Preflight check... FAILED

[Stephen-SMJ]

I am using kimi-cli and configured the topic in config.arc.yaml
When I run
researchclaw run --config config.arc.yaml --auto-approve.

The terminal presented an error:

Preflight check... FAILED — ACP session init failed: Failed to create ACP session: file:///usr/local/lib/node_modules/acpx/dist/cli.js:72
        sessionModulePromise ??= import("./session-BtwAKtJ3.js").then((n) => n.t);
                              ^

SyntaxError: Unexpected token '?'
    at Loader.moduleStrategy (internal/modules/esm/translators.js:133:18)
    at async link (internal/modules/esm/module_job.js:42:21)

[Stephen-SMJ]

researchclaw doctor:
ResearchClaw Doctor Report (2026-04-20T17:26:04+00:00)
✅ python_version: Python 3.12.13
✅ yaml_import: PyYAML import ok
✅ config_valid: Config validation ok
✅ acp_agent: ACP agent found: /home/xxx/.local/bin/kimi
✅ sandbox_python: Sandbox python found: /home/xxx/miniconda3/envs/ar/bin/python
✅ matplotlib: matplotlib import ok
✅ experiment_mode: Experiment mode: sandbox
Result: PASS

[Jiaaqiliu]

Hi @Stephen-SMJ, this error is caused by your Node.js version being too old. The ??= operator (nullish coalescing assignment) requires Node.js v15.0+, and acpx generally requires Node.js v18+.

The error:

SyntaxError: Unexpected token '?'

means your Node.js doesn't understand modern JavaScript syntax.

Fix: Upgrade Node.js to v18 or later:

# Check current version
node --version

# Install Node.js v18+ (using nvm)
nvm install 18
nvm use 18

# Or install directly
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Then retry:

researchclaw run --config config.arc.yaml --auto-approve

This is not a ResearchClaw bug — it's an environment dependency requirement. We'll add a Node.js version check to researchclaw doctor in a future update.

[Stephen-SMJ]

Hi, I upgraded the node's version and ran it again. Now the error comes to be :
(ar) /proj/AutoResearchClaw$ researchclaw run --config config.arc.yaml --auto-approve
Preflight check... FAILED — ACP session init failed: Failed to create ACP session: (intermediate value).filter(...).map(...).toSorted is not a function