diff --git a/setup/scripts/link-vicinae-scripts b/setup/scripts/link-vicinae-scripts
index fc5a19b..da80fb3 100755
--- a/setup/scripts/link-vicinae-scripts
+++ b/setup/scripts/link-vicinae-scripts
@@ -60,6 +60,22 @@ ln -s "$source_dir" "$target_dir"
 # extension that did not build is a launcher missing one command, not a desktop
 # that failed to install.
 extensions_source="$panama_path/config/local/share/vicinae/extensions"
+
+# npm comes from nvm, and nvm is a shell function in a file that only an
+# interactive shell sources. A stage is not one, so without this npm is simply
+# absent and the build below is skipped -- silently, which is the whole problem.
+#
+# This machine hid the bug: /usr/sbin/npm existed, but only because Claude
+# Desktop depends on nodejs and dragged it in. A machine without that would have
+# installed the launcher and quietly not built its search extension.
+if [[ -s /etc/profile.d/nvm.sh ]] && ! command -v npm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    # nvm's script reads unset variables, which `set -u` treats as fatal.
+    set +u
+    # shellcheck source=/dev/null
+    source /etc/profile.d/nvm.sh
+    set -u
+fi
+
 if [[ -d "$extensions_source" ]] && command -v npm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     for extension in "$extensions_source"/*/; do
         [[ -f "$extension/package.json" ]] || continue
diff --git a/tests/setup/launcher-search-contract b/tests/setup/launcher-search-contract
index 0191719..f48c118 100755
--- a/tests/setup/launcher-search-contract
+++ b/tests/setup/launcher-search-contract
@@ -103,6 +103,14 @@ grep -q 'npm run build' "$stage" \
 grep -q 'command -v npm' "$stage" \
     || note 'the extension build does not check for npm, so a machine without it fails the stage'
 
+# Checking for npm is not enough. Node comes from nvm, whose script only an
+# interactive shell sources -- and a stage is not one, so npm is absent unless
+# the stage goes and gets it. This machine hid that: a system npm existed only
+# because Claude Desktop depends on nodejs. Without this line, a fresh install
+# builds no extension and says so in one line nobody reads.
+grep -q '/etc/profile.d/nvm.sh' "$stage" \
+    || note 'the extension build never sources nvm, so npm is missing on any machine without a system node'
+
 # node_modules is a dependency tree, not configuration.
 git -C "$repo_dir" check-ignore -q "$extension/node_modules" 2>/dev/null \
     || note 'the extension node_modules is not gitignored'