AI CLIs: fix resolver returning early on empty + add nodejs/npm/nano/npm_globals to [packages.ai]

Operator-flagged 2026-05-10:
  ╰─❯ gemini
  -bash: gemini: command not found
  ╰─❯ claude
  -bash: claude: command not found
  ╰─❯ nano mios.toml
  -bash: nano: command not found

Two coupled bugs + a missing-pkg:

1. install-ai-clis.sh's _resolve_npm_globals() short-circuited on
   empty awk output. The form `awk | grep | tr && return 0` always
   returns 0 because tr (last cmd in pipe) exits 0 regardless of
   input. Result: function exits without echoing the vendor
   fallback, install loop sees EOF from while-read, no packages
   ever get `npm install -g`'d.

   Fix: capture pipe output into a var and `[ -n "$extracted" ]
   && echo "$extracted" && return 0`. Only return EARLY when output
   actually exists; otherwise fall through to the vendor fallback
   (claude-code + gemini-cli).

2. mios.git's /usr/share/mios/mios.toml [packages.ai] section was
   missing the nodejs + npm packages + npm_globals list. (mios-bootstrap
   had them but the runtime resolver reads mios.git's copy because /
   IS mios.git's working tree.) Added:
     pkgs:        + nodejs + npm + nano
     npm_globals: ["@anthropic-ai/claude-code", "@google/gemini-cli"]

3. nano: added to [packages.ai].pkgs since the dev VM ships
   without a baseline text editor and operators need to edit
   mios.toml from the terminal. Operator-flagged: "nano:
   command not found".

Verified live 2026-05-10: after deploying the fixed script +
running it manually on the running dev VM, claude + gemini
binstubs landed at /usr/local/bin/{claude,gemini} as expected.

Author: Kabuki94

usr/libexec/mios/install-ai-clis.sh

@@ -29,22 +29,26 @@ fi
 # Vendor fallback if the toml lookup fails: the two operator-canonical
 # AI CLIs.
 _resolve_npm_globals() {
-    local toml
+    local toml extracted
     for toml in \
         "${HOME:-/var/home/mios}/.config/mios/mios.toml" \
         /etc/mios/mios.toml \
         /usr/share/mios/mios.toml; do
         [ -r "$toml" ] || continue
         # Extract npm_globals = [ "...", "..." ] from [packages.ai] section.
-        awk '
+        # Capture into a var so we can check if any content was produced.
+        # Previous form `awk | grep | tr && return 0` always returned 0
+        # because tr (last cmd in the pipe) exits 0 on empty input -- the
+        # function short-circuited before reaching the vendor fallback,
+        # leaving the install loop with zero packages to install.
+        extracted=$(awk '
             /^\[/ {
                 line=$0; sub(/[[:space:]]*#.*$/, "", line)
                 in_ai = (line == "[packages.ai]") ? 1 : 0
                 next
             }
             in_ai && /^[[:space:]]*npm_globals[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*\[/ {
                 capturing = 1
-                # On the same line?
                 if (match($0, /\[.*\]/)) {
                     body = substr($0, RSTART+1, RLENGTH-2)
                     print body
@@ -55,9 +59,14 @@ _resolve_npm_globals() {
             }
             capturing { buf = buf $0 "\n" }
             capturing && /^[[:space:]]*\][[:space:]]*$/ { print buf; capturing = 0; in_ai = 0; exit }
-        ' "$toml" | grep -oE '"[^"]+"' | tr -d '"' && return 0
+        ' "$toml" | grep -oE '"[^"]+"' | tr -d '"')
+        if [ -n "$extracted" ]; then
+            echo "$extracted"
+            return 0
+        fi
     done
-    # Vendor fallback
+    # Vendor fallback -- claude-code + gemini-cli are the operator-canonical
+    # AI CLIs (defaults ON per mios.toml [packages.ai].npm_globals).
     echo "@anthropic-ai/claude-code"
     echo "@google/gemini-cli"
 }

usr/share/mios/mios.toml

@@ -1380,6 +1380,18 @@ pkgs = [
 enable = true   # default ON; toggle via /configurator.html (configurator.packages.<section>.enable)
 pkgs = [
     "python3-openai",
+    "nodejs",           # required by claude-code + gemini-cli (npm-installed)
+    "npm",
+    "nano",             # baseline text editor for operator config edits (operator-flagged: "nano: command not found")
+]
+# AI assistant CLIs installed globally via npm. ON by default --
+# operator can remove from this list to skip. Each entry is an npm
+# package id (passed to `npm install -g`). Installed by
+# /usr/libexec/mios/install-ai-clis.sh which runs during the overlay
+# phase (build-mios.ps1) and is operator-re-runnable any time.
+npm_globals = [
+    "@anthropic-ai/claude-code",     # Anthropic Claude Code CLI
+    "@google/gemini-cli",            # Google Gemini CLI
 ]
 
 [packages.critical]