@ruvector/edge-net fails to install on Apple Silicon (wrtc dependency missing darwin-arm64 prebuilt)

[stuinfla]

Problem

@ruvector/edge-net@0.5.3 fails to install on Apple Silicon Macs (M-series) because it depends on wrtc@^0.4.7, which has no prebuilt binary for darwin-arm64.

Environment

• Node.js: v22.13.1
• Architecture: darwin arm64 (Apple M3 Max)
• macOS: 26.3.1
• npm: 10.x
• Package: @ruvector/edge-net@0.5.3

Error

npm install -g @ruvector/edge-net@latest

node-pre-gyp http GET https://node-webrtc.s3.amazonaws.com/wrtc/v0.4.7/Release/darwin-arm64.tar.gz
node-pre-gyp ERR! install response status 404 Not Found on https://node-webrtc.s3.amazonaws.com/wrtc/v0.4.7/Release/darwin-arm64.tar.gz

The wrtc npm package (v0.4.7) never shipped Apple Silicon prebuilt binaries. The S3 bucket only has darwin-x64 builds. Since wrtc appears to be unmaintained, this is unlikely to be fixed upstream.

Reproduction

# On any Apple Silicon Mac with Node 22+
npm install -g @ruvector/edge-net@latest
# Fails with 404 on wrtc prebuilt download

Suggested Fix

One of:

1. Make wrtc an optional dependency — so edge-net installs even without WebRTC support on unsupported platforms
2. Switch to @roamhq/wrtc — a maintained fork with Apple Silicon prebuilt binaries
3. Remove wrtc dependency — if WebRTC is not core to edge-net's functionality, make it a peer dependency that users install separately

Impact

This prevents @ruvector/edge-net from being installed on any Apple Silicon Mac, which is the majority of modern Mac development machines. The package directory exists in node_modules but is non-functional (missing native binary).

[ruvnet]

Thanks for reporting this, @stuinfla. You're right that wrtc@0.4.7 is effectively unmaintained and never shipped Apple Silicon prebuilts.

Fix plan: We'll make wrtc an optional dependency and switch the WebRTC backend to @roamhq/wrtc which maintains darwin-arm64 prebuilts. For environments where neither is available, edge-net will gracefully degrade to non-WebRTC transports (WebSocket, TCP).

This will be included in the next @ruvector/edge-net release.