter-chunk export mismatch (known Vite 8 / Rolldown class), not a missing file or FUSE/AppImage launch failure. A 404/HTML fallback would be Unexpected token '<'.

The same client bundle is packaged into every desktop artifact. Linux is the first report (0.0.40 published ~11h before this issue); macOS, Windows, and hosted web may be broken the same way.

ConnectionStatusDot.tsx itself did not change between 0.0.39 and 0.0.40. The 0.0.39→0.0.40 web graph did (onboarding import grouping, settings/UI). vite-plus 0.3.0 was already in 0.0.39 (#9327).

Related

• [Bug]: Backend startup crashes leave desktop blank with no visible error #10517 — blank window / backend never serves the page; different failure
• [Bug]: T3 Code opens a blank window when the Linux credential store is locked #9239 / fix(desktop): app no longer opens a blank window when the Linux credential store is locked #9246 — Linux credential-store stall / black window
• AppImage auto-update leaves a 0-byte binary and the app never launches again #10685 — AppImage auto-update leaves a 0-byte binary (app never opens)
• [Bug]: Failed startup session probe bricks the app — fatal, sticky error in root beforeLoad with no recovery #3513 — sticky error after the renderer loads
• feat(lint): ban native title tooltips and migrate to styled Tooltip #7209 — Tooltip on ConnectionStatusDot (heavier graph)
• feat(web): per-device provider settings #4479 — phase helpers live in the same module as the component
• fix(dev): keep shared dev reloads and hot updates working #9543 — bootError / bundled-dev
• fix(web): avoid eager icon chunks in unbundled dev #9943 — icon chunks in unbundled dev only; not this

No open PR for this export mismatch.

Next step

1. Inspect the shipped 0.0.40 client (apps/server/dist/client/assets/ in the AppImage): what index-69CxTXc4.js imports as { t } from ConnectionStatusDot-DxBlMuxG.js, and what that chunk actually exports.
2. If they disagree, fix the web production split (keep ConnectionStatusDot in the main chunk, or move the phase helpers out of the shared module) and/or bump Rolldown. Re-check the other 0.0.40 desktop artifacts and hosted web — this may not be Linux-only.
3. Useful confirmations: did 0.0.39 work on the same machine? Does hosted web / macOS / Windows 0.0.40 fail with the same ConnectionStatusDot-*.js export error?