The direct CLI wrappers for agents, skills, and mcp treated nested help flags as ordinary operands. That made commands like `claw mcp show --help` report a missing server and `claw skills install --help` fall into filesystem install logic instead of surfacing usage.
This change normalizes help-path arguments before dispatch so nested help stays on the help path. The regression tests cover both handler-level behavior and end-to-end CLI output for nested help and unknown subcommands with trailing help flags.
Constraint: Keep the fix scoped to direct CLI slash-command wrappers without changing unrelated parser behavior
Rejected: Rework top-level argument parsing for all subcommands | broader risk than needed for the regression
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Reversibility: clean
Directive: If more nested subcommands are added, extend the help-path normalization table before relying on raw operand dispatch
Tested: cargo build -p commands -p rusty-claude-cli
Tested: cargo test -p commands -p rusty-claude-cli
Not-tested: cargo clippy -p commands -p rusty-claude-cli --all-targets --no-deps -- -D warnings (pre-existing warnings in untouched files block clean run)
Promote doctor into a real top-level CLI action, reuse the same local report for resumed and REPL doctor invocations, and intercept doctor/status/sandbox help flags before prompt-mode dispatch. The parser change also closes the help fallthrough that previously wandered into runtime startup for local-info commands.
Constraint: Preserve prompt shorthand for normal multi-word text input while fixing exact local subcommand help paths
Rejected: Route \7[1G[2K[m⠋ 🦀 Thinking...[0m8[1G[2K[m✘ ❌ Request failed
[0m through prompt/slash guidance | still shells out through the wrong surface and keeps health checks hidden
Rejected: Reuse the status report as doctor output | status does not explain auth/config health or expose a dedicated diagnostic summary
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Keep doctor local-only unless an explicit network probe is intentionally added and separately tested
Tested: cargo build -p rusty-claude-cli; cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli; cargo run -p rusty-claude-cli -- doctor --help; CLAW_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/tmp.7pm9SVzOPN ANTHROPIC_API_KEY= ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN= cargo run -p rusty-claude-cli -- doctor
Not-tested: direct /doctor outside the REPL remains interactive-only
Promote doctor into a real top-level CLI action, reuse the same local report for resumed and REPL doctor invocations, and intercept doctor/status/sandbox help flags before prompt-mode dispatch. The parser change also closes the help fallthrough that previously wandered into runtime startup for local-info commands.
Constraint: Preserve prompt shorthand for normal multi-word text input while fixing exact local subcommand help paths
Rejected: Route \7[1G[2K[m⠋ 🦀 Thinking...[0m8[1G[2K[m✘ ❌ Request failed
[0m through prompt/slash guidance | still shells out through the wrong surface and keeps health checks hidden
Rejected: Reuse the status report as doctor output | status does not explain auth/config health or expose a dedicated diagnostic summary
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Keep doctor local-only unless an explicit network probe is intentionally added and separately tested
Tested: cargo build -p rusty-claude-cli; cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli; cargo run -p rusty-claude-cli -- doctor --help; CLAW_CONFIG_HOME=/tmp/tmp.7pm9SVzOPN ANTHROPIC_API_KEY= ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN= cargo run -p rusty-claude-cli -- doctor
Not-tested: direct /doctor outside the REPL remains interactive-only
The global --output-format json flag already reached prompt-mode responses, but
status and sandbox still bypassed that path and printed human-readable tables.
This change threads the selected output format through direct command aliases
and resumed slash-command execution so status queries emit valid structured
JSON instead of mixed prose.
It also adds end-to-end regression coverage for direct status/sandbox JSON
and resumed /status JSON so shell automation can rely on stable parsing.
Constraint: Global output formatting must stay compatible with existing text-mode reports
Rejected: Require callers to scrape text status tables | fragile and breaks automation
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: New direct commands that honor --output-format should thread the format through CliAction and resumed slash execution paths
Tested: cargo build -p rusty-claude-cli
Tested: cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli -- --nocapture
Tested: cargo test --workspace
Tested: cargo run -q -p rusty-claude-cli -- --output-format json status
Tested: cargo run -q -p rusty-claude-cli -- --output-format json sandbox
Not-tested: cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings (fails in pre-existing runtime files unrelated to this change)
The direct CLI wrappers for agents, skills, and mcp treated nested help flags as ordinary operands. That made commands like `claw mcp show --help` report a missing server and `claw skills install --help` fall into filesystem install logic instead of surfacing usage.
