fix: normalize Windows argv handling (#1564) (thanks @Takhoffman)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 
 ### Fixes
 - Agents: ignore IDENTITY.md template placeholders when parsing identity to avoid placeholder replies. (#1556)
+- CLI: normalize Windows argv to drop duplicate node.exe entries before commands. (#1564) Thanks @Takhoffman.
 - Docker: update gateway command in docker-compose and Hetzner guide. (#1514)
 - Sessions: reject array-backed session stores to prevent silent wipes. (#1469)
 - Voice wake: auto-save wake words on blur/submit across iOS/Android and align limits with macOS.

src/agents/anthropic-payload-log.ts

@@ -90,6 +90,12 @@ function safeJsonStringify(value: unknown): string | null {
   }
 }
 
+function formatError(error: unknown): string {
+  if (typeof error === "string") return error;
+  if (error instanceof Error) return error.stack ?? error.message;
+  return safeJsonStringify(error) ?? "[unknown error]";
+}
+
 function digest(value: unknown): string | undefined {
   const serialized = safeJsonStringify(value);
   if (!serialized) return undefined;
@@ -163,7 +169,7 @@ export function createAnthropicPayloadLogger(params: {
         options?.onPayload?.(payload);
       };
       return streamFn(model, context, {
-        ...(options ?? {}),
+        ...options,
         onPayload: nextOnPayload,
       });
     };
@@ -178,7 +184,7 @@ export function createAnthropicPayloadLogger(params: {
           ...base,
           ts: new Date().toISOString(),
           stage: "usage",
-          error: String(error),
+          error: formatError(error),
         });
       }
       return;
@@ -188,7 +194,7 @@ export function createAnthropicPayloadLogger(params: {
       ts: new Date().toISOString(),
       stage: "usage",
       usage,
-      error: error ? String(error) : undefined,
+      error: error ? formatError(error) : undefined,
     });
     log.info("anthropic usage", {
       runId: params.runId,

src/cli/run-main.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import path from "node:path";
 import process from "node:process";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 
@@ -12,6 +11,7 @@ import { installUnhandledRejectionHandler } from "../infra/unhandled-rejections.
 import { enableConsoleCapture } from "../logging.js";
 import { getPrimaryCommand, hasHelpOrVersion } from "./argv.js";
 import { tryRouteCli } from "./route.js";
+import { normalizeWindowsArgv } from "./windows-argv.js";
 
 export function rewriteUpdateFlagArgv(argv: string[]): string[] {
   const index = argv.indexOf("--update");
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export function rewriteUpdateFlagArgv(argv: string[]): string[] {
 }
 
 export async function runCli(argv: string[] = process.argv) {
-  const normalizedArgv = stripWindowsNodeExec(argv);
+  const normalizedArgv = normalizeWindowsArgv(argv);
   loadDotEnv({ quiet: true });
   normalizeEnv();
   ensureClawdbotCliOnPath();
@@ -59,50 +59,6 @@ export async function runCli(argv: string[] = process.argv) {
   await program.parseAsync(parseArgv);
 }
 
-function stripWindowsNodeExec(argv: string[]): string[] {
-  if (process.platform !== "win32") return argv;
-  const stripControlChars = (value: string): string => {
-    let out = "";
-    for (let i = 0; i < value.length; i += 1) {
-      const code = value.charCodeAt(i);
-      if (code >= 32 && code !== 127) {
-        out += value[i];
-      }
-    }
-    return out;
-  };
-  const normalizeArg = (value: string): string =>
-    stripControlChars(value)
-      .replace(/^['"]+|['"]+$/g, "")
-      .trim();
-  const normalizeCandidate = (value: string): string =>
-    normalizeArg(value).replace(/^\\\\\\?\\/, "");
-  const execPath = normalizeCandidate(process.execPath);
-  const execPathLower = execPath.toLowerCase();
-  const execBase = path.basename(execPath).toLowerCase();
-  const isExecPath = (value: string | undefined): boolean => {
-    if (!value) return false;
-    const lower = normalizeCandidate(value).toLowerCase();
-    return (
-      lower === execPathLower ||
-      path.basename(lower) === execBase ||
-      lower.endsWith("\\node.exe") ||
-      lower.endsWith("/node.exe") ||
-      lower.includes("node.exe")
-    );
-  };
-  const filtered = argv.filter((arg, index) => index === 0 || !isExecPath(arg));
-  if (filtered.length < 3) return filtered;
-  const cleaned = [...filtered];
-  if (isExecPath(cleaned[1])) {
-    cleaned.splice(1, 1);
-  }
-  if (isExecPath(cleaned[2])) {
-    cleaned.splice(2, 1);
-  }
-  return cleaned;
-}
-
 export function isCliMainModule(): boolean {
   return isMainModule({ currentFile: fileURLToPath(import.meta.url) });
 }

