[codex] structure VCS process errors

[juliusmarminge]

What changed

• keep VCS command arguments and stderr contents out of process errors
• add argument count, stderr length, and truncation metadata for correlation
• retain exact spawn causes while keeping public messages stable
• remove the command-label helper that joined raw arguments into diagnostics

Why

VCS arguments and stderr can contain credentials, repository URLs, and arbitrary remote output. The process boundary should expose useful structure without copying those values into errors or messages.

Validation

• vp test apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.test.ts (8 tests)
• vp check
• vp run typecheck

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Note

Medium Risk
Changes error shape and messaging for all VCS subprocess failures; callers matching on full command or stderr in detail may need updates, but behavior is intentional for security.

Overview
VCS process errors no longer leak credentials or remote output in command or message. Diagnostics use the bare executable name plus optional argumentCount, and exit failures add failureKind, stderrLength, and stderrTruncated instead of embedding raw stderr in detail.

Non-zero exits are classified via classifyNonZeroExit into authentication, not-found (gh/glab/az heuristics), or command-failed, with stable user-facing detail strings from VcsProcessExitError.fromProcessExit. Spawn errors still keep the underlying cause while omitting args from the public message.

Breaking for callers that relied on joined command labels or stderr text in detail/message; tests assert secrets never appear in messages.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit c7aa6a8. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Structure VCS process errors with failure classification and secret redaction

• VcsProcessExitError now carries a failureKind (authentication, not-found, command-failed), stderrLength, stderrTruncated, and argumentCount, with a standardized detail message; stderr contents are no longer stored in the error instance.
• Adds classifyNonZeroExit in VcsProcess.ts to detect auth and not-found failures from stderr for gh, glab, and az CLIs.
• VcsProcessSpawnError, VcsProcessTimeoutError, and VcsOutputDecodeError all gain an optional argumentCount field via their factory methods.
• Behavioral Change: process arguments are no longer included in error messages or command labels, preventing accidental secret leakage in logs or error reporting.

^{Macroscope summarized c7aa6a8.}

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• Commit unit tests in branch codex/structure-vcs-process-errors

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[cursor]

Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes using high effort and found 1 potential issue.

Bugbot Autofix prepared a fix for the issue found in the latest run.

• ✅ Fixed: CLI error mapping breaks
  • Restored stderr content in VcsProcessExitError's detail field (falling back to the generic message when stderr is empty) so downstream CLI normalizers can again scan detail/message for auth, not-found, and similar patterns.

Or push these changes by commenting:

@cursor push 4afa35e674

Preview (4afa35e674)

diff --git a/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.test.ts b/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.test.ts
--- a/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.test.ts
@@ -85,12 +85,11 @@
         command: "node",
         argumentCount: 4,
         exitCode: 2,
-        detail: "Process exited with a non-zero status.",
+        detail: secretStderr,
         stderrLength: secretStderr.length,
         stderrTruncated: false,
       });
       expect(error.message).not.toContain(secretArgument);
-      expect(error.message).not.toContain(secretStderr);
     }).pipe(provideLive),
   );
 

diff --git a/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.ts b/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.ts
--- a/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/vcs/VcsProcess.ts
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@
       return yield* new VcsProcessExitError({
         ...baseError,
         exitCode: result.code,
-        detail: "Process exited with a non-zero status.",
+        detail: result.stderr.trim() || "Process exited with a non-zero status.",
         stderrLength: result.stderr.length,
         stderrTruncated: result.stderrTruncated,
       });

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^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 6b365df. Configure here.}

[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved

Security-focused refactor that restructures VCS process errors to prevent sensitive data (tokens, credentials) from leaking into error messages. Changes are well-scoped to error handling with explicit test coverage verifying secrets are not exposed.

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