Bundle Needle 2 as a built-in, default AI assistant

Ships the official Needle 2 CLI binary (Apache-2.0) baked into the ferrum
binary itself for windows/amd64, linux/amd64, linux/arm64, and
darwin/arm64 via go:embed behind per-platform build tags. No download,
no FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN, no manual provider setup on those platforms.

- internal/needle: resolveBinPath prefers an explicit FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN,
  otherwise extracts the embedded binary to a cache file on first use.
- Fixed a port collision: Needle's --serve defaulted to :8080, the same
  default as ferrum's own server; it now runs on a dedicated port.
- Fixed the real 'assistant times out' bug: Needle's tool-retrieval does
  a one-time embedding pass on its first request once the tool catalog
  exceeds 5 tools (ferrum declares 10), which routinely took longer than
  the old readiness check's 500ms-per-attempt retry loop allowed. Each
  cancelled attempt kept occupying Needle's single-threaded request
  loop, so retries piled up and never let a real response through.
  Replaced with two phases: cheap/retryable raw TCP dials until the
  socket accepts a connection, then exactly one real request allowed to
  run for the full startup budget.
  Subprocess stdout/stderr are now captured so a future failure surfaces
  a real reason instead of a bare timeout.
- seedBuiltinNeedleProvider now runs on every startup (not just fresh
  installs), idempotently upserting the built-in provider and always
  reasserting its model as the global default AI assistant.
- .gitignore: carved out an exception for the bundled Windows binary,
  which the blanket *.exe rule would otherwise have silently excluded.

.gitignore

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ config.yaml
 # Go build artifacts
 /ferrum
 *.exe
+!internal/needle/bundled/**/*.exe
 *.exe~
 *.dll
 *.so

README.md

@@ -155,13 +155,14 @@ Everything else — notifications, SSO details, security policy, system settings
 
 The AI Assistant and MCP tool-calling loop can use any OpenAI-chat-completions-compatible provider (OpenAI, Ollama, LM Studio, LocalAI, OpenRouter, ...) configured under **Settings > AI Providers**. There's also an optional zero-config, no-API-key, fully local option backed by [Needle 2](https://huggingface.co/Cactus-Compute/needle2) — a small (45M-parameter) tool-calling model that runs as a self-contained CLI binary with no GPU and no network access required at inference time.
 
-Ferrum does **not** download or bundle this binary itself — it's a third-party artifact only distributed from Hugging Face, and Ferrum never fetches executable content from the network on its own. To enable it:
+Needle 2 is Apache-2.0 licensed, so on **Windows, Linux, and macOS (amd64 or arm64)** Ferrum ships its official CLI binary baked into the `ferrum` binary itself (`internal/needle/bundled_*.go`, one per platform via `go:embed`) — nothing to download, nothing to configure. On a fresh install (no AI provider configured yet), Ferrum extracts it to a cache file and registers it automatically as the default assistant the first time it starts — no manual "Add provider" step needed. If you've already configured a provider, or want to add/re-add it yourself, use **Settings > AI Providers** > "Add provider" > the **Needle 2 (built-in, local)** preset.
 
-1. Download the `needle` CLI binary for your platform from the [Needle 2 files](https://huggingface.co/Cactus-Compute/needle2/tree/main) (the `linux/`, `macos/`, or `windows/` directory).
-2. Point Ferrum at it: set `FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN=/path/to/needle` (or `needleBinPath` in `config.yaml`) before starting Ferrum.
-3. In **Settings > AI Providers**, click "Add provider" and choose the **Needle 2 (built-in, local)** preset, then save.
+On any other platform (32-bit, RISC-V, Windows/ARM64, ...) there's no bundled binary — Ferrum still never fetches executable content from the network on its own. To enable it there:
 
-Ferrum starts the binary itself (as a local subprocess, `127.0.0.1`-only) the first time it's used, and stops it on shutdown. If `FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN` isn't set, or the file doesn't exist, this provider simply isn't usable — every other provider is unaffected.
+1. Download the `needle` CLI binary for your platform from the [Needle 2 files](https://huggingface.co/Cactus-Compute/needle2/tree/main).
+2. Point Ferrum at it: set `FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN=/path/to/needle` (or `needleBinPath` in `config.yaml`) before starting Ferrum. This also overrides the bundled binary on a supported platform, if you'd rather run a different build.
+
+Ferrum starts the binary itself (as a local subprocess, `127.0.0.1`-only) the first time it's used, and stops it on shutdown. If no binary is bundled for the platform and `FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN` isn't set (or doesn't exist), this provider simply isn't usable — every other provider is unaffected.
 