src/cli/windows-argv.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { normalizeWindowsArgv } from "./windows-argv.js";
+
+describe("normalizeWindowsArgv", () => {
+  const execPath = "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe";
+  const scriptPath = "C:\\clawdbot\\dist\\entry.js";
+
+  it("returns argv unchanged on non-windows platforms", () => {
+    const argv = [execPath, scriptPath, "status"];
+    expect(normalizeWindowsArgv(argv, { platform: "darwin", execPath })).toBe(argv);
+  });
+
+  it("removes duplicate node exec at argv[1]", () => {
+    const argv = [execPath, execPath, scriptPath, "status"];
+    expect(normalizeWindowsArgv(argv, { platform: "win32", execPath })).toEqual([
+      execPath,
+      scriptPath,
+      "status",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("removes duplicate node exec at argv[2]", () => {
+    const argv = [execPath, scriptPath, execPath, "gateway", "run"];
+    expect(normalizeWindowsArgv(argv, { platform: "win32", execPath })).toEqual([
+      execPath,
+      scriptPath,
+      "gateway",
+      "run",
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps url arguments that contain node.exe", () => {
+    const argv = [execPath, scriptPath, "send", "https://example.com/node.exe"];
+    expect(normalizeWindowsArgv(argv, { platform: "win32", execPath })).toEqual(argv);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps node.exe paths after the command", () => {
+    const argv = [execPath, scriptPath, "send", "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe"];
+    expect(normalizeWindowsArgv(argv, { platform: "win32", execPath })).toEqual(argv);
+  });
+});

src/cli/windows-argv.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import path from "node:path";
+import process from "node:process";
+
+type WindowsArgvOptions = {
+  platform?: NodeJS.Platform;
+  execPath?: string;
+};
+
+export function normalizeWindowsArgv(
+  argv: string[],
+  { platform = process.platform, execPath = process.execPath }: WindowsArgvOptions = {},
+): string[] {
+  if (platform !== "win32") return argv;
+  if (argv.length < 2) return argv;
+
+  const stripControlChars = (value: string): string => {
+    let out = "";
+    for (let i = 0; i < value.length; i += 1) {
+      const code = value.charCodeAt(i);
+      if (code >= 32 && code !== 127) {
+        out += value[i];
+      }
+    }
+    return out;
+  };
+  const normalizeArg = (value: string): string =>
+    stripControlChars(value)
+      .replace(/^['"]+|['"]+$/g, "")
+      .trim();
+  const normalizeCandidate = (value: string): string =>
+    normalizeArg(value).replace(/^\\\\\\?\\/, "");
+  const execPathNormalized = normalizeCandidate(execPath);
+  const execPathLower = execPathNormalized.toLowerCase();
+  const execBaseLower = path.basename(execPathLower);
+  const isNodeExecPath = (value: string | undefined): boolean => {
+    if (!value) return false;
+    const normalized = normalizeCandidate(value);
+    if (!normalized) return false;
+    if (normalized.includes("://")) return false;
+    const lower = normalized.toLowerCase();
+    if (lower === execPathLower || lower === execBaseLower) return true;
+    if (!lower.endsWith("node.exe")) return false;
+    return path.isAbsolute(normalized) || normalized.includes("\\") || normalized.includes("/");
+  };
+
+  const next = [...argv];
+  for (let i = 1; i <= 2 && i < next.length; ) {
+    if (isNodeExecPath(next[i])) {
+      next.splice(i, 1);
+      continue;
+    }
+    i += 1;
+  }
+  return next;
+}

