Automatically detect non-interactive environments and fall back to a manual, code-based authentication flow (#4475)

packages/core/src/utils/browser.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Determines if we should attempt to launch a browser for authentication
+ * based on the user's environment.
+ *
+ * This is an adaptation of the logic from the Google Cloud SDK.
+ * @returns True if the tool should attempt to launch a browser.
+ */
+export function shouldAttemptBrowserLaunch(): boolean {
+  // A list of browser names that indicate we should not attempt to open a
+  // web browser for the user.
+  const browserBlocklist = ['www-browser'];
+  const browserEnv = process.env.BROWSER;
+  if (browserEnv && browserBlocklist.includes(browserEnv)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  // Common environment variables used in CI/CD or other non-interactive shells.
+  if (process.env.CI || process.env.DEBIAN_FRONTEND === 'noninteractive') {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  // The presence of SSH_CONNECTION indicates a remote session.
+  // We should not attempt to launch a browser unless a display is explicitly available
+  // (checked below for Linux).
+  const isSSH = !!process.env.SSH_CONNECTION;
+
+  // On Linux, the presence of a display server is a strong indicator of a GUI.
+  if (process.platform === 'linux') {
+    // These are environment variables that can indicate a running compositor on
+    // Linux.
+    const displayVariables = ['DISPLAY', 'WAYLAND_DISPLAY', 'MIR_SOCKET'];
+    const hasDisplay = displayVariables.some((v) => !!process.env[v]);
+    if (!hasDisplay) {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // If in an SSH session on a non-Linux OS (e.g., macOS), don't launch browser.
+  // The Linux case is handled above (it's allowed if DISPLAY is set).
+  if (isSSH && process.platform !== 'linux') {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  // For non-Linux OSes, we generally assume a GUI is available
+  // unless other signals (like SSH) suggest otherwise.
+  // The `open` command's error handling will catch final edge cases.
+  return true;
+}