 ## API access, MCP, and audit logging
 

internal/api/ai_providers.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
@@ -18,6 +19,74 @@ import (
 	"ferrum/internal/needle"
 )
 
+// seedBuiltinNeedleProvider makes the built-in Needle 2 provider Ferrum's
+// default AI assistant, unconditionally, on every startup where a binary is
+// available for the running platform (bundled — see internal/needle's
+// go:embed — or FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN) — not just on a fresh install. It is
+// idempotent (matches the existing row by base_url = needle.BaseURL rather
+// than inserting a duplicate on every restart) and always (re)asserts its
+// model as THE global default, demoting whatever else held that spot: the
+// point of a *built-in* assistant is that it's always there and always
+// selected, with zero setup, on any install that has a binary for its
+// platform — that's a deliberate, standing product decision, not a
+// one-time fallback for an empty database.
+func (s *Server) seedBuiltinNeedleProvider(ctx context.Context) {
+	if !s.needle.Available() {
+		return
+	}
+	now := time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339)
+
+	var providerID string
+	err := s.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT id FROM ai_providers WHERE base_url = ?`, needle.BaseURL).Scan(&providerID)
+	switch {
+	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
+		providerID = uuid.NewString()
+		if _, err := s.db.ExecContext(ctx, `
+			INSERT INTO ai_providers (id, name, base_url, api_key_enc, model, is_enabled, is_default, created_at, updated_at)
+			VALUES (?, 'Needle 2 (built-in, local)', ?, NULL, '', 1, 0, ?, ?)`,
+			providerID, needle.BaseURL, now, now,
+		); err != nil {
+			slog.Error("seeding built-in needle provider", "error", err)
+			return
+		}
+	case err != nil:
+		slog.Error("looking up built-in needle provider", "error", err)
+		return
+	default:
+		// Already registered from a previous run — make sure it's still
+		// enabled even if an operator had switched it off.
+		if _, err := s.db.ExecContext(ctx, `UPDATE ai_providers SET is_enabled = 1, updated_at = ? WHERE id = ?`, now, providerID); err != nil {
+			slog.Error("re-enabling built-in needle provider", "error", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	var modelID string
+	err = s.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT id FROM ai_provider_models WHERE provider_id = ?`, providerID).Scan(&modelID)
+	switch {
+	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
+		modelID = uuid.NewString()
+		if _, err := s.db.ExecContext(ctx, `
+			INSERT INTO ai_provider_models (id, provider_id, label, model_id, is_default, created_at)
+			VALUES (?, ?, 'needle2', 'needle2', 1, ?)`,
+			modelID, providerID, now,
+		); err != nil {
+			slog.Error("seeding built-in needle model", "error", err)
+			return
+		}
+	case err != nil:
+		slog.Error("looking up built-in needle model", "error", err)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if err := s.clearOtherDefaultModels(ctx, modelID); err != nil {
+		slog.Error("clearing other default AI models", "error", err)
+		return
+	}
+	if _, err := s.db.ExecContext(ctx, `UPDATE ai_provider_models SET is_default = 1 WHERE id = ?`, modelID); err != nil {
+		slog.Error("setting built-in needle model as default", "error", err)
+	}
+}
+
 // aiModelDTO is one selectable model under a provider. label is the
 // human-facing name shown in pickers; modelID is the exact identifier sent
 // to the provider's API — kept distinct since they're frequently different

