Windows: opening Settings flashes multiple console windows

[kapustazh]

Summary

On Windows, clicking the gear button to open Settings causes several console/terminal windows to appear briefly and then close.

This does not appear to be a machine-specific shell configuration problem. The Settings window opens on Integrations by default, and mounting that page immediately runs the integration detection sweep. The sweep launches installed CLI tools as ordinary child processes, but the Windows background probes do not use CREATE_NO_WINDOW.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 x64, 25H2 (build 26200.8875)
• Sync: Windows x64 build installed with the official setup executable
• CLI tools found on PATH on the affected machine: Claude Code (claude.exe), Codex (codex.exe), and Antigravity (agy.exe)

Steps to reproduce

1. Launch the Sync desktop UI on Windows.
2. Click the gear button to open Settings.
3. Observe several console windows appear and disappear while the Integrations page is checking installed tools.

Actual behavior

Multiple console/terminal windows flash on screen when Settings opens.

Expected behavior

Integration detection should run silently in the background. Opening Settings should not create any OS console windows.

Source analysis

• Settings defaults to the Integrations tab and mounts IntegrationsSection: web/src/settings/App.tsx, web/src/settings/App.tsx
• IntegrationsSection calls useIntegrations(), whose query immediately invokes the detection API: web/src/settings/sections/IntegrationsSection.tsx, web/src/integrations/hooks/useIntegrations.ts
• The backend explicitly notes that detection shells out to Claude and Codex: crates/sync-desktop/src/integrations_ipc.rs
• The sweep runs all six providers concurrently: crates/sync-integrations/src/detect.rs
• Installed CLI providers launch multiple commands with std::process::Command, for example:
  • claude --version and claude mcp list: claude_code.rs
  • codex --version and codex mcp list --json: codex.rs
  • agy --version: antigravity.rs
• The release executable correctly uses the Windows GUI subsystem for its own process, but that does not suppress consoles created by child CLI processes: crates/sync-app/src/main.rs
• There is currently no use of std::os::windows::process::CommandExt::creation_flags / CREATE_NO_WINDOW in these background probes.

Suggested fix

Add a shared helper for non-interactive/background Command executions that applies CREATE_NO_WINDOW on Windows, and use it for integration detection/version/list probes (and other background CLI queries). Interactive agent processes launched inside the app's PTY should remain unchanged.

It would also be useful to add a Windows smoke test ensuring that opening Settings and refreshing integrations does not create visible console windows.