SessionStart always-on hook silently no-ops when CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT is not exported (Claude Code desktop app, macOS) #129

Summary

On the Claude Code desktop app (macOS, Claude Code 2.1.241), the always-on SessionStart hook silently does nothing. No banner, no error, exit 0. ADHD mode never loads and there is no signal that anything went wrong.

The shipped hook command is:

"command": "node -e \"(async()=>{const root=process.env.CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT||process.env.PLUGIN_ROOT;if(root)await import(...)})().catch(()=>{})\""

The desktop app substitutes ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} into hook args, but does not export CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT into the hook process environment. So root is undefined, the if (root) guard skips the import, and the process exits 0 having done nothing.

This appears to be a regression introduced by the fix for #70: moving from sh "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/always-on.sh" (template substitution) to reading the env var at runtime. #70 at least failed loudly; this fails silently.

Evidence

Same machine, same install, same ~/.claude/.i-have-adhd-always flag present, plugin enabled=true.

Terminal claude — works:

[DEBUG] Loading hooks from plugin: i-have-adhd
[DEBUG] Hook SessionStart:startup (SessionStart) success:
ADHD MODE ACTIVE (always-on). ...

Desktop app, same session start type (SessionStart:clear) — no banner. Another plugin's SessionStart hook in the same session fired normally, so hooks themselves are working; that plugin uses "args": ["${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/activate.js"] (substitution) rather than reading the env var.

Reproducing the no-op directly:

$ env -u CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT -u PLUGIN_ROOT node -e "(async()=>{const root=process.env.CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT||process.env.PLUGIN_ROOT;if(root)await import(...)})().catch(()=>{})"
$ echo $?
0

No output, no error.

Why this is worse than a crash

The if (root) guard and the .catch(()=>{}) together make every failure invisible. A user with always-on enabled has no way to tell that the ruleset isn't loading — the agent just quietly behaves normally. I lost a while assuming the plugin wasn't installed.

Suggested fix

The repo already ships hooks/always-on.sh, which resolves its own path from $0 and needs no env var. The Node path just never falls back to it. Two options:

1. Fall back when root is missing. Resolve relative to the hook script's own location — e.g. derive from import.meta.url / __filename instead of trusting the env var, which removes the dependency entirely.
2. Chain in hooks.json: keep the Node hook, add the POSIX hook as a second SessionStart entry guarded so only one produces output.

Option 1 seems cleaner and would also have prevented #70.

At minimum, consider making the failure visible — a one-line stderr note when root is absent would have made this a two-minute diagnosis instead of a hunt.

Environment

• macOS 15 (Darwin 25.6.0)
• Claude Code 2.1.241, desktop app
• i-have-adhd 0.2.0, installed via marketplace, enabled=true
• CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR unset, flag at ~/.claude/.i-have-adhd-always present