internal/api/ai_providers_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+package api
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"testing"
+
+	"ferrum/internal/needle"
+)
+
+// TestSeedBuiltinNeedleProviderIsDefaultAndSticky exercises the "built-in
+// assistant is always there and always the default" contract: New() already
+// seeds it once; this checks that a competing provider set as default gets
+// demoted back on the next seed pass (e.g. server restart), and that
+// re-seeding never creates a second built-in provider row.
+func TestSeedBuiltinNeedleProviderIsDefaultAndSticky(t *testing.T) {
+	env := newTestEnv(t)
+	if !env.server.needle.Available() {
+		t.Skip("no needle binary bundled/configured for this platform")
+	}
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	var providerCount int
+	if err := env.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ai_providers WHERE base_url = ?`, needle.BaseURL).Scan(&providerCount); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("counting needle providers: %v", err)
+	}
+	if providerCount != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exactly one built-in provider row after New(), got %d", providerCount)
+	}
+
+	// Simulate an operator adding another provider and making it the
+	// default — this must not survive the next seed pass.
+	if _, err := env.db.ExecContext(ctx, `
+		INSERT INTO ai_providers (id, name, base_url, model, is_enabled, is_default, created_at, updated_at)
+		VALUES ('other-provider', 'Other', 'https://example.com/v1', '', 1, 0, 'now', 'now')`); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("inserting competing provider: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := env.db.ExecContext(ctx, `
+		INSERT INTO ai_provider_models (id, provider_id, label, model_id, is_default, created_at)
+		VALUES ('other-model', 'other-provider', 'Other model', 'other', 1, 'now')`); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("inserting competing model: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	env.server.seedBuiltinNeedleProvider(ctx)
+
+	var defaultCount int
+	if err := env.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ai_provider_models WHERE is_default = 1`).Scan(&defaultCount); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("counting default models: %v", err)
+	}
+	if defaultCount != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exactly one default model, got %d", defaultCount)
+	}
+
+	var defaultProviderBaseURL string
+	if err := env.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `
+		SELECT p.base_url FROM ai_provider_models m
+		JOIN ai_providers p ON p.id = m.provider_id
+		WHERE m.is_default = 1`).Scan(&defaultProviderBaseURL); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("finding default provider: %v", err)
+	}
+	if defaultProviderBaseURL != needle.BaseURL {
+		t.Fatalf("expected the built-in Needle provider to be the default, got %q", defaultProviderBaseURL)
+	}
+
+	if err := env.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ai_providers WHERE base_url = ?`, needle.BaseURL).Scan(&providerCount); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("re-counting needle providers: %v", err)
+	}
+	if providerCount != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("re-seeding must not duplicate the built-in provider row, got %d", providerCount)
+	}
+}

internal/api/server.go

@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ func New(db *store.DB, authSvc *auth.Service, secretBox *secrets.Box, opts Serve
 		}
 		return out
 	})
+	s.seedBuiltinNeedleProvider(context.Background())
 	return s
 }
 

internal/needle/bundled/LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+
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+                           Version 2.0, January 2004
+                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/
+
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+      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
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+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
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+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
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internal/needle/bundled_darwin_arm64.go

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+//go:build darwin && arm64
+
+package needle
+
+import _ "embed"
+
+//go:embed bundled/darwin-arm64/needle
+var bundledBinary []byte
+
+const bundledName = "needle"

internal/needle/bundled_linux_amd64.go

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+//go:build linux && amd64
+
+package needle
+
+import _ "embed"
+
+//go:embed bundled/linux-amd64/needle
+var bundledBinary []byte
+
+const bundledName = "needle"

internal/needle/bundled_linux_arm64.go

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+//go:build linux && arm64
+
+package needle
+
+import _ "embed"
+
+//go:embed bundled/linux-arm64/needle
+var bundledBinary []byte
+
+const bundledName = "needle"

internal/needle/bundled_other.go

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+//go:build !((windows && amd64) || (linux && amd64) || (linux && arm64) || (darwin && arm64))
+
+// This file backs every platform Ferrum doesn't ship a bundled Needle 2
+// binary for (32-bit, RISC-V, Windows/ARM64, ...) — see the README "Built-in
+// LLM (Needle 2)" section for the full platform list Needle itself supports.
+// An operator on one of those can still point FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN at a binary
+// they downloaded themselves; only the auto-bundled fallback is unavailable.
+package needle
+
+var bundledBinary []byte
+
+const bundledName = ""

internal/needle/bundled_windows_amd64.go

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+//go:build windows && amd64
+
+package needle
+
+import _ "embed"
+
+//go:embed bundled/windows-amd64/needle.exe
+var bundledBinary []byte
+
+const bundledName = "needle.exe"

