User-unfriendly error when adding a new plugin · vercel/hyper#2262

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help wanted🎨 Type: Enhancement

Description

I am on the latest Hyper.app version (specifically,
I have searched the issues of this repo and believe that this is not a duplicate
OS version and name: macOS High Sierra 10.13 Beta (17A362a)
Hyper.app version: Hyper.app 2.0.2
Link of a Gist with the contents of your .hyper.js: https://gist.github.com/ELLIOTTCABLE/6e13466d98f891f5d48afb7bd09c23e2
The issue is reproducible in vanilla Hyper.app: N/A

Issue

When installing a plugin the ‘cool’ way (modifying ~/.hyper.js while the terminal is running, adding a line, hitting save), the user-experience is actually pretty great — no strange errors, then suddenly a notification that the user can reload to see the changes. Cool!

However, if a more traditional method is employed — quitting the application before modifying its configuration — the experience is pretty unintuitive. If I quit, then add an entry to ~/.hyper.js, and then launch Hyper, I see this:

screen shot 2017-09-21 at 17 46 59

… followed by no further retraction or indication that, oh, hey, it just hadn't installed yet, everything is kosher now.

The “load plugins on initial launch” process needs to be modified to be as user-friendly if a package is not-yet-installed as the hot-reloading process! (=

Contributor guide

Tech stack: typescriptreactnodejs
Domain: desktopdeveloper experience
Issue type: bug
Difficulty: 2
Estimated time: under 1 hour
Activity status: fresh
Clarity: mostly clear
Prerequisites: basic understanding of Electronknowledge of Hyper plugin system
Newbie friendliness: 80
Research direction: Examine the plugin loading code in Hyper, specifically the initialization sequence when the app starts. Compare with the hot reload path that shows a friendly notification. Look for where error messages are generated (likely in the plugin loader module, e.g., 'plugin loader.ts' or similar). The fix should ensure that if a plugin is not yet installed on initial launch, it either waits or provides a clear message instead of an unhelpful error. Consider adding a timeout or retry mechanism with user feedback.