Problem

When running npx karin init to initialize Karin for the first time, the application would crash with the error:

TypeError: data.find is not a function

This prevented users from successfully completing the initial setup, though restarting the terminal would make it work on subsequent attempts.

Root Cause

The issue was in packages/cli-Internal/src/init.ts at line 360, where configuration files were being merged during initialization:

const mergedData = { ...JSON.parse(defData), ...JSON.parse(targetData) }

When both groups.json and privates.json (which are arrays) were merged using the object spread operator, they were inadvertently converted from arrays into objects with numeric keys:

// Before spreading: [{ key: "default" }, { key: "global" }]
// After spreading:  { 0: { key: "default" }, 1: { key: "global" } }

Since objects don't have the .find() method, subsequent code that tried to call data.find(item => item.key === 'global') would fail with the TypeError.

Solution

1. Fixed Array Merging in init.ts

Added proper type detection to preserve array types during config file merging:

const defParsed = JSON.parse(defData)
const targetParsed = JSON.parse(targetData)

// Preserve array types instead of converting to objects
let mergedData
if (Array.isArray(defParsed) && Array.isArray(targetParsed)) {
  mergedData = targetParsed
} else {
  mergedData = { ...defParsed, ...targetParsed }
}

2. Updated Default Configuration Files

Fixed packages/core/default/config/privates.json and groups.json to include:

• The missing "global" key entry (required by the format functions)
• The "inherit": true property on all entries (required by TypeScript interfaces)
• Removed deprecated properties (memberEnable, memberDisable)

3. Added Defensive Checks

Enhanced the format() functions in both privates.ts and groups.ts to gracefully handle edge cases:

const format = (data: Privates): Record<string, PrivatesObjectValue> => {
  // Ensure data is an array before using .find()
  if (!Array.isArray(data)) {
    logger.warn('[privates.json] 配置文件格式错误，使用默认配置')
    data = defaultConfig.privates
  }
  // ... rest of function
}

Testing

Verified the fix with a comprehensive test script that confirms:

• ✅ Config files are valid JSON arrays with all required keys
• ✅ Array spreading behavior is corrected
• ✅ init.ts properly handles array types
• ✅ Defensive checks prevent future issues with corrupted config data

This fix ensures that first-time initialization with npx karin init will complete successfully without errors.

Fixes #[issue_number]

Fixes #527

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