internal/needle/needle.go

@@ -3,15 +3,17 @@
 // self-contained CLI binary — as a zero-config, no-API-key "built-in" AI
 // provider for Ferrum's AI Assistant and MCP tool-calling loop.
 //
-// Ferrum does not download, bundle, or execute this binary automatically:
-// it is a proprietary third-party artifact (CLI binary or WASM component)
-// distributed only from Hugging Face, and Ferrum never fetches executable
-// content from the network on its own. An operator who wants this provider
-// must download the CLI binary for their platform themselves and point
-// FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN (or the default ./data/needle/needle[.exe]) at it — see
-// README "Built-in LLM (Needle 2)" for the exact steps. Available() reports
-// false, and every call fails with a clear "not installed" error, until
-// that file exists.
+// Needle 2 is Apache-2.0, so its official CLI binary (bundled_*.go, one
+// per platform, go:embed'd behind build tags) ships baked into the Ferrum
+// binary itself for Windows/Linux/macOS on amd64 or arm64 — no download, no
+// FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN, no manual step; resolveBinPath extracts it to a cache
+// file on first use. On any other platform (32-bit, RISC-V, Windows/ARM64,
+// ...) Ferrum still never fetches executable content from the network on
+// its own: an operator there must download the CLI binary themselves and
+// point FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN at it — see README "Built-in LLM (Needle 2)" for
+// the exact steps. Available() reports false, and every call fails with a
+// clear "not installed" error, until a binary (bundled or configured) is in
+// place.
 //
 // Needle's own HTTP server (`needle --serve`) is NOT OpenAI-compatible: it
 // takes a single `{"input": "..."}` string per request (no message history,
@@ -28,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
@@ -46,16 +49,25 @@ const BaseURL = "needle://local"
 // IsBuiltin reports whether baseURL names the built-in Needle provider.
 func IsBuiltin(baseURL string) bool { return baseURL == BaseURL }
 
-// listenAddr is where the Needle CLI's --serve mode listens. The README
-// excerpt Ferrum was built against documents no --port flag (just "runs on
-// localhost:8080"), so this is fixed rather than guessed at — a future
-// Needle build that adds one can have this promoted to a Manager field.
-const listenAddr = "127.0.0.1:8080"
+// listenPort/listenAddr is where the Needle CLI's --serve mode listens.
+// Needle defaults --serve to :8080, which collides with Ferrum's own
+// default server.addr (also :8080, see config.example.yaml) — a Needle
+// subprocess started after Ferrum would fail to bind and never become
+// ready. `--port` (undocumented in the model card's README, but present in
+// the actual CLI's --help) moves it out of the way; the chosen value just
+// needs to avoid Ferrum's own port and other common local dev ports.
+const listenPort = "58211"
+const listenAddr = "127.0.0.1:" + listenPort
 
 // startTimeout bounds how long ensureRunning waits for a freshly spawned
 // process to answer its first request before giving up and reporting the
-// binary as unusable this run.
-const startTimeout = 10 * time.Second
+// binary as unusable this run. Generous because it isn't just a TCP-accept
+// wait: Needle's "tool retrieval" (README) does a one-time embedding pass
+// over every declared tool on the process's first request once the catalog
+// exceeds 5 tools — true for Ferrum's real catalog — so cold start plus
+// first-inference warmup can run a few seconds even though the listener
+// itself comes up almost immediately.
+const startTimeout = 20 * time.Second
 
 // Manager owns the lifecycle of at most one Needle CLI subprocess — "each
 // component instance owns one conversation" per the model's own docs, and
@@ -74,15 +86,76 @@ func NewManager(binPath string) *Manager {
 	return &Manager{binPath: binPath}
 }
 
