fix(cli): squad watch silently ignores quoted message

Problem

squad watch --interval 5 "Nick, Run scheduled tasks" silently drops the quoted message. Ralph runs its normal polling loop with no indication the message was ignored.

Users expect the message to be routed to the named agent on each cycle, because direct addressing (Nick, do something) works in interactive sessions.

Root Cause

In cli-entry.ts lines 322-329, only --interval is parsed. Extra args are silently ignored.

Fix

Detect extra args and warn:

Warning: Watch mode does not route messages. Ignoring: "Nick, Run scheduled tasks"
To address Nick directly, use an interactive session.

Files

packages/squad-cli/src/cli-entry.ts
packages/squad-cli/src/cli/commands/watch.ts

📋 Assigned to EECOM (Core Dev)

Issue: #703 — fix(cli): squad watch silently ignores quoted message

EECOM will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
EECOM, work on issue #703

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

Issue: #703 — fix(cli): squad watch silently ignores quoted message
Assigned to: FIDO (Quality Owner)
Reason: Issue relates to testing/quality work

@copilot evaluation: No strong capability match — routed to squad member.

Team roster:

Flight (Lead) → label: squad:flight
Procedures (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:procedures
EECOM (Core Dev) → label: squad:eecom
FIDO (Quality Owner) → label: squad:fido
PAO (DevRel) → label: squad:pao
CAPCOM (SDK Expert) → label: squad:capcom
CONTROL (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:control
Surgeon (Release Manager) → label: squad:surgeon
Booster (CI/CD Engineer) → label: squad:booster
GNC (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:gnc
Network (Distribution) → label: squad:network
RETRO (Security) → label: squad:retro
INCO (CLI UX & Visual Design) → label: squad:inco
GUIDO (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:guido
Telemetry (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:telemetry
VOX (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:vox
DSKY (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:dsky
Sims (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:sims
Handbook (SDK Usability) → label: squad:handbook
Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
@copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

fix(cli): warn when squad watch receives unused message args (#703)

docs: clarify that squad watch does not route messages to agents

Hey — this behavior has been investigated and a fix is in PR #704.

What's happening: squad watch is a triage polling loop (Ralph), not a message router. The quoted message ("Nick, Run scheduled tasks") was silently ignored — watch mode only parses --interval.

The fix (PR #704):

CLI warning — now detects extra args and warns:

⚠️  Watch mode does not route messages to agents. Ignoring: "Nick, Run scheduled tasks"
   To address an agent directly, use an interactive session instead.

Docs updated — ralph.md and cli.md now clearly explain watch vs direct addressing

How to do what you want:

Direct agent addressing works in interactive sessions: squad → then Nick, Run scheduled tasks
Recurring triage: squad watch --interval 5 polls GitHub and routes issues based on squad:{member} labels
Route to Nick specifically: create a GitHub issue, add the squad:nick label, and squad watch will triage it to Nick on the next cycle

See PR #704 for the full fix.

🔄 Ralph status: PR #704 addresses this. Needs rebase (behind dev). Small fix — 3 files, warning-only change.

docs: add changelog entry for #703 squad watch silent arg ignore fix

fix(cli): warn when squad watch receives unused message args (#703)

docs: clarify that squad watch does not route messages to agents

docs: add changelog entry for #703 squad watch silent arg ignore fix

fix(cli): warn when squad watch receives unused message args (#703)

feat(coordinator): compaction recovery + restraint rules + result per…

fix(cli): warn when squad watch receives unused message args (#703)

feat(coordinator): compaction recovery + restraint rules + result per…

@tempfile

Update: PR #704 was closed without merge, so this is still unfixed.

The fix approach from #704 (warn on unused message args) was a partial solution. The root cause is that the watch command passes the prompt as a CLI argument which breaks on quotes/special chars.

The proper fix is to write the prompt to a temp file and pass it via -p @tempfile\ instead of as an inline argument. PR #830 (next-gen watch) may have changed the execution path — need to verify if this is still reproducible on insider.

Closing as duplicate of #874 — both trace back to the obsolete \gh copilot --message\ flag. See #874 for tracking the fix.

fix(cli): warn when squad watch receives unused message args (github#703

feat(coordinator): compaction recovery + restraint rules + result per…

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fix(cli): squad watch silently ignores quoted message #703

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📋 Assigned to EECOM (Core Dev)

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

@copilot evaluation: No strong capability match — routed to squad member.

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fix(cli): squad watch silently ignores quoted message #703

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Root Cause

Fix

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github-actions commented on Mar 30, 2026

📋 Assigned to EECOM (Core Dev)

github-actions commented on Mar 30, 2026

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

@copilot evaluation: No strong capability match — routed to squad member.

tamirdresher commented on Mar 30, 2026

diberry commented on Mar 31, 2026

3 remaining items

tamirdresher commented on Apr 12, 2026

bradygaster commented on Apr 12, 2026

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