aura --help lands on the exit-2 error path instead of printing help #20

New Issue

2026-06-04T22:25:49+02:00

Brummel commented

2026-06-04 22:25:49 +02:00

Found by the milestone fieldtest (docs/specs/fieldtest-milestone-walking-skeleton.md).

A newcomer's reflex first command, aura --help (and -h), is treated as an unknown subcommand: exit 2, no help text, just the one-line aura: usage: aura run on stderr, empty stdout. The usage line does name aura run, so discovery technically works, but the conventional --help affordance returns the error path. For a C22 'newcomer sees a populated trace' milestone the first-contact ergonomics are slightly off.

Fix (trivial, optional): make --help/-h print the usage to stdout with exit 0; keep unknown subcommands at exit 2.

Found by the milestone fieldtest (docs/specs/fieldtest-milestone-walking-skeleton.md). A newcomer's reflex first command, `aura --help` (and `-h`), is treated as an unknown subcommand: exit 2, no help text, just the one-line `aura: usage: aura run` on stderr, empty stdout. The usage line does name `aura run`, so discovery technically works, but the conventional --help affordance returns the error path. For a C22 'newcomer sees a populated trace' milestone the first-contact ergonomics are slightly off. Fix (trivial, optional): make --help/-h print the usage to stdout with exit 0; keep unknown subcommands at exit 2.

Brummel added the idea label 2026-06-04 22:25:49 +02:00

Brummel referenced this issue from a commit

2026-06-05 00:12:45 +02:00

test(aura-cli): RED for --help/-h success-path affordance

Brummel referenced this issue from a commit

2026-06-05 00:12:45 +02:00

feat(aura-cli): --help/-h print usage to stdout and exit 0

Brummel closed this issue

2026-06-05 00:12:45 +02:00

Sign in to join this conversation.