Root cause: portable zip was 1MB skeleton; first launch triggered
`npm install` of OpenClaw + 36 bundled deps on customer's USB drive.
On exFAT-formatted USB this hangs/takes 20+ minutes, gateway never
binds 18789, dashboard shows "Gateway 未启动".
Fix follows StanleyChanH/openclaw-offline-package pattern (153MB
single-platform zip, gateway starts directly):
- release.yml: only build Windows bundle (~150-200MB). Mac users
fall back to setup.sh. Reasoning: 99% of customers are Windows;
bundling 3 platforms × Node ~30MB + 3× node_modules dedup pain
is what blew the previous attempt past GitHub's 2GB cap (see
5916ff5 history). Smaller scope = simpler + safer.
- Windows-Start.bat / Mac-Start.command: warn if node_modules
missing; fallback `npm install` adds --ignore-scripts --no-audit
--no-fund for speed.
- Release notes: NTFS U-disk recommendation.
Lessons applied (from 5916ff5):
- Stay on linux runner with --ignore-scripts (Stanley pattern)
- Drop mac-x64 / mac-arm64 Node from bundle (setup.sh handles Mac)
- rm -rf node-llama-cpp / sharp / canvas explicitly
- Hard size guard: fail CI if zip > 1500MB (buffer below 2GB cap)
78bcb7fd8e