node-pty SIGABRT crash during Electron process exit (E2E test teardown)

[Asukabot0]

Environment

• node-pty: via @electron/rebuild
• Electron: 35.7.5
• Node.js: v24 (Electron embedded, NODE_MODULE_VERSION 141)
• OS: macOS 26.3.1 (Darwin 25.3.0), ARM64 (Apple Silicon)
• Reproduction context: pnpm test:e2e (Playwright + Electron)

Description

When running E2E tests, macOS generates 4-5 Electron crash reports (Electron-*.ips) during test teardown. All tests pass — the crashes occur after test completion when Electron windows/processes are closing.

This is a race condition in node-pty's N-API ThreadSafeFunction cleanup during Node.js environment destruction.

Crash Stack (from macOS .ips report)

__pthread_kill
pthread_kill
abort
__abort_message
demangling_terminate_handler()
_objc_terminate()
std::__terminate(void (*)())
__cxxabiv1::failed_throw(__cxxabiv1::__cxa_exception*)
__cxa_throw
Napi::Error::ThrowAsJavaScriptException() const
Napi::ThreadSafeFunction::CallJS(napi_env__*, napi_value__*, void*, void*)
node::Environment::CleanupHandles()
node::Environment::RunCleanup()
node::FreeEnvironment(node::Environment*)

Root Cause

1. node::FreeEnvironment() begins tearing down the Node.js environment
2. CleanupHandles() fires pending node-pty ThreadSafeFunction callbacks
3. Inside the callback, ThrowAsJavaScriptException() is called
4. The environment is already being destroyed, so the exception cannot be handled
5. This triggers failed_throw → std::__terminate → abort()

Impact

• No functional impact — all E2E tests pass, crash happens post-teardown
• macOS crash report dialogs are disruptive during automated testing
• Reports accumulate in ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/

Workaround

Ignore the crash reports. They do not represent application bugs.

Potential Fix Direction

• Ensure all PTY sessions are fully killed + awaited before Electron will-quit fires in PtyRuntime.dispose()
• Or upgrade node-pty if a version with fixed ThreadSafeFunction cleanup ordering becomes available

Upstream issue filed: microsoft/node-pty#904

First Observed

2026-03-27, E2E: 169 passed / 0 failed, 5 crash reports generated.