Wrangler “write EOF” on Windows: The Actual Fix

Source: Dev.to

Problem

Developers using Cloudflare Wrangler (or Astro with the Cloudflare adapter) on Windows may encounter a cryptic “write EOF” error when trying to start their project.

Investigation

1. Initial workaround – Running install_tools.bat (as suggested in a GitHub comment) resolved the error, but it installed many unnecessary components:

   • Python
   • Visual Studio core files
   • Various SDK files

2. Targeted approach – The most logical component seemed to be Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools. Installing it via winget:

   winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools --override "--wait --quiet --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools"

   This also fixed the error but still pulled in a large set of extra tools (VS Core, editor fonts, parts of the Windows SDK).

3. Minimal test – After cleaning the system, the only remaining Microsoft packages were the Visual C++ 2015–2022 Redistributables (both x64 and x86). Removing everything else (including the Build Tools) still left the error absent.

4. Verification – Uninstalling the VC++ Redistributables caused the error to return immediately. Re‑installing them fixed it again. A fresh Windows VM confirmed that only the VC++ Redistributable is required; no Build Tools, SDKs, or Python are needed.

Solution

Install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2022 Redistributable (both x64 and x86) on Windows.

# Download and install the redistributables from Microsoft:
# https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

After installing these runtimes, Wrangler starts normally and the “write EOF” error disappears.

Why This Works

Wrangler depends on native Node.js modules that require the Visual C++ runtime on Windows. When the runtime is missing, the low‑level process communication fails, resulting in a generic “write EOF” stream error rather than a clear missing‑dependency message. Providing the VC++ runtime satisfies this requirement.

Conclusion

The extensive solutions found online (e.g., running install_tools.bat or installing full Visual Studio Build Tools) are unnecessary and clutter the system. Installing only the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015–2022 Redistributable (x64 and x86) is the minimal, clean fix for the “write EOF” error in Cloudflare Wrangler on Windows.

You can see a concise summary of the problem and the steps taken in my GitHub gist.