Cypress install download error not caught by installation script

[MikeMcC399]

Situation

If there is a download error using npm install to install Cypress using the shell installation script for Cypress factory/installScripts/cypress/default.sh and the directory /root/.cache is created, the script continues and does not pass the error to the caller. The exit code is then incorrect 0 (success):

child process exited with code 0

In the CircleCI config circle.yml, jobs which build and test images with Cypress included then fail when testing the image, instead of failing at the stage of image build. The image build reports success even if the npm install cypress step failed when it was trying to download the Cypress binary.

Logs

See https://app.circleci.com/pipelines/github/cypress-io/cypress-docker-images/2652/workflows/5a18425e-95d7-4476-99d9-fd575260ef75/jobs/82724 for an example:

• job "building docker image" shows

#12 [included included_image 9/1] RUN node /opt/installScripts/cypress/install-cypress-version.js 14.5.3
#12 0.153 Installing Cypress version  14.5.3
#12 12.87 npm error code 1
#12 12.87 npm error path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/cypress
#12 12.87 npm error command failed
#12 12.87 npm error command sh -c node index.js --exec install
#12 12.87 npm error [STARTED] Task without title.
#12 12.87 npm error The Cypress App could not be downloaded.
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error Does your workplace require a proxy to be used to access the Internet? If so, you must configure the HTTP_PROXY environment variable before downloading Cypress. Read more: https://on.cypress.io/proxy-configuration
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error Otherwise, please check network connectivity and try again:
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error ----------
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error URL: https://download.cypress.io/desktop/14.5.3?platform=linux&arch=x64
#12 12.87 npm error Error: Corrupted download
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error Expected downloaded file to have checksum: 57802c291754033bd352dbc9f4f916af46e72c556d9591647f104f041a1c1dabcbb37f5f81fe4b3409b664dabd44641b5aea50dcfbc246344549ba68c11066a1
#12 12.87 npm error Computed checksum: cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error Expected downloaded file to have size: 202953897
#12 12.87 npm error Computed size: 0
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error ----------
#12 12.87 npm error
#12 12.87 npm error Platform: linux-x64 (Debian - 12.11)
#12 12.87 npm error Cypress Version: 14.5.3
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] The Cypress App could not be downloaded.
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Does your workplace require a proxy to be used to access the Internet? If so, you must configure the HTTP_PROXY environment variable before downloading Cypress. Read more: https://on.cypress.io/proxy-configuration
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Otherwise, please check network connectivity and try again:
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] ----------
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] URL: https://download.cypress.io/desktop/14.5.3?platform=linux&arch=x64
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Error: Corrupted download
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Expected downloaded file to have checksum: 57802c291754033bd352dbc9f4f916af46e72c556d9591647f104f041a1c1dabcbb37f5f81fe4b3409b664dabd44641b5aea50dcfbc246344549ba68c11066a1
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Computed checksum: cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Expected downloaded file to have size: 202953897
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Computed size: 0
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] ----------
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED]
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Platform: linux-x64 (Debian - 12.11)
#12 12.87 npm error [FAILED] Cypress Version: 14.5.3
#12 12.87 npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /root/.npm/_logs/2025-07-25T15_23_47_180Z-debug-0.log
#12 12.90 child process exited with code 0
#12 DONE 13.0s

Suggestion

In the script factory/installScripts/cypress/default.sh, use set -e to ensure that a failure in npm install is reflected in the process exit code.

[MikeMcC399]

• PR to fix this issue is fix: catch Cypress installation script download error #1392

[MikeMcC399]

• The PR fix: catch Cypress installation script download error #1392 I submitted to resolve this issue by adding set -e to the script factory/installScripts/cypress/default.sh had to be closed as obsolete. The file it refers to was deleted.

• The above PR was overridden by PR fix: use a direct bash script instead of an intermediary node script to install Cypress in the factory #1390 which solved the issue and at the same time restructured the install script process for Cypress. This was fast-tracked (1 hour from submittal to merge) without much opportunity for considered feedback. Merging the install process for Cypress into one bash script means it is no longer aligned with each of the other install processes in factory/installScripts for the other components, which each share the installation task between a bash script and a Node.js JavaScript script. Time will tell if this was a good decision.

• Although it may have looked like it at the time on Friday Jul 25, 2025, the issue described here was not preventing the publishing of Cypress 14.5.3 images. It was just causing the error to be reported in the wrong place, in the test step instead of in the build step.

• The real cause of the error preventing publishing was in the Cloudflare corrupt delivery from https://cdn.cypress.io/desktop/14.5.3/linux-x64/cypress.zip. Cloudflare appears to have recovered on its own, 30 minutes after the last unsuccessful build, although I did see the same corrupt download issue occurring a day later in a GitHub Actions workflow. Cloudflare sets a Cache-Control max-age=14400 (4 hour) setting for this file. This may partially account for the spontaneous recovery.

Closing this issue as resolved.