Skip to content

docs(roadmap): add #468 — duplicate global flags silently last-win/accumulate with no provenance #3081

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Closed
Yeachan-Heo wants to merge 1 commit into from
+63 −0
Closed

docs(roadmap): add #468 — duplicate global flags silently last-win/accumulate with no provenance #3081

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
63 changes: 63 additions & 0 deletions ROADMAP.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6428,3 +6428,66 @@ Original filing (2026-04-18): the session emitted `SessionStart hook (completed)


450. **`prompt` emits `kind:"missing_credentials"` JSON on STDERR (not stdout), leaving stdout at 0 bytes — automation pattern `output=$(claw prompt hello --output-format json)` captures nothing on auth-absent failure; `doctor` correctly surfaces `auth.status:"warn"` with `api_key_present:false` but exposes no `prompt_ready:false` field that automation can check before invoking `prompt`** — dogfooded 2026-05-16 by Jobdori on `a35ee9a0` in response to Clawhip pinpoint nudge at `1505208225321062521`. Exact reproduction (isolated env, no creds, fresh git repo, HEAD `a35ee9a0`): `timeout 5 env -i HOME=$ISOLATED_HOME PATH=$PATH CLAW_CONFIG_HOME=$PROBE/.claw-cfg claw prompt hello --output-format json > stdout.txt 2> stderr.txt` → stdout = **0 bytes**, stderr = 195 bytes containing `{"error":"missing Anthropic credentials…","exit_code":1,"hint":null,"kind":"missing_credentials","type":"error"}`, exit code 1. Confirms Gaebal's `1505208553793781792` pinpoint that `prompt` timeout + zero bytes was the prior state — HEAD `a35ee9a0` now correctly exits 1 with `kind:"missing_credentials"` **but the envelope is still routed to stderr** (issue #447 class, same class as prior entries #422, #435). **Contrast with `doctor`:** `claw doctor --output-format json 2>/dev/null` succeeds to stdout with `checks[auth].status:"warn"`, `api_key_present:false`, `auth_token_present:false` — but the auth check has no `prompt_ready:false` field. Automation that gates on `doctor` before invoking `prompt` must re-derive readiness from `api_key_present && auth_token_present` — there is no single canonical boolean. **Three compound problems:** (a) **stdout-empty on `--output-format json` failure**: same class as #447; `prompt`'s error envelope goes to stderr, not stdout. The canonical automation idiom `if ! result=$(claw prompt "q" --output-format json); then echo "$result" | jq .kind; fi` sees `$result=""` on failure — the jq call gets nothing. All `--output-format json` error paths must route JSON to stdout per #447 contract; (b) **`doctor` missing `prompt_ready` field**: `doctor --output-format json` already knows auth is absent (`api_key_present:false`) but surfaces no derived `prompt_ready:bool` or `prompt_blocked_reason:string` field. Automation must infer readiness from `api_key_present || auth_token_present || legacy_*_present` — a 5-field OR across legacy fields that is fragile as auth mechanisms evolve. A single `prompt_ready:false` (with `prompt_blocked_reason:"auth_missing"`) inside the `auth` check would give downstream a stable contract; (c) **`claw prompt` with no auth does no preflight and fires straight at the API**: the preflight check that `doctor` runs (auth discovery) is not reused by `prompt` to emit a fast typed error before attempting the network call. Both Gaebal's pinpoint (prompt hanging silently on older HEAD) and the current behavior (prompt hitting auth gate after a brief API attempt) stem from the same root: prompt does not short-circuit at the point where `doctor` already knows auth is absent. If `doctor` can emit `kind:"doctor"` with `auth.status:"warn"` in ~20ms without a network call, `prompt` should emit `kind:"missing_credentials"` in the same window and output it to stdout. **Required fix shape:** (a) `prompt --output-format json` must write the `kind:"missing_credentials"` JSON envelope to **stdout**, not stderr — same fix as #447 for all error envelopes; (b) add `prompt_ready:bool` and `prompt_blocked_reason:string|null` to the `auth` check in `doctor --output-format json`; derive it as `api_key_present || auth_token_present || legacy_saved_oauth_present`; (c) `prompt` must run the credential preflight check (same codepath as doctor's auth check) before attempting any API call and emit `{"kind":"missing_credentials","prompt_blocked_reason":"auth_missing"}` on **stdout** with exit 1 if the check fails; (d) `--output-format json` stdout routing fix must cover: `prompt`, `session list` (cross-ref #449), `skills uninstall` (cross-ref #431), `resume` (cross-ref #435), `acp serve` (cross-ref #443) — the full `kind:"missing_credentials"` class; (e) regression test: `claw prompt hello --output-format json` with no creds writes JSON to stdout (0 bytes stderr), exits 1, `kind:"missing_credentials"`, in under 200ms (no network attempt). **Why this matters:** `prompt` is the primary consumer entry point. Auth-absent failure routing to stderr breaks every automation wrapper that captures `$(claw prompt ... --output-format json)`. The `doctor` preflight metadata gap means auth-readiness checks require parsing 5 legacy fields instead of reading one boolean. Cross-references #447 (all JSON error envelopes on stderr), #449 (session list hits auth gate), #431 (skills uninstall hits auth gate), #357 (auth gate on local ops cluster), #422 (exit-code parity). Source: Jobdori live dogfood, `a35ee9a0`, 2026-05-16.