This change normalizes help-path arguments before dispatch so nested help stays on the help path. The regression tests cover both handler-level behavior and end-to-end CLI output for nested help and unknown subcommands with trailing help flags.
Constraint: Keep the fix scoped to direct CLI slash-command wrappers without changing unrelated parser behavior
Rejected: Rework top-level argument parsing for all subcommands | broader risk than needed for the regression
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Reversibility: clean
Directive: If more nested subcommands are added, extend the help-path normalization table before relying on raw operand dispatch
Tested: cargo build -p commands -p rusty-claude-cli
Tested: cargo test -p commands -p rusty-claude-cli
Not-tested: cargo clippy -p commands -p rusty-claude-cli --all-targets --no-deps -- -D warnings (pre-existing warnings in untouched files block clean run)
The landed mock Anthropic harness now covers multi-tool turns, bash flows,
permission prompt approve/deny paths, and an external plugin tool path.
A machine-readable scenario manifest plus a diff/checklist runner keep the
new scenarios tied back to PARITY.md so future additions stay honest.
Constraint: Must build on the deterministic mock service and clean-environment CLI harness
Rejected: Add an MCP tool scenario now | current MCP tool surface is still stubbed, so plugin coverage is the real executable path
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Reversibility: clean
Directive: Keep rust/mock_parity_scenarios.json, mock_parity_harness.rs, and PARITY.md refs in lockstep
Tested: cargo fmt --all
Tested: cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
Tested: cargo test --workspace
Tested: python3 rust/scripts/run_mock_parity_diff.py
Not-tested: Real MCP lifecycle handshakes; remote plugin marketplace install flows
This adds a deterministic mock Anthropic-compatible /v1/messages service,
a clean-environment CLI harness, and repo docs so the first parity
milestone can be validated without live network dependencies.
Constraint: First milestone must prove Rust claw can connect from a clean environment and cover streaming, tool assembly, and permission/tool flow
Constraint: No new third-party dependencies; reuse the existing Rust workspace stack
Rejected: Record/replay live Anthropic traffic | nondeterministic and unsuitable for repeatable CI coverage
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: moderate
Reversibility: clean
Directive: Keep scenario markers and expected tool payload shapes synchronized between the mock service and the harness tests
Tested: cargo fmt --all
Tested: cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
Tested: cargo test --workspace
Tested: ./scripts/run_mock_parity_harness.sh
Not-tested: Live Anthropic responses beyond the five scripted harness scenarios
PARITY.md and the current Rust CLI UX both pointed at session-management polish as a worthwhile parity lane. The existing /clear flow reset the live REPL without telling the user how to get back, and the resumed /clear path overwrote the saved session file in place with no recovery handle.
This change keeps the existing clear semantics but makes them safer and more legible. Live clears now print the previous session id and a resume hint, while resumed clears write a sibling backup before resetting the requested session file and report both the backup path and the new session id.
Constraint: Keep /clear compatible with follow-on commands in the same --resume invocation
Rejected: Switch resumed /clear to a brand-new primary session path | would break the expected in-place reset semantics for chained resume commands
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Directive: Preserve explicit recovery hints in /clear output if session lifecycle behavior changes again
Tested: cargo test --manifest-path rust/Cargo.toml -p rusty-claude-cli --test resume_slash_commands
Tested: cargo test --manifest-path rust/Cargo.toml -p rusty-claude-cli --bin claw clear_command_requires_explicit_confirmation_flag
Not-tested: Manual interactive REPL /clear run
The release harness advertised resumed slash commands like /export <file> and /clear --confirm, but argv parsing split every slash-prefixed token into a new command. That made the claw binary reject legitimate resumed command sequences and quietly miss the caller-provided export target.
This change teaches --resume parsing to keep command arguments attached, including absolute export paths, and locks the behavior with both parser regressions and a binary-level smoke test that exercises the real claw resume path.
Constraint: Keep the scope to a high-confidence release-path fix that fits a ~1 hour hardening pass
Rejected: Broad REPL or network end-to-end coverage expansion | too slow and too wide for the release-confidence target
Confidence: high
Scope-risk: narrow
Reversibility: clean
Directive: If new resume-supported commands accept slash-prefixed literals, extend the resume parser heuristics and add binary coverage for them
Tested: cargo test --workspace; cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli --test resume_slash_commands; cargo test -p rusty-claude-cli parses_resume_flag_with_absolute_export_path -- --exact
Not-tested: cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings currently fails on pre-existing runtime/conversation/session lints outside this change
