fix windows binding

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ jobs:
         with:
           node-version: 22
           cache: npm
+      # windows-latest is Windows Server 2025 with Visual Studio 2026, which the
+      # node-gyp bundled with the runner's npm (11.5) reports as "unknown
+      # version undefined" and then gives up on. node-gyp learned VS 18 in
+      # 12.1.0 and npm 12 bundles 13.
+      - if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+        run: npm install -g npm@^12
       # npm ci builds the addon through the install script (node-gyp-build)
       - run: npm ci
       - run: npm run binding-test

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ jobs:
         with:
           node-version: 22
           cache: npm
+      # the Windows runner's own npm bundles a node-gyp too old to see the
+      # Visual Studio 2026 on that image; see ci.yml
+      - if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+        run: npm install -g npm@^12
       - run: npm ci
       - run: npm run prebuildify
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4

CLAUDE.md

@@ -100,6 +100,14 @@ Releasing needs three things to line up:
 The arm64 Linux runner (`ubuntu-24.04-arm`) is free for public repositories only. `tree-sitter build --wasm`
 runs Emscripten through Docker, which the ubuntu runners provide.
 
+**Windows needs a newer npm than its runner ships.** `windows-latest` is Windows Server 2025 **with Visual
+Studio 2026**, and the node-gyp bundled with that image's npm (11.5.0) reads VS 18 as
+`unknown version "undefined"` and then reports "Could not find any Visual Studio installation to use", so
+`npm ci` fails in the install script. node-gyp learned VS 2026 in 12.1.0 and npm 12 bundles 13, which is why
+both jobs that compile the addon there — CI's Node binding and the release's `prebuild` — install `npm@^12`
+first. Pinning `windows-2022` instead would work, at the price of testing against a toolchain the image no
+longer has. Installs of the published package never meet this: they unpack a prebuild and never run node-gyp.
+
 **The npm package must carry its prebuilds**, or `npm install` runs `node-gyp-build`, finds nothing and
 compiles, which fails on an image without `python3`, `make` and a compiler — `node:20-slim`, for instance.
 0.1.0 was published by hand before the workflow existed and shipped none, which is what that image hit. The