468. **Repeated global flags silently apply inconsistent merge semantics with no duplicate/provenance signal: `--model` and `--permission-mode` are last-write-wins, `--allowedTools` unions every occurrence, and `--output-format` is last-write-wins even when the first occurrence requested JSON. A wrapper can invoke `claw --output-format json --output-format text status` and receive plain text with exit 0, while `claw --model openai/gpt-4 --model opus status` silently runs Anthropic Opus instead of OpenAI. `status` exposes only the final value (`model_raw`, `permission_mode`, `allowed_tools.entries`) and never reports `duplicate_flags`, `flag_occurrences`, or overwritten values, so automation cannot tell whether a launcher accidentally supplied conflicting global flags** — dogfooded 2026-05-24 for the 18:30–19:00 Clawhip nudge window (finalized for message `1508182831573110904`), reproduced on local `./rust/target/debug/claw` `git_sha 003b739d` (origin/main `f8e1bb72`) in a clean isolated env.

Reproduction matrix:

```bash
# Last --model wins silently
claw --output-format json --model openai/gpt-4 --model opus status
# => {"model":"claude-opus-4-6","model_raw":"opus","model_source":"flag", ...}

claw --output-format json --model opus --model openai/gpt-4 status
# => {"model":"openai/gpt-4","model_raw":"openai/gpt-4","model_source":"flag", ...}

# Last --output-format wins silently, even overriding machine-readable intent
claw --output-format json --output-format text status
# => text prose on stdout, exit 0 ❌ no JSON envelope, no warning

claw --output-format text --output-format json status
# => JSON, exit 0

# Last permission mode wins silently
claw --output-format json --permission-mode read-only --permission-mode danger-full-access status
# => "permission_mode":"danger-full-access"

claw --output-format json --permission-mode danger-full-access --permission-mode read-only status
# => "permission_mode":"read-only"

# allowedTools does NOT last-win; it unions occurrences
claw --output-format json --allowedTools Bash --allowedTools Read status
# => "allowed_tools":{"entries":["bash","read_file"],"restricted":true,"source":"flag"}

claw --output-format json --allowedTools Read,Bash --allowedTools Edit status
# => entries ["bash","edit_file","read_file"]
```

