fix(pty): update Node to 24.21 for upstream Linux EOF fix (VC-639)

[hussainph]

VC-639 — use the released libuv fix by updating Node

The missing bye-8 is a Linux PTY premature-EOF bug below node-pty, not an exit-ordering defect in our supervisor. The repository pinned Node 24.15.0 / libuv 1.51.0 for the plain-Node host/CI lane. libuv's fix 2e2114ed / #4997 for #4992 shipped in libuv 1.52.0; Node 24.16.0+ includes libuv 1.52.1 (nodejs/node#61829). Electron 44 already includes this fix.

Changes

• Pin .nvmrc and the host image to 24.21.0, the newest 24.x release in Node's release index. Update the image's tag and verified multi-arch digest together: sha256:0e0ff40c39bc087845bfb27465a0df4ea419520094bc35842ff83dd8cbe6f9b6.
• Raise the supported floor to ^24.16.0, retaining the repository's caret/24.x convention. Keep engineStrict, development diagnostics, README, contributing/build docs, and host packaging docs consistent. Workflows already use .nvmrc or the root manifest; no explicit workflow version needs changing. hostd packages that exact Node binary.
• Keep the real-shell 200kB output + UTF-8 tail before exit regression and the original bye-8 assertion unchanged.
• Remove the node-pty patch entirely, its guard-only tests and registration. Regenerated lockfile and desktop notices are byte-identical to the original baseline; node-pty is pristine 1.1.0. No supervisor, session-runtime or hostd composition changes.

Why not carry a patch?

The earlier before-EOF drain patch was independently verified as correct, but it overrode tty.ReadStream internals to work around a failure already fixed in a released runtime. Updating the lagging Node pin is smaller, upstream-owned and removes that maintenance burden. Waiting above node-pty was disproven and is not shipped either.

Before / after evidence

The independent review (.scratch/vc639-verify/review.md in the supervising checkout) measured pristine node-pty on native Linux arm64:

Runtime	Real-shell lost tails	Original attached-client assertion
Node 24.15.0, libuv 1.51.0	24/5,000	2/320
Node 24.21.0, libuv 1.52.1	0/25,000	0/320

Our additional original-assertion stress on Linux x64 emulation, Node 24.21.0 / libuv 1.52.1 with pristine node-pty: 500/500 passed, zero failures. Two 250-case test files, 2-CPU ceiling, configured maxWorkers=$VOLLI_CONCURRENCY_HINT (4 during this run). The harness asserted there was no installed linuxPtyEof.js, rebuilt node-pty from source under Node 24.21.0 (ABI 137), probed it, and successfully loaded/queried better-sqlite3 (SELECT 1). Scratch commands/results: .scratch/vc639/linux-x64/run.sh, container.sh, generate.mjs, logs/native-node21-normal-results.json; command: ITERATIONS=250 CPUS=2 bash .scratch/vc639/linux-x64/run.sh native-node21-normal.

Checks for this final approach

• vp check — pass.
• vp run --filter @volli/host-core typecheck — pass.
• (cd packages/host-core && vp test run src/pty src/db-open-failure.test.ts --maxWorkers=$VOLLI_CONCURRENCY_HINT) — 116 passed (102 PTY + 14 diagnostics).
• (cd apps/desktop && vp test run src/main/pty.test.ts --maxWorkers=$VOLLI_CONCURRENCY_HINT) — 224 passed.
• vp run --filter @volli/docs check — 0 errors/warnings/hints.
• Node preflight self-test/current runtime — pass; explicit floor probe rejects 24.15 and 25.x, accepts 24.16 and 24.21.
• Frozen offline install, pristine node-pty probe, notices self-test/check, git diff --check — pass. Local macOS checks used supported Node 24.18.0; new exact runtime/native-artifact verification is Linux stress and CI.

Final-head CI green on 009fe77948b1c2af5c20a5283f92bbabf20653d3: run 37276292647. gh pr checks 751 --watch --fail-fast exited 0; CI gate, Test (packages), all desktop shards/coverage and gating smoke lanes, Check + Build, and Build (host container) passed. Host-core in Linux CI: 4,181 passed, 4 platform-specific skipped; protected statements/branches/functions/lines 100%. The host image/deploy built pristine node-pty from source; native installation completed for better-sqlite3 (bundled N-API prebuild). Both pre-archive and shipped-artifact probes returned {"ok":true,"node":"24.21.0","better-sqlite3":"3.53.4","node-pty":"spawned /bin/sh",...}, and the artifact boot passed. The prior patch-head result is not used as verification of this revision.

Residual upstream case

libuv#5165 fixes a rarer remaining PTY EOF case in libuv 1.53.0. No released Node currently includes it; nodejs/node#66282 is open. It did not reproduce in the independent 25,000-run Node 24.21 sample. Revisit the runtime pin once a Node release ships libuv ≥1.53.0; this PR does not claim to fix that residual case or add a defensive patch for it.

Owner reviews/merges; no auto-merge.

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