collect-remote: --topic= and --repository= (empty value) pass the required-flag check and would dispatch an empty topic or repository #287
Description
What's wrong
parseFlags supports --name=value, and --topic= yields the empty string. collect-remote's required-flag check only asks for undefined or true:
So --topic= and --repository= pass it, and the command goes on to the token step. With a token it dispatches a run with topic: "" or a request to repository "". Measured on main at 9a47439 with no token:
node research-kit/bin/collect-remote.mjs --repository o/r --topic=
no GitHub token in the environment. ... (exit 3 - the token refusal, not a topic refusal)
node research-kit/bin/collect-remote.mjs --repository= --topic t
no GitHub token in the environment. ... (same)
The same reads apply to --client-ref=, --prior= and --prefer=, which are guarded by !== true only, so an empty string travels as the input's value.
checkFlagValues already treats '' the same as a bare flag (--<name> needs a value); the five value flags it checks (--max-pages, --depth, --runner, --search-transport, --timeout) and, since #281, --out, --workflow and --ref are covered. The required ones are not.
The fix
Add topic: {}, repository: {}, 'client-ref': {}, prior: {}, prefer: {} to the checkFlagValues spec in bin/collect-remote.mjs. The existing "collect-remote needs --repository and --topic" message stays for flags that are absent; checkFlagValues runs after it today, so either move the call above the required check or accept that a bare --topic is reported by the "needs" message and --topic= by "needs a value" (both exit 3). If #286 lands first, the same spec entries give those flags its repeat rule too.
Test
In cli.test.mjs, next to "collect-remote refuses a bare --out, --workflow or --ref": run with --topic= and with --repository= and assert exit 3 and stderr /--(topic|repository) needs a value/ as the first line, before any token wording.
Checking your change
node research-kit/bin/selftest.mjs cli
Generated by Claude Code
Activity