bgctl: improve usability feedback and flag guidance (part 1)#578
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bgctl: improve usability feedback and flag guidance (part 1)#578
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Codecov Report❌ Patch coverage is Additional details and impacted files@@ Coverage Diff @@
## main #578 +/- ##
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+ Coverage 68.72% 68.86% +0.13%
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Files 159 160 +1
Lines 33620 33687 +67
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+ Hits 23107 23197 +90
+ Misses 8985 8952 -33
- Partials 1528 1538 +10
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Pull request overview
Improves bgctl CLI usability by making output-format errors and flag help text more actionable, and adds tests + changelog entry to cover the new behavior.
Changes:
- Add
unknownOutputFormatErrorhelper and use it insession,debug, andescalationlist-style commands to include supported-o/--outputchoices in errors. - Clarify
watch --intervalhelp text with Go duration examples, and clarify debug--statehelp text as comma-separated. - Improve
config delete-contextmissing-context error with an actionableget-contextshint, and add/extend unit tests + changelog entry.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 8 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/session.go | Improves watch interval help text; upgrades list command unknown-format error to include supported choices. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/escalation.go | Upgrades unknown-format errors in escalation list commands to include supported choices. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/debug.go | Upgrades unknown-format errors; improves --interval and --state flag guidance. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/output_format_error.go | Adds helper for consistent unknown output format errors with supported choices. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/output_format_error_test.go | Adds unit tests for the new helper. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/config.go | Adds actionable guidance to missing-context error in delete-context. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/config_commands_test.go | Extends unit test to assert the new guidance is present. |
| CHANGELOG.md | Documents the CLI usability improvements under Unreleased. |
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Pull request overview
Improves bgctl CLI usability by making output-format errors more actionable, clarifying flag help text, and adding guidance for common config mistakes across the CLI command suite.
Changes:
- Added a shared helper to produce output-format errors that list supported choices, and wired it into
session,debug, andescalationcommands (including object-returning subcommands). - Clarified flag help text for polling intervals (Go duration examples) and debug
--statefiltering (comma-separated). - Improved
config delete-contextmissing-context error guidance and added unit tests + changelog entry.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 9 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/session.go | Improves --interval help and uses the new output-format error helper / runtime object writer paths. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/debug.go | Improves unknown output-format errors, clarifies --interval and --state help, and validates output formats for object-returning commands. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/escalation.go | Improves unknown output-format errors and validates output formats for get. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/root.go | Updates global --output/-o help text to include wide and note command-dependent support. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/output_format_error.go | Introduces helper(s) for validating output formats and producing actionable format errors. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/output_format_error_test.go | Adds unit tests for the new output-format validation/error helper. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/config.go | Adds actionable guidance when deleting a non-existent context. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/config_commands_test.go | Extends test coverage to assert the new missing-context guidance. |
| CHANGELOG.md | Documents the CLI usability improvements under Unreleased changes. |
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A known format like `table` that is simply not supported by a command is misleading when called "unknown". Rename the error prefix from "unknown output format" to "unsupported output format" so users get accurate feedback. Addresses Copilot review comment on PR #578. Co-authored-by: Sisyphus <clio-agent@sisyphuslabs.ai>
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Pull request overview
This PR improves bgctl CLI usability by making output-format errors more actionable, clarifying flag help text, and adding guidance for common config mistakes, with accompanying unit tests. It also includes a small Playwright auth helper adjustment and documents the user-facing changes in the changelog.
Changes:
- Add a shared
unknownOutputFormatError/writeRuntimeObjecthelper and apply it acrosssession,debug, andescalationcommands for clearer-o/--outputfailures. - Improve CLI help/error guidance (watch
--intervalduration examples, root--outputhelp text,config delete-contextmissing-context suggestion). - Add unit tests for the new output-format helper and the improved
delete-contexterror; update changelog entry.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/session.go | Clarifies watch interval help and routes output-format errors/object output through the new helper. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/root.go | Updates global --output help to mention wide and command-dependent support. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/output_format_error.go | Introduces helper functions for consistent output-format validation and error messaging. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/output_format_error_test.go | Adds unit tests covering helper error messages and validation behavior. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/escalation.go | Uses the shared helper for unknown-format errors and validated object output. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/debug.go | Uses the shared helper for unknown-format errors, updates interval/state flag help, and validates object output. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/config.go | Improves missing-context error with actionable next command. |
| pkg/bgctl/cmd/config_commands_test.go | Extends test to assert the new missing-context guidance is present. |
| frontend/tests/e2e/helpers/auth.ts | Adjusts Playwright login flow to handle fast SSO return paths and adds authenticated-state polling. |
| CHANGELOG.md | Documents the CLI usability improvements under Unreleased. |
MaxRink
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A known format like `table` that is simply not supported by a command is misleading when called "unknown". Rename the error prefix from "unknown output format" to "unsupported output format" so users get accurate feedback. Addresses Copilot review comment on PR #578. Co-authored-by: Sisyphus <clio-agent@sisyphuslabs.ai>
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Pull request overview
Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.
Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)
pkg/bgctl/cmd/debug.go:112
- The PR/CHANGELOG says the debug
--stateflag help now documents comma-separated filters, but bothdebug session listanddebug session watchstill show"Filter by state". Either update the flag help text to mention comma-separated values (and ideally give an example), or remove that claim from the CHANGELOG/PR scope.
},
}
cmd.Flags().StringVar(&cluster, "cluster", "", "Filter by cluster")
cmd.Flags().StringVar(&state, "state", "", "Filter by state")
cmd.Flags().StringVar(&user, "user", "", "Filter by requesting user")
cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&mine, "mine", false, "Only sessions requested by current user")
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- Rename unknownOutputFormatError -> unsupportedOutputFormatError to match the error message wording; update all callers and test function names - Fix loop variable shadow in DebugSessionService.List: rename s -> state - Update --state help text to accurately describe multi-value support via comma-separated values (client sends repeated state= query params) - Refactor isKeycloakUrl() to use URL parsing instead of string matching, properly excluding /auth/callback and /auth/silent-renew app routes - Consolidate Keycloak detection in clickLoginButton and loginViaKeycloak to use isKeycloakUrl() exclusively, removing redundant includes() checks - Update CHANGELOG to match actual --state multi-value behavior
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- Rename loop variable 'state' to 'stateVal' in client/debug.go to
avoid shadowing the method receiver 's *DebugSessionService'
- Update debug_test.go state filter test to use TitleCase values
('Active', 'Pending') matching actual DebugSessionState enum
- Add case-insensitive state comparison (strings.EqualFold) in
handleListDebugSessions so both 'Active' and 'active' match
- Update server-side comment examples to use TitleCase state values
- Add frontend/test-results-a11y/ and frontend/playwright-report-a11y/
to .gitignore and untrack committed Playwright artifacts
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- Tighten waitForURL regex in auth.ts to not match app-owned routes (/auth/callback, /auth/silent-renew): replace loose /auth[/?#] with /auth(?:[?#]|$) so only pathname exactly equal to /auth qualifies - Fix --state flag help text in debug session list and watch to correctly advertise comma-separated multi-value support (matching actual behavior where strings.Split sends repeated state= query params) - Update CHANGELOG entry to accurately describe multi-state filtering behavior (not single-value as previously stated)
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- Propagate WriteObject error in debug session watch loop - Update --show-full flag description to mention output format - Remove duplicate test case in TestDebugSessionWatchCommand_ShowFullRespectsOutputFormat - Remove stray handleJoinDebugSession comment from debug_session_api.go - Use %q (not %s) in unsupportedOutputFormatError for proper quoting; update test expectations accordingly
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- Add output format validation across object commands (get/list/describe) - Use 'unsupported' instead of 'unknown' in format error messages - Harden keycloak auth login flow in E2E tests - Add SPDX license headers to new files
…ported' not 'unknown') Address Copilot review comment: the error helper already produces 'unsupported output format' for both known-but-unsupported and truly unknown formats; update CHANGELOG and clarify client sends repeated state= query params.
- Rename unknownOutputFormatError -> unsupportedOutputFormatError to match the error message wording; update all callers and test function names - Fix loop variable shadow in DebugSessionService.List: rename s -> state - Update --state help text to accurately describe multi-value support via comma-separated values (client sends repeated state= query params) - Refactor isKeycloakUrl() to use URL parsing instead of string matching, properly excluding /auth/callback and /auth/silent-renew app routes - Consolidate Keycloak detection in clickLoginButton and loginViaKeycloak to use isKeycloakUrl() exclusively, removing redundant includes() checks - Update CHANGELOG to match actual --state multi-value behavior
Remove the misleading "comma-separated" claim from the --state flag help in debug session list and watch commands; the API treats the value as a single filter, not a comma-separated list. Update the CHANGELOG entry to reflect the corrected behavior.
