feat: add --install flag to auto-install macOS apps to /Applications

[chindris-mihai-alexandru]

Summary

• Add a new --install CLI flag that automatically installs built macOS apps to /Applications and removes the installer DMG after a successful build
• Eliminates the manual mount → drag → unmount → delete workflow for every pake build on macOS

Closes #1143

Changes

File	Change
bin/types.ts	Add install: boolean to PakeCliOptions
bin/defaults.ts	Default install: false
bin/helpers/cli-program.ts	Register --install CLI option (visible in help)
bin/builders/BaseBuilder.ts	Add installDmgToApplications() method + call site after build success
tests/unit/cli-options.test.ts	Add test for --install option registration

How it works

When --install is passed on macOS with a DMG target:

1. Mounts the DMG via hdiutil attach
2. Copies the .app to /Applications (replaces existing if present)
3. Unmounts via hdiutil detach
4. Removes the installer DMG

On failure, the DMG is preserved and an error is logged.

Usage

pake https://example.com --name "MyApp" --install

Design decisions

• Opt-in only — defaults to false, zero impact on existing workflows
• macOS-only — guarded by IS_MAC && fileType === 'dmg' (future Linux/Windows support could follow separately)
• Graceful degradation — if install fails, the DMG remains and an error message points to it
• Uses execa directly — avoids shellExec which is tied to npmDirectory as cwd
• Visible in --help — not hidden, since it's a user-facing quality-of-life feature

Testing

• Unit test added for option registration (all 3 tests pass)
• Manually tested end-to-end: built and auto-installed LinkedIn and NoteBookLM apps to /Applications successfully

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds an opt-in --install flag to the Pake CLI to automatically install a successfully built macOS DMG’s .app into /Applications, and (on success) remove the generated DMG to eliminate the manual mount/copy/unmount/delete workflow.

Changes:

• Add install: boolean to CLI options + defaults.
• Register --install as a visible CLI flag.
• Add DMG post-build installation flow in BaseBuilder (and compiled dist/cli.js), plus a unit test for flag registration.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 1 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
bin/types.ts	Adds install option to PakeCliOptions.
bin/defaults.ts	Defaults install to false (opt-in).
bin/helpers/cli-program.ts	Registers --install flag in Commander help/options.
bin/builders/BaseBuilder.ts	Implements installDmgToApplications() and calls it after DMG build success.
tests/unit/cli-options.test.ts	Verifies --install option is registered with default false.
dist/cli.js	Updates compiled CLI output to include new option + install logic.

[chindris-mihai-alexandru]

Quick update: I pushed a follow-up fix commit to harden the macOS --install flow.

What was fixed:

• Avoided fragile /Volumes/<AppName> assumptions by mounting DMG to a unique temp mountpoint
• Added -nobrowse -readonly -mountpoint for safer scripted attach behavior
• Detect the .app bundle from mounted contents instead of relying on exact app name/path
• Added robust cleanup in finally (detach + remove temp mount dir), with detach -force fallback

Why this matters:

• Prevents failures when volume names differ, collide, or are already mounted
• Prevents leaked mounts on partial failures

Validation:

• pnpm run cli:build passed
• pnpm test passed (full suite)
• End-to-end real run verified: app installed to /Applications and DMG removed

[tw93]

Thanks for the PR. I pushed a maintainer follow-up directly to your branch to simplify the macOS flow: instead of building a DMG and mounting it, we now build a standard Tauri bundle and copy it directly into . I also added CLI docs in both English and Chinese, rebuilt , and re-ran the test suite.\n\nI also verified the end-to-end install flow locally on macOS. The PR is now merged into . Appreciate you opening this and getting the feature started.