Language server crashes with SIGILL on CPUs without AES-NI support

Google Antigravity
1

[Bug Report] Language server crashes with SIGILL on CPUs without AES-NI support (Intel Celeron B815)

Summary

Antigravity language server crashes immediately on startup with a fatal SIGILL signal on processors that do not support AES-NI instructions. The main editor window launches successfully, but all AI features are unavailable.

Environment

  • Antigravity Version: 1.19.6-1772152296
  • OS: Linux Mint (Ubuntu Noble / 24.04 base)
  • CPU: Intel Celeron B815 @ 1.60GHz
  • AES-NI support: No (confirmed via /proc/cpuinfo)
  • Architecture: x86_64
  • Installation method: apt via Google repository (us-central1-apt.pkg.dev)

Steps to reproduce

  1. Install Antigravity on a machine with a CPU that has no AES-NI support
  2. Launch Antigravity
  3. Observe the notification: *“Antigravity server crashed unexpectedly. Please restart to fully restore AI features.”
  4. Clicking “Reload” does not help — crash loop repeats indefinitely

Error from logs

From exthost.log:

FATAL ERROR: This binary was compiled with aes enabled, but this feature is not available on this processor (go/sigill-fail-fast).
Language server killed with signal SIGILL
Failed to start language server: Error: Language server exited before sending start data
LS startLanguageServer error: Language server exited before sending start data
Activating extension google.antigravity failed due to an error:
Error: Language server has not been started!

From main.log:

SQLITE_READONLY_DBMOVED: attempt to write a readonly database
Extension host with pid 10575 exited with code: 0, signal: unknown.

Root cause analysis

The Antigravity language server binary is compiled with mandatory AES hardware acceleration. On processors without AES-NI (such as Intel Celeron B815 and other older/budget CPUs), the binary terminates immediately with SIGILL (Illegal Instruction). There is no software fallback.

Verification:

grep -o 'aes' /proc/cpuinfo
# returns empty — no AES-NI support

Expected behavior

Antigravity should either:

  • Ship a fallback binary without mandatory AES-NI requirement, OR
  • Detect missing CPU features at startup and display a clear, informative error message instead of a crash loop

Actual behavior

The language server crashes silently with SIGILL. The user only sees a generic “server crashed” notification with no explanation. The app enters an infinite crash-reload loop.

Additional notes

This affects a significant range of older Intel processors (pre-2012 Celeron, Atom, Pentium) that do not include AES-NI. These are commonly used machines in developing regions. A fallback build or a clear minimum requirements notice would greatly improve the experience for these users.

Please consider adding CPU feature detection at startup or providing a non-AES build. Thank you!