[BUG] Auto-update breaks better-sqlite3 dependency causing sqlite DB access errors.

@abraithwaite sorry for the trouble. does it work if you do
npm install -g better-sqlite3@11.9.1

The auto update just ran today, and broke again.

This time, I did not use the aforementioned workaround and instead installed the better-sqlite3 dependency globally (at version 11.9.1).

It is working now, and I'd expect will continue working since presumably the global dependency is being resolved first? Hopefully that helps!

I'd prefer if this would work with the internal dependencies for what it's worth. I'm sure you're working towards that, but having it rebuild on install seems like the best solution, particularly for versioned-managed node environments like we prefer to use. We frequently jump between node versions for various projects so the global better-sqlite3 dependency is less than ideal.

Edit: I take it back, something funky is going on with dependency resolution. The global dependency seems to work when the cwd is in claude-code's tree:

abraithwaite at gibson in /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/node_modules/better-sqlite3 (master)
15:04:19 $ claude
╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ✻ Welcome to Claude Code research preview!                                                   │
│                                                                                              │
│   /help for help, /status for your current setup                                             │
│                                                                                              │
│   cwd: /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/node_modules/better-sqlite3  │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

 Tips for getting started:

 1. Run /init to create a CLAUDE.md file with instructions for Claude
 2. Use Claude to help with file analysis, editing, bash commands and git
 3. Be as specific as you would with another engineer for the best results

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ > Try "edit cmd/upgrade.rb to..."                                                                                                                           │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
  Press Ctrl-D again to exit



Total cost:            $0.0000
Total duration (API):  0s
Total duration (wall): 3.5s
Total code changes:    0 lines added, 0 lines removed
Tokens:                0 base input, 0 cache write, 0 cache read, 0 base output

But not when outside of it:

abraithwaite at gibson in ~/Projects/github.com/runreveal/runreveal (alan/oauth-server●)
15:12:20 $ claude
╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ✻ Welcome to Claude Code research preview!                          │
│                                                                     │
│   /help for help, /status for your current setup                    │
│                                                                     │
│   cwd: /Users/abraithwaite/Projects/github.com/runreveal/runreveal  │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

 ⚠ Database unavailable: continue/resume features disabled • /doctor

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ > Try "how does server.go work?"                                                                                                                            │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
  Press Ctrl-D again to exit



Total cost:            $0.0000
Total duration (API):  0s
Total duration (wall): 1.9s
Total code changes:    0 lines added, 0 lines removed
Tokens:                0 base input, 0 cache write, 0 cache read, 0 base output

Running the workaround again fixes it for when I'm outside the claude-code current working directory.

Fair enough @abraithwaite We are planning to remove this dependency because of the problems that it causes. We will be moving to file storage for conversations ASAP. Thanks for your patience and sorry for the churn.

No need to apologize. Thanks for not forgetting about the terminal zealots w/ Claude Code! Definitely the biggest change to my development since I started programming, and it's pretty damn good. :-)

@abraithwaite Solid catch. I ran into the exact same problem on Ubuntu 22.04 after an auto-update. The better-sqlite3 bindings got wiped and Claude couldn’t access the database until I manually rebuilt with npm run build-release inside the module directory.

In my case, Claude was installed globally via npm, and this broke right after the update just like you described. So this definitely isn’t limited to macOS/Homebrew environments, looks like a broader issue with how the update handles native dependencies.

Thanks for sharing the workaround. Looking forward to the file-based storage update — that sounds like a smart long-term fix.

File based storage shipped with v0.2.107 today. We'll be removing the dependency next week

The sqlite dependency was removed in v0.2.113 which shipped last night. Happy Clauding!

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