**Root cause traced:** `rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs:617-694` has mutable parser state for scalar globals:

```rust
let mut model = DEFAULT_MODEL.to_string();
let mut model_flag_raw: Option<String> = None;
let mut output_format = CliOutputFormat::Text;
let mut permission_mode_override = None;

// every occurrence overwrites previous value
model = resolve_model_alias_with_config(value);
model_flag_raw = Some(value.clone());
output_format = CliOutputFormat::parse(value)?;
permission_mode_override = Some(parse_permission_mode_arg(value)?);
```

But `--allowedTools` stores all occurrences in `allowed_tool_values` and normalizes the whole list later (`main.rs:808`):

```rust
let allowed_tools = normalize_allowed_tools(&allowed_tool_values)?;
```

So the same parser layer applies two different duplicate semantics: scalar globals overwrite silently; tool allow-list accumulates silently. Neither path emits provenance beyond `source:"flag"`.

**Why distinct from existing items:** ROADMAP #464 covers invalid `--output-format` values (case/whitespace/Did-you-mean/bootstrap JSON error). This entry covers *valid duplicate* `--output-format` values, especially `json` being overwritten by later `text` with exit 0. ROADMAP #117 covers `-p` greedily swallowing flags into prompt text; this entry covers normal global flags parsed before subcommand. ROADMAP #122 covers `--base-commit` greedily accepting values and swallowing subsequent args; this entry covers duplicate flags that parse successfully. ROADMAP #97 covers `--allowedTools ""` empty allow-set and invisibility; this entry notes `--allowedTools` uses accumulation semantics while adjacent scalar globals use last-wins semantics. ROADMAP #124 covers `--model` accepting unvalidated garbage; this entry uses valid model values and focuses on duplicate/conflict invisibility.

**Why this matters:** (1) **Automation wrappers commonly append flags.** A user may set `CLAW_ARGS="--output-format json"` and a wrapper may append `--output-format text`; current behavior silently changes the output contract from JSON to text. (2) **Security posture drift:** `--permission-mode read-only --permission-mode danger-full-access` silently escalates to danger-full-access if the unsafe flag appears later. (3) **Provider routing drift:** `--model openai/gpt-4 --model opus` silently flips the selected provider from OpenAI to Anthropic; with #467, doctor/status preflight can then reason about the wrong provider without exposing that an earlier provider flag was overwritten. (4) **Inconsistent semantics are not discoverable.** Why does duplicate `--allowedTools` union but duplicate `--permission-mode` overwrite? Both can be reasonable, but the CLI never states which happened. (5) **No structured provenance.** `status` cannot tell a claw whether a value came from one flag or from conflicting duplicate flags; it only reports the final state.

**Required fix shape:** (a) Track occurrences for every global flag during parse (`--model`, `--output-format`, `--permission-mode`, `--allowedTools`, `--base-commit`, `--reasoning-effort`, `--max-turns`, etc.) with raw values and argv positions. (b) For scalar flags, either reject duplicates with a structured `duplicate_flag` parse error or allow last-wins but emit `duplicate_flags` / `overwritten_flags` provenance in `status` and `doctor`. For machine-output flags, prefer reject: `--output-format json --output-format text` should not silently break JSON consumers. (c) For `--allowedTools`, document and expose accumulation semantics explicitly (`allowed_tools.source:"flag_accumulated"`, `occurrences:2`) or require comma-list single occurrence. (d) Add JSON/text warnings for duplicate scalar flags in diagnostic subcommands, with redaction-safe values. (e) Regression matrix covering the eight examples above plus valid repeated `--reasoning-effort` / `--base-commit`. **Acceptance check:** `claw --output-format json --output-format text status` should either fail with `kind:"duplicate_flag"` in a JSON error envelope or return JSON containing `duplicate_flags:[{"flag":"--output-format","values":["json","text"],"effective":"text"}]`; current behavior emits plain text and exit 0. Source: gaebal-gajae dogfood for the 2026-05-24 18:30/19:00 Clawhip nudges. Note: an initial repeated-flag probe was contaminated by zsh scalar splitting (whole arg string passed as one token); evidence above was re-run with `eval` and separate stdout/stderr capture before filing.
Loading