fix(daemon): propagate snapshot env to process.env for child processes

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 - Docs: fix broken docs index links by setting an empty Jekyll `baseurl` (#113, thanks @Youpen-y).
 - Models: preserve model id casing after the provider prefix so OpenAI-compatible proxies can route exact names correctly (#128, thanks @WinnCook).
 - Cache: give extract entries with unavailable transcripts the same short retry TTL as negative transcript cache entries, so transient Apify failures can recover (#115, thanks @gluneau).
+- Daemon: apply the saved env snapshot to `process.env` before `daemon run` starts so child tools inherit the right PATH and API/tool config under launchd/systemd (#99, thanks @heyalchang).
 
 ## 0.11.0 - 2026-02-14
 

src/daemon/cli.ts

@@ -464,6 +464,14 @@ export async function handleDaemonRequest({
       throw new Error("Daemon not configured");
     }
     const mergedEnv = mergeDaemonEnv({ envForRun, snapshot: cfg.env });
+    // Apply snapshot env to process.env so child processes (yt-dlp, ffmpeg,
+    // deno, tesseract) inherit the correct PATH and tool config under
+    // launchd/systemd where the default environment is minimal.
+    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(cfg.env)) {
+      if (typeof value === "string") {
+        process.env[key] = value;
+      }
+    }
     await runDaemonServer({ env: mergedEnv, fetchImpl, config: cfg });
     return true;
   }

tests/daemon.cli.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+import { PassThrough } from "node:stream";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  readDaemonConfig: vi.fn(),
+  writeDaemonConfig: vi.fn(),
+  runDaemonServer: vi.fn(),
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../src/daemon/config.js", () => ({
+  readDaemonConfig: mocks.readDaemonConfig,
+  writeDaemonConfig: mocks.writeDaemonConfig,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../src/daemon/server.js", () => ({
+  runDaemonServer: mocks.runDaemonServer,
+}));
+
+import { handleDaemonRequest } from "../src/daemon/cli.js";
+
+describe("daemon cli", () => {
+  const originalPath = process.env.PATH;
+  const originalOpenAiKey = process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
+  const originalHome = process.env.HOME;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+    process.env.PATH = "/usr/bin:/bin";
+    process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY = "from-process";
+    process.env.HOME = "/tmp/original-home";
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    if (originalPath === undefined) delete process.env.PATH;
+    else process.env.PATH = originalPath;
+    if (originalOpenAiKey === undefined) delete process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
+    else process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY = originalOpenAiKey;
+    if (originalHome === undefined) delete process.env.HOME;
+    else process.env.HOME = originalHome;
+  });
+
+  it("applies daemon snapshot env to process.env for child processes on run (#99)", async () => {
+    mocks.readDaemonConfig.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      token: "test-token",
+      port: 8787,
+      env: {
+        PATH: "/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin",
+        OPENAI_API_KEY: "from-snapshot",
+      },
+    });
+    mocks.runDaemonServer.mockResolvedValueOnce(undefined);
+
+    const envForRun = {
+      HOME: "/Users/peter",
+      PATH: "/usr/bin:/bin",
+      OPENAI_API_KEY: "from-run",
+    };
+
+    const handled = await handleDaemonRequest({
+      normalizedArgv: ["daemon", "run"],
+      envForRun,
+      fetchImpl: fetch,
+      stdout: new PassThrough(),
+      stderr: new PassThrough(),
+    });
+
+    expect(handled).toBe(true);
+    expect(mocks.readDaemonConfig).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ env: envForRun });
+    expect(mocks.runDaemonServer).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      env: {
+        HOME: "/Users/peter",
+        PATH: "/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin",
+        OPENAI_API_KEY: "from-snapshot",
+      },
+      fetchImpl: fetch,
+      config: {
+        token: "test-token",
+        port: 8787,
+        env: {
+          PATH: "/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin",
+          OPENAI_API_KEY: "from-snapshot",
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(process.env.PATH).toBe("/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin");
+    expect(process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY).toBe("from-snapshot");
+    expect(process.env.HOME).toBe("/tmp/original-home");
+  });
+});