src/entry.ts

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
-import path from "node:path";
 import process from "node:process";
 
 import { applyCliProfileEnv, parseCliProfileArgs } from "./cli/profile.js";
+import { normalizeWindowsArgv } from "./cli/windows-argv.js";
 import { isTruthyEnvValue } from "./infra/env.js";
 import { attachChildProcessBridge } from "./process/child-process-bridge.js";
 
@@ -57,65 +57,6 @@ function ensureExperimentalWarningSuppressed(): boolean {
   return true;
 }
 
-function normalizeWindowsArgv(argv: string[]): string[] {
-  if (process.platform !== "win32") return argv;
-  if (argv.length < 2) return argv;
-  const stripControlChars = (value: string): string => {
-    let out = "";
-    for (let i = 0; i < value.length; i += 1) {
-      const code = value.charCodeAt(i);
-      if (code >= 32 && code !== 127) {
-        out += value[i];
-      }
-    }
-    return out;
-  };
-  const normalizeArg = (value: string): string =>
-    stripControlChars(value)
-      .replace(/^['"]+|['"]+$/g, "")
-      .trim();
-  const normalizeCandidate = (value: string): string =>
-    normalizeArg(value).replace(/^\\\\\\?\\/, "");
-  const execPath = normalizeCandidate(process.execPath);
-  const execPathLower = execPath.toLowerCase();
-  const execBase = path.basename(execPath).toLowerCase();
-  const isExecPath = (value: string | undefined): boolean => {
-    if (!value) return false;
-    const lower = normalizeCandidate(value).toLowerCase();
-    return (
-      lower === execPathLower ||
-      path.basename(lower) === execBase ||
-      lower.endsWith("\\node.exe") ||
-      lower.endsWith("/node.exe") ||
-      lower.includes("node.exe")
-    );
-  };
-  const next = [...argv];
-  for (let i = 1; i <= 3 && i < next.length; ) {
-    if (isExecPath(next[i])) {
-      next.splice(i, 1);
-      continue;
-    }
-    i += 1;
-  }
-  const filtered = next.filter((arg, index) => index === 0 || !isExecPath(arg));
-  if (filtered.length < 3) return filtered;
-  const cleaned = [...filtered];
-  for (let i = 2; i < cleaned.length; ) {
-    const arg = cleaned[i];
-    if (!arg || arg.startsWith("-")) {
-      i += 1;
-      continue;
-    }
-    if (isExecPath(arg)) {
-      cleaned.splice(i, 1);
-      continue;
-    }
-    break;
-  }
-  return cleaned;
-}
-
 process.argv = normalizeWindowsArgv(process.argv);
 
 if (!ensureExperimentalWarningSuppressed()) {

src/plugins/commands.ts

@@ -194,8 +194,22 @@ function sanitizeArgs(args: string | undefined): string | undefined {
     return args.slice(0, MAX_ARGS_LENGTH);
   }
 
+  const stripControlChars = (value: string): string => {
+    let out = "";
+    for (let i = 0; i < value.length; i += 1) {
+      const code = value.charCodeAt(i);
+      if (code === 9 || code === 10) {
+        out += value[i];
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (code < 32 || code === 127) continue;
+      out += value[i];
+    }
+    return out;
+  };
+
   // Remove control characters (except newlines and tabs which may be intentional)
-  return args.replace(/[\x00-\x08\x0B\x0C\x0E-\x1F\x7F]/g, "");
+  return stripControlChars(args);
 }
 
 /**