build(desktop): reduce installed app size by ~300MB

[wukko]

What Changed

Desktop app builds now:

• Omit unused binaries from Claude SDK
• Drop unused language packs (T3 Code is en-US only)
• Pack dependencies into ASAR on compatible platforms (macOS/Linux) and retain the Windows-only unpacking for WSL

Why

The current version of the T3 Code desktop app is unreasonably huge: ~737 MB on arm64 macOS. This made me wonder why it's this big, and turns out it's pretty trivial to fix.

This PR brings it down to ~424 MB without any functional changes:

UI Changes

None.

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why
• I included before/after screenshots for any UI changes
• I included a video for animation/interaction changes

---

Note

Medium Risk
Packaging-only change with a behavioral shift on macOS/Linux (no explicit asarUnpack); risk is native/runtime loading if anything still expected unpacked paths outside smart unpack—Windows WSL path remains explicitly unpacked.

Overview
Cuts installed desktop size (~737MB → ~424MB on arm64 macOS) by tightening electron-builder packaging in createBuildConfig, without changing runtime behavior for normal macOS/Linux backends.

Locale and dependency trimming: All platforms now set electronLanguages to en-US and add files exclusions that drop optional @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk-* platform bundles (the app uses the user’s Claude binary, so those ~200MB packages are unused).

Platform-specific ASAR unpacking: asarUnpack is applied only on Windows via WINDOWS_ASAR_UNPACK (apps/server/dist/** and **/node_modules/** for the WSL backend). macOS and Linux builds no longer set asarUnpack; the old global DESKTOP_ASAR_UNPACK for @ff-labs/fff-bin-* is removed, with comments that native libs are handled via smart unpack / app.asar.unpacked (aligned with the fff-node patch).

Tests were updated to assert the new constants and that mac/linux configs omit asarUnpack while Windows keeps the WSL unpack list.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit f424416. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Reduce desktop app installed size by ~300MB

• Limits Electron locales to en-US via electronLanguages in createBuildConfig, dropping unused locale files.
• Excludes optional Claude SDK platform bundles (@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk-*) from packaged files via new DESKTOP_FILE_EXCLUSIONS constant.
• Makes asarUnpack Windows-only using WINDOWS_ASAR_UNPACK; macOS and Linux builds no longer unpack asar contents.
• Removes the old DESKTOP_ASAR_UNPACK constant that unconditionally unpacked @ff-labs/fff-bin-* on all platforms.
• Behavioral Change: macOS and Linux builds no longer include asarUnpack, which may affect native module loading if any path relied on unpacked asar access.

^{Macroscope summarized f424416.}

[coderabbitai]

Important

Review skipped

Auto reviews are disabled on this repository. Please check the settings in the CodeRabbit UI or the .coderabbit.yaml file in this repository. To trigger a single review, invoke the @coderabbitai review command.

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Repository UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 57817d93-dc15-46bf-9357-b0406c2fdd13

You can disable this status message by setting the reviews.review_status to false in the CodeRabbit configuration file.

Use the checkbox below for a quick retry:

• 🔍 Trigger review

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved ff0f7ea

Build/packaging optimization changes only - limits Electron locales to en-US, excludes unused SDK executables, and makes asar unpacking Windows-specific. No runtime logic changes, well-documented rationale, and includes test coverage.

^{You can customize Macroscope's approvability policy. Learn more.}

[LiquidBacn]

I know this is already merged, but build size is something I care about and needed to add my two-cents.

I've dived through electron-builders output semi extensivly before. I've done it before with an extensive deny lists, but a restrictive allow list is simpler.

Node packages include often sourcecode and documentation in their releases. Which isn't really a bad thing, but electron-builder doesn't know any better and takes everything.

I made this change

export const DESKTOP_FILE_EXCLUSIONS = [
  "apps/server/dist/**/*",
  "apps/desktop/dist-electron/**/*",
  // electron-builder takes *everything* in the node_modules folder.
  // which is far too much. So lets filter out the entire folder and
  // use an allow list to add only what we want.
  "!**/node_modules/**/*",

  // We want all JS, node native extensions and json files.
  "**/node_modules/**/{*.js,*.mjs,*.cjs,*.node,*.json}",

  // But not tests or examples.
  "!**/node_modules/*/{test,__tests__,tests,powered-test,example,examples}",
  "!**/node_modules/@*/*/{test,__tests__,tests,powered-test,example,examples}",
] as const;

and reduced the installer size from 146MB to 125MB, and the 'node_modules' folder from 141MB to 71MB.

It should have more testing done, but it does produce an application that launches.