-// Available reports whether the configured binary exists — used to hide/
-// disable the built-in provider in the UI and to fail fast with a clear
-// message instead of an opaque connection error.
+// syncBuffer is bytes.Buffer plus a mutex, so it's safe as an exec.Cmd's
+// Stdout/Stderr (written from the subprocess-reading goroutines the os/exec
+// package spawns internally) while ensureRunning's own goroutine reads it
+// via String() to build an error message.
+type syncBuffer struct {
+	mu  sync.Mutex
+	buf bytes.Buffer
+}
+
+func (b *syncBuffer) Write(p []byte) (int, error) {
+	b.mu.Lock()
+	defer b.mu.Unlock()
+	return b.buf.Write(p)
+}
+
+func (b *syncBuffer) String() string {
+	b.mu.Lock()
+	defer b.mu.Unlock()
+	return strings.TrimSpace(b.buf.String())
+}
+
+// Available reports whether a usable binary exists — either the one an
+// operator configured, or (see resolveBinPath) the one bundled for this
+// platform — used to hide/disable the built-in provider in the UI and to
+// fail fast with a clear message instead of an opaque connection error.
 func (m *Manager) Available() bool {
-	if m.binPath == "" {
-		return false
+	_, err := m.resolveBinPath()
+	return err == nil
+}
+
+// resolveBinPath returns the binary path this Manager will actually run: an
+// operator-configured FERRUM_NEEDLE_BIN wins outright (an explicit choice
+// should never be silently overridden); otherwise, if this platform has one
+// baked in via go:embed (see bundled_*.go — Windows/Linux/macOS on amd64 or
+// arm64), it's written out to a cache file once and reused, so Ferrum works
+// with zero manual download/config on the platforms it ships a binary for.
+func (m *Manager) resolveBinPath() (string, error) {
+	if m.binPath != "" {
+		info, err := os.Stat(m.binPath)
+		if err != nil || info.IsDir() {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("configured needle binary not found at %q", m.binPath)
+		}
+		return m.binPath, nil
 	}
-	info, err := os.Stat(m.binPath)
-	return err == nil && !info.IsDir()
+	if len(bundledBinary) == 0 {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no needle binary bundled for this platform")
+	}
+	return extractBundled()
+}
+
+// extractBundled writes the embedded binary to a stable cache path once,
+// skipping the write if a file of the exact same size is already there
+// (cheap enough to check every call, avoids re-extracting ~15MB on every
+// startup). Not content-hashed — ponytail: a corrupted cache file that
+// happens to match the size would be reused as-is; delete the cache
+// directory by hand if that's ever suspected, a byte-for-byte checksum isn't
+// worth it for a file this binary only ever writes itself.
+func extractBundled() (string, error) {
+	dir := filepath.Join(os.TempDir(), "ferrum-needle-bin")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("preparing needle cache dir: %w", err)
+	}
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, bundledName)
+	if info, err := os.Stat(path); err == nil && info.Size() == int64(len(bundledBinary)) {
+		return path, nil
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, bundledBinary, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("extracting bundled needle binary: %w", err)
+	}
+	return path, nil
 }
 
 // Close stops the subprocess, if running. Safe to call even if it was never
@@ -113,8 +186,9 @@ func (m *Manager) closeLocked() {
 // process is spawned. Add real supervision if Needle proves flaky in
 // practice; nothing observed in its docs suggests it will be.
 func (m *Manager) ensureRunning(ctx context.Context) error {
-	if !m.Available() {
-		return fmt.Errorf("needle binary not found at %q — see README \"Built-in LLM (Needle 2)\" for install steps", m.binPath)
+	binPath, err := m.resolveBinPath()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w — see README \"Built-in LLM (Needle 2)\" for install steps", err)
 	}
 
 	m.mu.Lock()
@@ -129,7 +203,16 @@ func (m *Manager) ensureRunning(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("writing needle tools file: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	cmd := exec.Command(m.binPath, "--tools", toolsPath, "--serve")
+	cmd := exec.Command(binPath, "--tools", toolsPath, "--serve", "--port", listenPort)
+	// Captured rather than discarded: without this, a subprocess that
+	// starts and immediately exits (bad args, missing runtime dep, port
+	// already taken from outside our own bookkeeping) fails completely
+	// silently — ensureRunning just spins until startTimeout with no clue
+	// why. logBuf is small (Needle logs one line on startup) so keeping it
+	// in memory for the process's lifetime is fine.
+	var logBuf syncBuffer
+	cmd.Stdout = &logBuf
+	cmd.Stderr = &logBuf
 	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("starting needle: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -139,8 +222,10 @@ func (m *Manager) ensureRunning(ctx context.Context) error {
 	// so the next ensureRunning call notices and respawns instead of trying
 	// to reuse a dead process — Signal(0)-style liveness checks aren't
 	// reliably supported cross-platform (notably on Windows), but Wait() is.
+	exited := make(chan struct{})
 	go func() {
 		_ = cmd.Wait()
+		close(exited)
 		m.mu.Lock()
 		if m.cmd == cmd {
 			m.running = false
@@ -149,21 +234,71 @@ func (m *Manager) ensureRunning(ctx context.Context) error {
 		m.mu.Unlock()
 	}()
 
