BUG: Found by my openclaw: puter-cli@2.0.0: commands like "apps" / "sites" throw "Call initPuterModule() first" (uncaught exception, non-zero exit)

[logclinker]

Summary

puter-cli crashes with an uncaught exception when running some normal commands (apps, sites), making automation unreliable.

It often prints partial output first, then throws:

Error: Call initPuterModule() first

───

Environment

• puter-cli version: 2.0.0
• Node.js: v20.19.4
• OS: Linux (Docker container)
• Base image used: nodered/node-red:latest
• Invocation mode: non-interactive shell (sh -lc), also reproducible in direct shell

───

Reproduction

1. Install CLI:

npm install -g puter-cli@2.0.0

2. Run:

puter apps

3. Also reproduces with:

puter sites

───

Actual behavior

puter apps prints initial text:

Listing of apps during period "all" (try also: today, yesterday, 7d, 30d, this_month, last_month):

Then throws:

file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/src/modules/PuterModule.js:27
throw new Error("Call initPuterModule() first");
^

Error: Call initPuterModule() first
at getPuter (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/src/modules/PuterModule.js:27:11)
at listApps (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/src/commands/apps.js:27:19)
at Command. (file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/bin/index.js:63:13)
at Command.listener [as _actionHandler] (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/node_modules/commander/lib/command.js:552:17)
at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/node_modules/commander/lib/command.js:1586:14
at Command._chainOrCall (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/node_modules/commander/lib/command.js:1470:12)
at Command._parseCommand (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/puter-cli/node_modules/commander/lib/command.js:1585:27)
...
Node.js v20.19.4

puter sites shows a similar stack trace (via commands/subdomains.js / commands/sites.js).

───

Expected behavior

• Command should exit cleanly (0) when successful, or
• Return a handled/user-friendly error (no uncaught exception) if initialization/auth is missing.

───

Impact

• Breaks CI/automation/Node-RED exec workflows
• Produces partial stdout + failure exit code (hard to handle reliably)
• Forces stderr suppression workarounds (2>/dev/null) to avoid noisy failures

───

Suspected root cause

Initialization ordering issue: getPuter() appears to be called before module init in some command handlers (apps, sites).

───

Additional notes

• puter app --help works normally in the same environment.
• This appears command-path specific, not global binary corruption.

[reynaldichernando]

hi @logclinker , thanks for opening an issue
this would be more appropriate in the cli repo at https://github.com/HeyPuter/puter-cli

but i'll take a look at this