Rework injection to shadow Discord's app.asar

cmd/discover.go

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ var discoverInstallsCmd = &cobra.Command{
 				if inst.IsInjected() {
 					bdStatus = "yes"
 				}
-				fmt.Fprintf(tw, "%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n", ch.Name(), inst.Version, typeLabel, bdStatus, inst.CorePath)
+				fmt.Fprintf(tw, "%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n", ch.Name(), inst.Version, typeLabel, bdStatus, inst.ResourcesPath)
 			}
 		}
 

cmd/install.go

@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package cmd
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"path"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 func init() {
 	installCmd.Flags().StringP("path", "p", "", "Path to a Discord installation")
 	installCmd.Flags().StringP("channel", "c", "stable", "Discord release channel (stable|ptb|canary)")
+	installCmd.Flags().Bool("dev", false, "Use the development build of BetterDiscord")
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(installCmd)
 }
 
@@ -23,6 +26,7 @@ var installCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Short:   "Installs BetterDiscord to your Discord",
 	Long:    "Install BetterDiscord by specifying either --path to a Discord install or --channel to auto-detect (default: stable).",
 	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+		// Handle path and channel flags, ensuring they are mutually exclusive
 		pathFlag, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("path")
 		channelFlag, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("channel")
 
@@ -33,6 +37,14 @@ var installCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			return fmt.Errorf("--path and --channel are mutually exclusive")
 		}
 
+		// Check if the --dev flag is set or if the BDCLI_DEV_BUILD environment variable is enabled
+		useDevBuild := false
+		devFlag, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("dev")
+		if devFlag || isDevBuildEnvEnabled() {
+			useDevBuild = true
+			output.Println("⚠️  Using development build of BetterDiscord")
+		}
+
 		var install *discord.DiscordInstall
 
 		if pathProvided {
@@ -42,18 +54,18 @@ var installCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			}
 		} else {
 			channel := models.ParseChannel(channelFlag)
-			corePath := discord.GetSuggestedPath(channel)
-			install = discord.ResolvePath(corePath)
+			resourcesPath := discord.GetSuggestedPath(channel)
+			install = discord.ResolvePath(resourcesPath)
 			if install == nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("could not find a valid %s installation to install to", channelFlag)
 			}
 		}
 
-		if err := install.InstallBD(); err != nil {
+		if err := install.InstallBD(models.InstallOptions{RestartDiscord: true, UseDevBuild: useDevBuild}); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("installation failed: %w", err)
 		}
 
-		output.Printf("✅ BetterDiscord installed to %s\n", path.Dir(install.CorePath))
+		output.Printf("✅ BetterDiscord installed to %s\n", path.Dir(install.ResourcesPath))
 		output.Blank()
 		output.Printf("📋 Installation Summary:\n")
 		output.Blank()
@@ -67,11 +79,24 @@ var installCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			}
 			return "native"
 		}())
-		output.Printf("   Core Path:       %s\n", path.Dir(install.CorePath))
+		output.Printf("   Resources Path:  %s\n", path.Dir(install.ResourcesPath))
 		output.Blank()
 
-		bdinstall := install.GetBetterDiscordInstall()
+		bdinstall, err := install.GetBetterDiscordInstall()
+		if err != nil {
+			output.Printf("failed to get BetterDiscord install info: %s\n", err.Error())
+			return nil
+		}
+		if bdinstall == nil {
+			output.Printf("BetterDiscord install info is nil\n")
+			return nil
+		}
 		bdinstall.LogBuildinfo()
 		return nil
 	},
 }
+
+func isDevBuildEnvEnabled() bool {
+	value := strings.TrimSpace(strings.ToLower(os.Getenv("BDCLI_DEV_BUILD")))
+	return value == "1" || value == "true" || value == "yes"
+}

cmd/uninstall.go

@@ -90,11 +90,11 @@ var uninstallCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			}
 		}
 