- Rename loop variable 'state' to 'stateVal' in client/debug.go to
avoid shadowing the method receiver 's *DebugSessionService'
- Update debug_test.go state filter test to use TitleCase values
('Active', 'Pending') matching actual DebugSessionState enum
- Add case-insensitive state comparison (strings.EqualFold) in
handleListDebugSessions so both 'Active' and 'active' match
- Update server-side comment examples to use TitleCase state values
- Add frontend/test-results-a11y/ and frontend/playwright-report-a11y/
to .gitignore and untrack committed Playwright artifacts
- Tighten waitForURL regex in auth.ts to not match app-owned routes (/auth/callback, /auth/silent-renew): replace loose /auth[/?#] with /auth(?:[?#]|$) so only pathname exactly equal to /auth qualifies - Fix --state flag help text in debug session list and watch to correctly advertise comma-separated multi-value support (matching actual behavior where strings.Split sends repeated state= query params) - Update CHANGELOG entry to accurately describe multi-state filtering behavior (not single-value as previously stated)
MAJOR: add validateOutputFormat PreRunE to debug session watch command so invalid -o values are rejected before the watch loop starts. MINOR: use %q instead of %s in unknown-output-format error messages for clearer quoting. Add validateDebugSessionState to client List to reject unknown state values before sending API requests. Document --state, --user, --show-full, --interval flags for debug session watch in docs/cli.md. Add TestDebugSessionsList_StateFilter and TestDebugSessionsList_InvalidStateFilter to client/debug_test.go.
- Make validateDebugSessionState case-insensitive: normalize input with strings.ToLower before map lookup; canonical title-cased value sent to API - Add test for lowercase state filter input (active -> Active on wire) - escalation get: default to yaml output when table/wide is the resolved format, since this command has no table renderer
- output.go: add SPDX-FileCopyrightText/SPDX-License-Identifier headers for REUSE compliance (CI enforces this on all Go files) - escalation_test.go: add 5 tests covering escalation get command output formats (JSON, YAML, table→YAML coercion, wide→YAML coercion, unknown format error) to verify the table/wide coercion logic from fix #3
…ormat in show-full - handleListDebugSessions now returns HTTP 400 for unrecognized ?state= values instead of silently ignoring them; validation is case-insensitive - debug watch --show-full now respects -o/--output flag instead of hard-coding JSON - Added unit tests for both fixes
- Propagate WriteObject error in debug session watch loop - Update --show-full flag description to mention output format - Remove duplicate test case in TestDebugSessionWatchCommand_ShowFullRespectsOutputFormat - Remove stray handleJoinDebugSession comment from debug_session_api.go - Use %q (not %s) in unsupportedOutputFormatError for proper quoting; update test expectations accordingly
… formats Replace the ad-hoc table/wide coercion in 'escalation get' with an explicit switch that passes unknown formats to unsupportedOutputFormatError (listing table, wide, json, yaml as supported choices) so invalid -o values produce a helpful actionable error message consistent with other commands. Update the test assertion from 'unknown output format' to 'unsupported output format' to match the new wording. Addresses Copilot review thread PRRT_kwDOMRanZc55JzVi.
PR578-REL-01: The server-side validDebugSessionStates and the client-side canonicalDebugSessionStates look like accidental duplication. Add a comment explaining that they cannot be unified (different packages, circular import would result) and that both derive from the same v1alpha1 constants so they stay in sync.
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- Validate --show-full requires -o json or -o yaml; reject table/wide early in PreRunE - Update docs/cli.md watch example to include -o json when using --show-full - Add multi-state filter tests: repeated params, comma-separated, case-insensitive, invalid state 400
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Summary
bgctl session,bgctl debug, andbgctl escalationcommands to include supported format choices2s,1m)--stateflag help text to mention comma-separated filter valuesbgctl config delete-context(bgctl config get-contexts)Scope
This is a focused first slice of #544 (error/help text and guidance improvements). Remaining items (broader command examples, additional short flags, and update progress UX) can be handled in follow-up PRs.
Refs #544
Validation