-	deadline := time.Now().Add(startTimeout)
-	for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
-		// Any completed HTTP round-trip — even a Needle-side error response
-		// — proves the server is accepting connections; only a transport
-		// failure (connection refused, still starting up) means "not ready".
-		pingCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 500*time.Millisecond)
+	// Two phases, deliberately not one poll loop of full requests: dialing a
+	// bare TCP connection (no bytes sent) is cheap and safe to retry while
+	// the listener is still coming up, but a real /complete round-trip is
+	// not — Needle serves one request at a time, and a real request that
+	// gets cancelled client-side keeps running server-side, so retrying
+	// *those* on a short timeout just piles up work that never finishes
+	// (see startTimeout's doc comment on why that first request is slow).
+	// So: poll the bare socket until something answers, then send exactly
+	// one real request and let it run.
+	select {
+	case <-waitForListener(ctx, listenAddr, startTimeout):
+	case <-exited:
+		return fmt.Errorf("needle exited immediately: %s", logBuf.String())
+	}
+
+	pingCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, startTimeout)
+	pingErr := make(chan error, 1)
+	go func() {
 		_, _, err := doComplete(pingCtx, "ping")
+		pingErr <- err
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case err := <-pingErr:
 		cancel()
 		if err == nil {
 			return nil
 		}
-		time.Sleep(150 * time.Millisecond)
+		m.closeLocked()
+		return fmt.Errorf("needle did not become ready within %s (%v): %s", startTimeout, err, logBuf.String())
+	case <-exited:
+		cancel()
+		// Crashed (or exited) before ever answering a request — no point
+		// waiting out the rest of startTimeout. logBuf carries whatever it
+		// printed (its own error, a missing dependency, license/arch
+		// mismatch, ...) so this isn't a bare "not ready".
+		return fmt.Errorf("needle exited immediately: %s", logBuf.String())
 	}
-	m.closeLocked()
-	return fmt.Errorf("needle did not become ready within %s", startTimeout)
+}
+
+// waitForListener returns a channel that closes as soon as addr accepts a
+// bare TCP connection, or when timeout elapses (whichever first) — the
+// caller distinguishes the two via the connection's own read/request
+// afterward, so this never needs to report which happened. Only a raw dial
+// is retried here; see ensureRunning for why a real request isn't.
+func waitForListener(ctx context.Context, addr string, timeout time.Duration) <-chan struct{} {
+	ready := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() {
+		defer close(ready)
+		deadline := time.Now().Add(timeout)
+		for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
+			d := net.Dialer{Timeout: 200 * time.Millisecond}
+			conn, err := d.DialContext(ctx, "tcp", addr)
+			if err == nil {
+				conn.Close()
+				return
+			}
+			select {
+			case <-ctx.Done():
+				return
+			case <-time.After(50 * time.Millisecond):
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+	return ready
 }
 
 // --- request/response translation ---

internal/needle/needle_test.go

@@ -14,18 +14,49 @@ func TestIsBuiltin(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// withNoBundledBinary simulates running on a platform Ferrum doesn't embed
+// a Needle binary for (see bundled_other.go), so tests of the "nothing
+// available" path aren't at the mercy of which OS/arch actually runs them —
+// every supported CI platform (windows/amd64, linux/amd64, linux/arm64,
+// darwin/arm64) now has one baked in via go:embed.
+func withNoBundledBinary(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Helper()
+	orig := bundledBinary
+	bundledBinary = nil
+	t.Cleanup(func() { bundledBinary = orig })
+}
+
 func TestAvailableFalseWhenBinaryMissing(t *testing.T) {
+	withNoBundledBinary(t)
 	m := NewManager("")
 	if m.Available() {
-		t.Fatal("expected Available() to be false with no configured path")
+		t.Fatal("expected Available() to be false with no configured path and no bundled binary")
 	}
 	m2 := NewManager("/does/not/exist/needle")
 	if m2.Available() {
-		t.Fatal("expected Available() to be false for a nonexistent path")
+		t.Fatal("expected Available() to be false for a nonexistent configured path")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAvailableTrueWhenBundled(t *testing.T) {
+	if len(bundledBinary) == 0 {
+		t.Skip("no binary bundled for this platform")
+	}
+	m := NewManager("")
+	if !m.Available() {
+		t.Fatal("expected Available() to be true when a binary is bundled for this platform and no override is configured")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExplicitBinPathWinsOverBundled(t *testing.T) {
+	m := NewManager("/does/not/exist/needle")
+	if m.Available() {
+		t.Fatal("an explicitly configured (but missing) path must not silently fall back to the bundled binary")
 	}
 }
 
 func TestChatCompletionFailsClearlyWhenNotInstalled(t *testing.T) {
+	withNoBundledBinary(t)
 	m := NewManager("")
 	_, status, err := m.ChatCompletion(context.Background(), []map[string]any{{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}}, nil)
 	if err == nil {
@@ -37,6 +68,7 @@ func TestChatCompletionFailsClearlyWhenNotInstalled(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestTestConnectionFailsClearlyWhenNotInstalled(t *testing.T) {
+	withNoBundledBinary(t)
 	m := NewManager("")
 	if _, err := m.TestConnection(context.Background()); err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("expected an error when the binary isn't installed")