-		if err := install.UninstallBD(); err != nil {
+		if err := install.UninstallBD(models.UninstallOptions{FullUninstall: false, RestartDiscord: true}); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("uninstallation failed: %w", err)
 		}
 
-		output.Printf("✅ BetterDiscord uninstalled from %s\n", path.Dir(install.CorePath))
+		output.Printf("✅ BetterDiscord uninstalled from %s\n", path.Dir(install.ResourcesPath))
 		return nil
 	},
 }
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ func getAllInstalls() []*discord.DiscordInstall {
 	seen := map[string]bool{}
 	var installs []*discord.DiscordInstall
 
-	// Flatten the map of installs and filter out duplicates based on CorePath
+	// Flatten the map of installs and filter out duplicates based on ResourcesPath
 	// Honestly, probably should have just returned a flat list from GetAllInstalls in the first place, but whatever
 	// And also the chance of actually having duplicates is pretty much zero, but this is just in case
 	// If you are reading this and you do have duplicates, please tell me because that would be very interesting and I would like to know how that happened
@@ -115,10 +115,10 @@ func getAllInstalls() []*discord.DiscordInstall {
 			if inst == nil {
 				continue
 			}
-			if seen[inst.CorePath] {
+			if seen[inst.ResourcesPath] {
 				continue
 			}
-			seen[inst.CorePath] = true
+			seen[inst.ResourcesPath] = true
 			installs = append(installs, inst)
 		}
 	}
@@ -129,11 +129,11 @@ func getAllInstalls() []*discord.DiscordInstall {
 func uninstallAll(installs []*discord.DiscordInstall) error {
 	var firstErr error
 	for _, inst := range installs {
-		if err := inst.UninstallBD(); err != nil {
+		if err := inst.UninstallBD(models.UninstallOptions{FullUninstall: false, RestartDiscord: true}); err != nil {
 			if firstErr == nil {
 				firstErr = err
 			}
-			output.Printf("❌ Failed to uninstall from %s\n", path.Dir(inst.CorePath))
+			output.Printf("❌ Failed to uninstall from %s\n", path.Dir(inst.ResourcesPath))
 			output.Printf("   %s\n", err.Error())
 		}
 	}
@@ -148,8 +148,8 @@ func removeAllBetterDiscord(installs []*discord.DiscordInstall) error {
 	// so we need to filter them out to avoid trying to delete the same
 	// folder multiple times
 	for _, inst := range installs {
-		bd := inst.GetBetterDiscordInstall()
-		if bd == nil {
+		bd, err := inst.GetBetterDiscordInstall()
+		if err != nil || bd == nil {
 			continue
 		}
 		roots[bd.Root()] = bd

cmd/update.go

@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ func init() {
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(updateCmd)
 }
 
+// This currently only checks for updates to the BetterDiscord loader (betterdiscord.asar).
+// In the future, we may also want to check for updates to the CLI itself.
+// This also only checks for updates to the stable release as the check is cheap (tag name)
+// the canary version is a rolling release and is not versioned, so it is not as easily
+// possible to check for updates to it.
 var updateCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "update",
 	Short: "Update BetterDiscord to the latest version",
@@ -62,7 +67,7 @@ var updateCmd = &cobra.Command{
 
 		// Download the latest version
 		output.Println("📥 Downloading update...")
-		if err := bdinstall.Download(); err != nil {
+		if err := bdinstall.Download(false); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to download update: %w", err)
 		}
 

internal/betterdiscord/download.go

@@ -8,13 +8,33 @@ import (
 	"github.com/betterdiscord/cli/internal/utils"
 )
 
