[mixelpixx]

Summary

This is the 0.7.0 identity change planned in #39. Arduino Agent stops sharing its app identity with the official Arduino IDE, so the two apps can be installed side by side.

The problem: the fork used Arduino's productName, appId and Electron userData folder (%APPDATA%\arduino-ide). Electron's single-instance lock is keyed on the userData folder, so with both apps installed, starting one handed the launch to whichever was already running. That included the bridge's auto-launch, which would then wait two minutes for an MCP server that never appeared.

What changes

	Before	After
Executable	Arduino IDE.exe / Arduino IDE.app	Arduino Agent.exe / Arduino Agent.app / arduino-agent
App ID	cc.arduino.IDE2 (Arduino's)	io.github.mixelpixx.arduino-agent
Electron userData and single-instance lock	%APPDATA%\arduino-ide (shared)	%APPDATA%\arduino-agent
Log folder	%APPDATA%\Arduino IDE (shared)	%APPDATA%\Arduino Agent
MCP serverInfo.name	arduino-ide-mcp	arduino-agent
Release assets	arduino-ide-mcp-<platform>.zip	arduino-agent-<platform>.zip, plus the old name as an alias

The new appId was also required before shipping any NSIS/MSI installer. Those installers derive their upgrade GUID from appId, so an installer built with Arduino's ID would have uninstalled the official IDE.

Deliberately still shared: ~/.arduinoIDE (preferences, arduino-cli.yaml and the MCP token), Arduino15 (installed cores and libraries) and the sketchbook.

Upgrade path, nothing lost

• Migration: on first launch, arduino-ide-electron-main.js copies Local Storage, IndexedDB (the window layout and per-sketch board selections) and config.json (the sketches to reopen) from the old folder. This happens once, before the single-instance lock is taken. LevelDB LOCK files are skipped, an existing folder is never overwritten, and a marker file prevents repeats.
• Bridge 0.3.1: if ARDUINO_AGENT_PATH names the old Arduino IDE executable and that file is gone, the bridge uses the renamed Arduino Agent one and logs a hint. Existing MCP configs keep working.
• Release assets: they're uploaded under both names, so external /releases/latest/download/arduino-ide-mcp-*.zip links keep working. The README now points at the new names.

Also fixed: docs/BUILDING-WINDOWS.md ran rebuild:electron after the production build. CLAUDE.md is explicit that it must come first, otherwise the build bundles a Node-ABI pty.node and the app crashes on launch. The doc's packaging command also lacked the release metadata, which gave the app the wrong userData folder and skipped the bundled plugins.

Vendored edits (in arduino-ide-extension, marked // Arduino Agent): the log folder name, and the dev-mode fallback applicationName and uriScheme. Everything else is packaging, our extension, or docs.

Test plan

On a local Windows build packaged with the new release.yml command, while my installed 0.6.2 kept running. 0.6.2 still uses the shared arduino-ide folder and lock, exactly like the official IDE does, so it stands in for the collision:

• Coexistence: the new Arduino Agent.exe opened its own window in 4 s. The 0.6.2 window kept the same PID and was not handed the launch.
• Identity (from inside the app): app.getName() returns "Arduino Agent", userData is %APPDATA%\arduino-agent, and the title is sketch | Arduino Agent 0.6.2.
• Migration: the marker file was written, and Local Storage, IndexedDB and config.json were copied. The user's open sketch was restored from the migrated config.json. No LevelDB LOCK files were copied (the only two present belong to the new app).
• Logs: %APPDATA%\Arduino Agent\…_log.log was created, with the banner Arduino Agent 0.6.2.
• Cleanup: closing the new build left 0.6.2 running. The test-created folders were removed afterwards, so the real install migrates fresh.
• yarn test:bridge passes 13/13, including a new test that a pre-0.7.0 Arduino IDE path launches the renamed executable.
• release.yml parses, and the upload step lists both asset names.
• The MCP smoke test (serverInfo.name) and the macOS/Linux packaging get confirmed on the release draft.
• CI.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code