-func (i *BDInstall) download() error {
+// Endpoints for fetching the BetterDiscord asar. Declared as package vars so
+// tests can point them at a local httptest server.
+var (
+	websiteAsarURL         = "https://betterdiscord.app/Download/betterdiscord.asar"
+	githubLatestReleaseURL = "https://api.github.com/repos/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord/releases/latest"
+	// githubCanaryReleaseURL is the rolling pre-release tagged "canary" (rebuilt
+	// on every merge to the development branch). It is GitHub-only — the website
+	// has no mirror — so the dev-build path fetches it by tag rather than via the
+	// "latest" endpoint, which excludes pre-releases by design.
+	githubCanaryReleaseURL = "https://api.github.com/repos/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord/releases/tags/canary"
+)
+
+func (i *BDInstall) download(useDevBuild bool) error {
 	if i.hasDownloaded {
 		output.Printf("✅ Already downloaded to %s\n", i.asar)
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	resp, err := utils.DownloadFile("https://betterdiscord.app/Download/betterdiscord.asar", i.asar)
+	// The development build lives only on GitHub, so skip the website leg and go
+	// straight to the canary release. A failure here must NOT fall back to the
+	// stable asar: a developer who asked for the dev build silently receiving
+	// stable is a confusing, near-undetectable footgun.
+	if useDevBuild {
+		return i.downloadFromGitHubRelease(githubCanaryReleaseURL, "GitHub (development build)")
+	}
+
+	resp, err := utils.DownloadFile(websiteAsarURL, i.asar)
 	if err == nil {
 		version := resp.Header.Get("x-bd-version")
 		if version == "" {
@@ -31,10 +51,16 @@ func (i *BDInstall) download() error {
 		output.Println("🔁 Falling back to GitHub...")
 	}
 
-	// Get download URL from GitHub API
-	apiData, err := utils.DownloadJSON[models.GitHubRelease]("https://api.github.com/repos/BetterDiscord/BetterDiscord/releases/latest")
+	return i.downloadFromGitHubRelease(githubLatestReleaseURL, "GitHub")
+}
+
+// downloadFromGitHubRelease fetches the release metadata at apiURL, locates the
+// betterdiscord.asar asset, and downloads it into the BD folder. sourceLabel is
+// used only for logging (e.g. "GitHub" or "GitHub (development build)").
+func (i *BDInstall) downloadFromGitHubRelease(apiURL, sourceLabel string) error {
+	apiData, err := utils.DownloadJSON[models.GitHubRelease](apiURL)
 	if err != nil {
-		output.Println("❌ Failed to get asset url from GitHub")
+		output.Printf("❌ Failed to get asset url from %s\n", sourceLabel)
 		output.Printf("❌ %s\n", err.Error())
 		return err
 	}
@@ -48,8 +74,8 @@ func (i *BDInstall) download() error {
 	}
 
 	if index == -1 {
-		output.Println("❌ Failed to find the BetterDiscord asar on GitHub")
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to find betterdiscord.asar asset in GitHub release")
+		output.Printf("❌ Failed to find the BetterDiscord asar on %s\n", sourceLabel)
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to find betterdiscord.asar asset in %s release", sourceLabel)
 	}
 
 	var downloadUrl = apiData.Assets[index].URL
@@ -62,15 +88,18 @@ func (i *BDInstall) download() error {
 	// Download asar into the BD folder
 	_, err = utils.DownloadFile(downloadUrl, i.asar)
 	if err != nil {
-		output.Println("❌ Failed to download BetterDiscord from GitHub")
+		output.Printf("❌ Failed to download BetterDiscord from %s\n", sourceLabel)
 		output.Printf("❌ %s\n", err.Error())
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if version == "" {
-		output.Println("✅ Downloaded BetterDiscord from GitHub")
-	} else {
-		output.Printf("✅ Downloaded BetterDiscord version %s from GitHub\n", output.FormatVersion(version))
+	switch version {
+	case "":
+		output.Printf("✅ Downloaded BetterDiscord from %s\n", sourceLabel)
+	case "canary":
+		output.Printf("✅ Downloaded BetterDiscord development build from %s\n", sourceLabel)
+	default:
+		output.Printf("✅ Downloaded BetterDiscord version %s from %s\n", output.FormatVersion(version), sourceLabel)
 	}
 	i.hasDownloaded = true